DescentBB

Can someone explain to me how to work with these better? I try to set limits to how much a bone can bend, and what directions (for example, an elbow being only able to bend in one direction), but it prevents the whole limb from turning. I see many tutorials on using a "biped" to do this, but I don't wish to do this

On a related note; is this what's called "rigging" a model? I always thought that was creating the skeleton and mesh

If i remember correctly, a big important part of rigging is pre-bending the bones in the direction the joint bends. This tells the IK solver where to limit the bend.

You also don't need bones. Linking boxes, with adjusted pivot points, also works. I preferred this method, because I could shape a skeleton the way I wanted.

That seems to have worked! Awesome!