* Constraint template now uses 2 rows as well, when the area width is small.
* UI Code could use some code/layout cleanup still, will look into that soon.
This constraint allows an object or bone to have their rotations applied as if their origin/pivot-point was located elsewhere. The most obvious uses include foot-roll, see-saws, but could also include more complicated rolling-box examples.
== Usage Examples ==
=== Foot Roll ===
1. Add 'Pivot' Constraint to the bone without any target.
2. Set the 'Y' value of the offset to the length of the bone. Usually this should be negative (if you rig with feet facing 'forwards' along -Y axis). This gives you a pivot point relative to the bone's (preconstraint) location, which should be at the tip of the bone here. Disabling the 'Use Relative Offset' would make this offset be relative to 0,0,0 instead of to the owner/bone-head.
3. Ensure that the 'Pivot When' setting is set to '-X Rot', (default) which means that the pivot will only used when the rotation on the X-Axis is negative to get tip-toe 'roll'.
=== See Saw ===
1. Add a 'Pivot' constraint too see-saw plank object, this time with a target that you wish to have as the pivot-point. It's possible to do this without too (as before), but is less intuitive.
2. Optionally, if you want the plank slightly raised, set the z-offset value, which should make the pivot-point used to be relative to the target with the z-offset applied.
3. Ensure that 'Pivot When' is set to 'Always', which means that the pivot will always be used, irrespective of the rotation.
== Notes ==
* The 'Pivot When' setting has been integrated in the constraint, since this is something that will often be required for these setups. Having to set up additional drivers to drive the constraint to do this kindof beats the purpose of providing this.
* The 'Offset' functionality is probably not presented as clearly as it could be. We may need to go over this again.
* For foot-roll - if any scaling of the foot is required, simply set up a driver on the y-offset to make this dynamically respond to the "scale" RNA property of the bones (don't use the "Transform Channel" vartype since that won't work correct here). However, this shouldn't be common enough to warrant special treatment.
*The narrowui value was hard coded in all ui scripts, made an user preferences option. Basically this value determines on which area width, it should switch between dual/single column layout.
ToDo: The Changes only take effect when reloading scripts/restarting Blender (after saving as default). Will maybe add the "Reload Scripts" operator next to the button in the future.
* Small fix for Fluid Add Button, when in single column mode. Didn't expand like the other "Add" Buttons.
Made the 'Influence' slider work for Spline IK too, and made that setting visible now that it works.
Note that there is still some popping that can occur when going to/from influence = 0.0. I'm not sure exactly what's causing this yet, but hopefully it won't be too noticeable in practice.
Running scripts directly didnt call the register function, even though this is not essential its good to be able to run a script directly and see changes in the UI.
* option to roll the delta of the arm rig.
* fix to copy metarig type
* renamed EditBone.align() --> EditBone.align_roll()
* Added EditBone.align_orientation(other)
* Added bone.vector: same as (bone.tail - bone.head)
- remove functions such as operator_int(), operator_enum(), operator_string
this mixed with keyword arguments in a way that made them hard to read.
Instead, have operator() always return properties rather then needing an argument.
- rename prop_pointer() --> prop_object(), pointer is more a C thing.
- missed item_enumR(), rename to prop_enum()
* Renamed "Keep Max Length" to "Y Scaling" which has the opposite meaning
* Improved the way that Y-Scaling off behaves. Most of the time, bones that do not fit on the curve are now "blended off" their default rotations instead of being scaled to zero.
* Added option to offset an entire chain by moving the root bone of the chain. This is named "Chain Offset"
* #19819: 'Select' operator for Hooks was crashing when Hooks didn't have any vertices assigned yet
* Default twist resolution mode for curves is now 'Minimise'. This seems to work better for Curve Deforms and other purposes. Can be changed if other ways are better after some more testing.
* Spline IK now has more options for controlling how the x and z axis scaling is determined. There is now a choice between using the radius of the curve, the x+z scaling from the bones, or no scaling (default). This does break old files a bit, but this is to have a more stable base for later.
1) "Even Divisions" - This option ignores the length of bones when considering how they should fit along the curve. This is useful for getting a smoother curve fit without having to worry about getting the bone lengths spot on. By default, this is disabled.
2) "Keep Max Length" - This option prevents the bone chain from extending past its natural length when the spline is stretched beyond that length. When the spline length is substatially shorter though, this bones get scaled to zero; making this option possibly useful for doing "growing tips".
This is essentially a 'no scale' option, although the behaviour when the curve is shorter is really a compromise since the curve cannot be accurately satisfied + left intact without some scaling being applied due to the way this works.
3) "Radius to Thickness" - The average radius of the spline between at the head+tail of each bone determines the x+z scaling of the bone.
At last, this commit introduces the Spline IK Constraint to Blender. Spline IK is a constraint that makes n bones follow the shape of a specified curve.
Simply add a chain of bones, add a curve, add a Spline IK Constraint to the tip bone and set the number of bones in the chain to make it work. Or, try the following test file:
http://download.blender.org/ftp/incoming/250_splineik_spine01.blend
Screenshots of this in action (as proof):
http://download.blender.org/ftp/incoming/b250_splineik_001_before.pnghttp://download.blender.org/ftp/incoming/b250_splineik_001_after.png
I've implemented this in a similar way to how standard IK solvers are done. However, this code is currently not an IK plugin, since I imagine that it would be useful to be able to combine the 2 types of IK. This can be easily changed though :)
Finally, a few notes on what to expect still:
* Constraint blending currently doesn't affect this. Getting that to work correctly will take a bit more work still.
* Options for not affecting the root joint (to make it easier to attach the chain to a stump or whatever), and non-uniform scaling options have yet to be added. I've marked the places where they can be added though
* Control over the twisting of the chain still needs investigation.
Have fun!
Contributors list isnt used much in our C code so probably its easier if people just use svn blame for this.
Can change if this isnt acceptable but I guessed people didnt care so much since most scripts had no header.
