Chris, I see that you use empties a lot in your rigs, even when you are using an armature. IMHO, I think that is a bad ide…

[danpro]

Chris, I see that you use empties a lot in your rigs, even when you are using an armature. IMHO, I think that is a bad idea. There is NOTHING an empty can do that a bone cannot. Also, it clutters up and complicated the animations. For every empty that needs to be keyed in an animation, a new action is created for that object. An armature has the advantage of having the ability to key multiple bones in one single action. Less clutter. Easier editing/polishing. I hope that you will rethink your choices as to how you build your rigs, or at least explain the severe downside to using empties in rigging to those that you are teaching. Thanks!

[Chris McFall]

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
I use the simplest elements available to me that can perform the task, anymore or less is inefficient and increases the margin for human error, a margin that in a beginners series must be kept as slim as possible. There are more reasons that I was aware of at the time of creating the videos, but this is the core of the matter.

[danpro]

I guess we will agree to disagree. The use of empties makes your rigs breakable. The simple act of clearing the transforms on the empties resets the empty to ground zero with no way to undo the damage. A bone has a rest position that can’t be misused in this way if proper care is taken when making a rig. I see your point with efficiency, but I can’t agree that efficiency trumps reliability and breakability. Thanks for your time.

[Author]

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