Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

Stretch those limbs!

If you want to build a cartoon character rig, it's a good idea to enable it to squash and stretch. Even if your character is not cartoony, some animated shots may require a little stretching in order to achieve more convincing and clear poses. Depending on your project and schedule, it can be a good idea to enable this feature in all of your rigs.

How to do it...

1. Open the file 005-Stretch.blend. It has an IK leg setup similar to the result of the previous recipe. Move the Foot.L bone around and see how it works. We need the leg to stretch to the position of the foot controller.
2. Select the IK_Thigh.L bone and go to the Bone tab, under the Properties window. You'll see a panel called Inverse Kinematics. Change the Stretch field ...