After almost 3 years of making and iterating off of these models. 3 years of using these models as a learning tool for myself as I developed them, and helped me improve myself as a character rigger and animator. After 3 years, I'm finally releasing these models to the general public thanks to my Patrons who've stuck around and bared with me all this time.

Other than the obligatory "For non commercial use", you are free to use these models as you please. When using these models, credit would be appreciated. But please refrain from crediting me as a direct contributor, only as someone who has provided a base asset, ESPECIALLY if you modify the model. This especially goes for sites like Derpibooru, please refrain from adding my artist tag if you upload any work there using this model, especially if modified, unless you know I directly contributed to that piece of work you upload there (and providing base assets is not that).

This is Beta Version 1.0.1. Be sure to check the Google Drive below to check if there are updates:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1285RzgZBvtUV43-ccJh0luJl7seBCq30

Also if you have any questions, problems/issues/bugs, recommendations, or critiques regarding these models that you've found when using them, There's also this Google Form I highly recommend you use. It is by far the best place to submit problems or anything of the sort to me directly. It helps me keep all of these issues and problems people submit to me organized. And, at the time of writing this, set this responses page as my browser's home page, as it's important for me to constantly keep an eye on the responses to this Google Form. I know that these models are going to have problems. I know that a lot of people might have trouble knowing where things are or how to use this model in the first place. These are all things you can use this Google Form for to send me recommendations of things I could add to the documentation, or ideas, or other problems. Please, PLEASE use this form. Thank you:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbPiFUOoKHdQhc-OG27FwB318B7Ekn4JRumlssBDdrN9kwHA/viewform




CHANGELOG

PUBLIC BETA V1.0
-Initial Public Beta Release, which contains Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

PUBLIC BETA V1.0.1
-Fixed an issue with iris discoloration due to a missing texture that wasnt packed when it shouldve been.
-Cleared world lighting data for Rarity and Fluttershy (forgot to do this before).




HOW TO USE

First, make sure you are using Blender 2.8. This rig was made using that version, and cannot be opened using older versions of Blender (2.79 and under).

I have a Work in Progress documentation document Google Doc that you can check out here for more detail on how to use this model:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JM-tfHCUJt7VaADMpAcSnVm7l9xdpebEuKPjjBHhOXc/edit?usp=sharing




USAGE TIPS

As for tips on how to use this rig in the least uncanny way as possible, first you may want stay away from maxing out all of the face shape key bones in any way, especially on boths sides of the face.

Asymmetry is also key. The pose as a whole will suffer and look very unattural if you don't put attention into making sure both sides are the model are doing different things, even if it's subtle.

The jaw bone is also independent of the lips. Lowering the jaw will still keep the lips shut. So use the lip deform bone controllers to adjust the lip pose to open the mouth if needed. Those deform bones are free from transformation constraints, so you can rotate, scale, and move wherever you need to form the mouth shape you desire. Just be cautious about breaking the model when pushing too far.

There are a lot of lever options that you can find above the model. They can control a lot of things related to how you are able to pose the model. Some can enable leg IK stretching, some can disable IK outright, some can make the IK controller automatically rotate towrads the shoulders, and there's a few that controls mane and tail posing, like tail IK, or an option to flip the mane and/or tail. Experiment with them, and learn what they do!

Each mode comes with their own "Wiggle Bone" starting point action set. Basically, the purpose of these is to give Wiggle Bone simulation a starting point (usually by posing the hair higher than the default pose) to where the wiggle bone simulation can from there let the bones fall. This does require the Wiggle Bones addon, which is free to use. It is pretty early in development, but try not to bug the dev who's working on this too much:
https://blenderartists.org/t/wiggle-bones-a-jiggle-bone-implementation-for-2-8/1154726/182
The version I used when tuning the wiggle settings for the mane and tail were using version 1_5_b13.




CONTACT INFO

If you want to contact me, feel free to send me a message on Twitter (@_DJTHED), or send me a note on DeviantArt (TheRealDJTHED). 

If you have bugs, suggestions, or critiques of the model itself, that's left best to the Google Forms page I made. If you send me a direct message for that kind of stuff instead, I may lose it more easily. So use this form if you have feedback about the models themselves for the sake of my organization:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1o5QM2-Au9i-rjoWBG9ExW6ujRViQhpXLE5qasSBr0L0/

I also have a Patreon if anyone would like to financially support me in some way:
https://www.patreon.com/DJTHED

Patrons also have direct contact with me in my own Patreon Discord Server. Discord is definitely the most reliable place to contact me.