Cannot Apply Vertex Groups To Bones

Question

im Francisco and i have a problem with vertex Groups. Recently i modeled a star wars spaceship witch is called millenium falcon and after i model everything i started rigging , while i was rigging i was watching a couple of tutorials and non of them worked for me. My problem is the following one, in the spaceship i modeled every part separated from each other and i dont know how toenter image description here rig them all together, i tried to do ctrl+j to join everything but my mesh is a bit confusing in terms of faces... pls if you can help i desperately call for help , i always stay stuck in here.

Here is the file for download https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VphWxqtiQcmYKdl-guGSfWPxOohqTp8L/view?usp=sharing

Answer 1

Ok, your problem is simple.

The reason your vertex groups do not take is, that you applied them all on the main hull of the ship. If your ship pieces are still separate objects, the vertex groups for the bone influences need to be on THAT object.

For your ship, you won't need to create them by hand. Parenting to Bones will do it for you.

Clear up your parenting structure, so one object does not move the other. Just hit Alt + P to clear Parents with "Clear and keep Transformation"

You need to apply the transformations to the objects, that you made in Object Mode. Your Location Values should be zeroed out, the scales should be at one.

Select Bone in Pose Mode

Click on Geometry you want the Bone to be the Parent of

Shift-Select the Armature again

Ctrl + P to Parent the Geometry to the Selected Bone

Selecting one bone of the armature (in Pose Mode), like for example the one that controls the landing gear, you select the mesh you want to attach to it to, Shift Select the Armature again and then hit Ctrl + P and Parent to Bone.

I have done this for you in the blend file. I would also advise you to roll your bones over, so that all hatches close by rotating the x-axis, just to give an example. That will allow you to lock the other transform channels. Otherwise, you will go nuts animating.

I have also set your rotation to ZYX Euler. Since the hatches only rotate around a single axis, that will make everything easier, transforming, reading and changing the animation curves, locking the right channels. Try it, you will see it right away.