Bone Widget
Bone Widget is a free Blender addon for applying and editing custom Bone Shapes for your rigs.
The addon offers a number of common bone shapes that you can assign to any bone with a single click. You can even create your own custom shapes and save them for later use.
Installation & Workflow
The addon is now part of the official Blender Extensions Planform. You can install it easily by going to Edit > Preferences > Extensions, search for “Bone Widget” and click the Install button. The addon will appear under N-Panel > Rigging.
To apply a new shape:
- set your armature in Pose Mode and select a bone
- choose one of the provided shapes
- Click the Create Button
Right after creating a new widget, a modal operator window will appear in the lower left side of the 3D view, and you’ll be able to tweak the size, position, and orientation of the new widget.
If you click away, the shape will be finalized but you can still tweak it at any point using the Edit Widget button. Pressing this button will activate the mesh used as a widget in Edit Mode and you’ll be able to tweak it freely: change its shape any way you like or even add or delete vertices. Without any guesswork, the edits will be immediately reflected in the bone shape.
Other useful features are the ability to symmetrize bone shapes and set bone colors (a new feature introduced in a recent updates).
Overall, I consider Bone Widget to be a must-have addon for Blender riggers. And being free, there is no reason not to give it a try. 🙂
Review and Tutorial by CGDive
A video tutorial with more in-depth, visual overview of the addon’s features is available here.
Ignore the recommendation in the video to get the addon from Blender Market/Super Hive Market. This was the case at the time of recoding but now the best way to get the addon is from the Extensions Platform as explained above.
Addon History
Bone Widget was originally developed by ChristopheSeux. Later it was forked and developed further by Wayne Dixon (waylow), adhihargo, and Blender Defender.
You will find the different repose below.
