Bring RBF Solver To Your Blender Rigs
Drive multiple properties with multiple input values with RBF Nodes.
Blender's drivers work well for simple relationships, but things can get tricky when several inputs need to control several outputs. Radial Basis Functions (RBF) are built for exactly this and have been used in character rigging at studios for years. This add-on by Brave Rabbit brings RBF to Blender as a node-based solver. You can define your inputs and outputs, set a few poses, and the solver handles the smooth interpolation between them.
With RBF Nodes, you can drive corrective shapes for shoulders, hips, and other tricky joints, or build facial rigs where controller positions blend multiple shapes at once. You can also use it to drive Shader and Geometry Nodes parameters from transforms or custom values, and create complex rig behavior without relying on helper bones, long expressions, or scripts.
The developer points out that RBF solvers aren't always necessary and should be used when regular drivers start to fall short. If you want to learn more, check out the tutorial above, which should answer most of your questions and give you a good idea of what RBF Nodes can do. It also introduces RBF solvers in general, explaining why they're handy and how they work.
To use RBF Nodes, you'll need Blender 4.2 or later. Anyone opening a rig that uses RBF Nodes will also need RBF Nodes or the free runtime version included with the purchase. You can freely distribute it with your rigs, give it to clients, or install it on a render farm.
Blender 5.3 is scheduled for release on November 10, and we already have some information on what to expect: native support for 3DGS, native dispersion support in the Principled BSDF, and new nodes for creating custom material lighting. Also, if you missed it, you can now try the official Android version.
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