How to rig bat-like wings?

M1KES

Hi everyone!
I would like to know how i could rig an the wings on this character i made:



I have basic knowledge on rigging bipeds, but with wings i never tried it.. How can i make it so that he can open and close his wings easily?
Any help would be apreaciated!

poopipe

structurally speaking wings are hands so thats straightforward.

Your problem is the flappy bits. I normally end up with a combination of support bones constrained between the fingers and morphs that tweak the shapes at the extreme deformations.

It has occurred to me to use a cloth sim to drive support bones an I may give that a go next time I have to rig something like this.

it's all heavily dependent on topology too - you have to have your loops supporting your folds or it's all going to go to shit.

M1KES

I had thought of cloth sim and also found some examples done with a cloth sim, which would solve alot of my problems.. but it i wouldnt be able to export the animation out to udk, would i?
The structure, like you said is pretty straight forward.. i didnt think painting the weight of the structure was gonna work.

Here is a screen showing some of its topology.. i did create it without having this issue in mind! :S