[Template] Armature For 3D Body Template

Hi Lens Creators,

I know quite a few of you wanted to learn how to create armatures for your models that you can use in the 3D body template, that makes your model track the user's body.  This is one of my favorite templates and the lenses I've made with this template, along with my fellow lens creators, are very fun to use and post! But, I know a lot of people struggle with making a 3D body lens because they don't know exactly how to make an armature.   

To help all of you out, I've made a Blender project, that you can download by clicking here, that contains a blank armature, used in my very popular Iron Man lens.  To use this, you'll need to download Blender, which is a free, fairly easy to use 3D modeling program.  You can download Blender here.  Once you open the project, you'll see the blank armature in the view.  It might seem complicated to connect to your model but worry not; you're minutes away from making a very cool lens! You now can sculpt your model on the "sculpting panel," stretching out whatever parts you want, to make whatever model you want! If you already made an existing model, you can easily import it by going to file-import-choose the format your model is in, and select it.  Once you have your model set up in blender, use the scale and move tools on the left of the screen to position your model directly in front of the armature.  If you can't see the armature through your model, you can fix that by clicking on the armature in object mode and, on the lower right side, scroll down and click “viewport display” and select “in front.” Now you will see your armature on top of the model so you can position it more precisely.  Once you’re happy with the position of your model on the armature, in object mode, select the mesh of your model and control-click on the armature.  Then, press Command-P and select “with automatic weights.” Done; if you want to test out the movements of the model with the different limbs, you can click on the armature in object mode and then switch to pose mode, you can select each bone and drag it around to test the movement by clicking the “G” key and moving the cursor.  If there’s something you would like to change you can always click on the model inside the armature and press Control-P and remove the parent, adjust whatever you need, and repeat previous steps to re-parent.

Once you’re satisfied with the movement of the model, export it by clicking file-export-FBX and save it to wherever you wish.  Then, in Lens Studio, drag the FBX file under the 3D body component.  Since I already named all bones to what they’re supposed to be called, you can easily drag them into their appropriate spots by clicking “match hierarchy”

Done! You’ve successfully made a 3D body lens!  

If you have any questions about this template or any other lenses, feel free to shoot me a DM on Snapchat (noahlupowitz) and I’ll do my best to help you out!