Blender has been moving forward with new updates at light speed. Many new features have been added. Including new functionality for Rigify that is really awesome. Rigify was always a good rigging system but with these new updates it can truly stand on it own against some of the more larger systems.
These new updates and changes have been transparent to Uefy Script without any breaking effects. But there are some cosmetic changes to the interface you should be aware of when following what is shown in the older youtube tutorials.
FBX Import and Export
When importing or exporting FBX files the options for the armature and animation are on the right side of the dialog box. Only the location has changed. You still get the same options and they still operate the same way.
Run Script Button
The “Run Script” button has been shortened and looks like a play button now. It has the same function and nothing has changed.
Spine and Neck Joints
With it’s default settings Rigify requires the spine to be continuous without any breaks between the bones. With newer Blender releases it is now possible to select and move the lower spine without moving the neck and head.
However this still causes an error with Rigify when you try to the generate the rig. You can avoid this by moving the whole spine as one piece. Just make sure that when you adjust the bones the head and tail of adjacent bones in the metarig always overlap perfectly.
For example the Tail of Spine.004 should be in the exact same location as the head of Spine.003
If you do that the rig generates without any problems.
Advanced Spine and Neck Joints
It is actually possible to separate the neck and spine but requires an additional change to Rigify settings for metarig neck bone.
You have to turn off “Connect Chain” for Spine.004 in Pose Mode -> Bone Properties -> Rigify Type -> Options
After doing so the rig will generate without issue even if there is a break between the neck and spine. This could be great for rigging larger Brute/Hulk style characters.
This is a newer functionality that I’ve not used much but it seems to be working fine in the limited tests I’ve done with v1.3 of the script. I’ll have this fleshed out more for the next update.