Rigging the Seagull

Instead of using the character animation toolkit, it will be easier to just rig the seagull with a simple set of bones. The character isn't in the animation very much and he doesn't have any complex movements.

 The bones form the rough shape of the bird.

They are the aligned inside the mesh of the seagull. The model is given the skin modifier, and the bone structure is assigned there. After editing the envelopes, the seagull model can be moved. The legs and beak move fairly well, but there is a bit of deformation when moving the neck around.

The seagull is a minor secondary character in the animation with little to do, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. The facial animation is going to be centred around the crab character.