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I deleted the metarig a while back, and can no longer recover it. If this is not possible, is there a way to teleport the bones of a new metarig to the bones of the rig (last layer only)?enter image description here

Stavros Piliaris
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1 Answers1

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Yes, as you already wrote, the original bones are saved on the last layer. All bones are prefixed by ORG-. You can use them to re-create a new metarig with this script: Rigify->Generate Rig doesn't create all rig layers in the properties ui. There are two versions of the script. The updated one is for Blender 2.9.

To re-create a metarig do the following:

  • duplicate your rig to create a working copy
  • select the working copy, go to Edit mode, select all ORG- bones and separate them (P).
    Note: Do not duplicate bones or the number in their name will change!
  • switch to the armature with the separated bones. You can delete the first working copy.
  • edit the new working copy with the separate ORG- bones. You need to rename these bones and remove the ORG- prefix. Open the Batch Rename (Ctrl+F2) and replace the ORG- with an empty value for all bone names.
  • now you have a template for a new metarig. You have to change the names of your armatures or adopt the names into the script. Let's rename it to _old.metarig (2.9) or metarig.old (check the script)
  • add a fresh metarig. For the 2.9 script only: Rename it to _new.metarig
  • double-check the names, make sure the metarigs (_new.metarig and _old.metarig) are visible, run the script. It will "teleport" the bone layout from the created template to the new metarig.
  • now the new metarig should look like the old template. Check the Advanced Options below the Generate Rig button if the name (rig) is correct and if you want to override your original rig or create a new one with a different name.
Blunder
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  • How do I display the code for the rig script I want to change? – Stavros Piliaris Aug 21 '21 at 23:47
  • What do you mean by "...display the code for the rig"? You need to run the script in the linked answer by copy & paste it to a new data block. I've updated the linked answer for clarification. – Blunder Aug 22 '21 at 13:32
  • I'm not sure what blender tab to copy and paste the code in? The python console tab, the text editor tab, etc. I've never dealt with data-blocks. – Stavros Piliaris Aug 22 '21 at 19:51
  • Ah, I see. Have a look here again. There are now screenshots ;-) – Blunder Aug 22 '21 at 20:00
  • I have a question. How Rigify knows that it is a generated rig not a metarig? – Muzammil May 23 '23 at 05:15
  • The metarig is an Armature object with custom properties. These store, among others, the Rig Types which are basically the parts of the skeleton (arms, legs, hands, tail, face,..). The generated rig has a completely different structure (custom bone shapes, different bone names, several bone layers incl. the metarig's bones, extra bones for twisting, drivers, constraints, etc). In "Advanced" settings you can define the name of the animation rig and the name for the script that creates the Rigify buttons. – Blunder May 27 '23 at 11:13
  • If you want to transfer a metarig from one blend file to another then use the menu "File > Append ..." and chose the metarig from the Object list, not from the Armature list. Otherwise, the metarig is not recognized as a meta rig. Related question: Why is the generate rig button greyed out? – Blunder May 27 '23 at 11:15