Auto-key
The auto-key feature can be found in the info bar. When it is enabled,
blender will automatically set keyframes when you move objects. This is helpful
for people who are not used to explicitly inserting keyframes with IKEY. There are two separate toggles for auto-keying: one for
object mode and one for pose mode. These two options can be set independent of
one another.
For Objects
``KeyOB'' will set keyframes for objects that are moved in object mode. Users
who are familiar with the blender interface will likely want to leave this
option disabled.
For Actions
``KeyAC'' sets keyframes for transformations done in pose mode. This ensures
that you will not lose a pose by forgetting to insert keyframes. Even users who
are familiar with the blender interface may find this to be a useful feature.
Ipo/Action Pinning
It is now possible to display different ipos in different windows. This is
especially valuable while editing actions, which have a different ipo for each
bone.
You can ``pin'' an ipo or action (lock it to the current window) by pressing
the pin icon in the header of the window. The contents of the window will stay
there, even when the object is deselected, or another object is selected. Note
that the color of the ipo block menu will change, along with the background
color of the ipo window. These serve as reminders that the window is not
necessarily displaying the ipo of the currently selected object.
Browsing while pinned
The browse menu is still available while a window is pinned. In this case
however, changing the current data will not affect the current object; it merely
changes which data is displayed.
Creating
A single armature will contain many bones. Consider an armature to be like a
skeleton for a living creature. The arms, legs, spine and head are all part of
the same skeleton object.
To create a new armature, select "ADD->Armature" from the toolbox. A new
bone will appear with its root at the location of the 3d cursor. As you move the
mouse, the bone will resize accordingly. LMB will finalize
the bone and start a new one that is the child of the previous one. In this way
you can make a complete chain. Pressing ESC will cancel the
addition of the bone.
Adding Bones
You can add another bone to an armature while it is in edit mode by selecting
"ADD->Armature" from the toolbox again. This will start the bone-adding mode
again, and the new bones you create will be a part of the current armature.
Extruding Bones
You can also extrude bones from existing bones by selecting a bone joint and
pressing EKEY. The newly created bone will be a child of the
bone it is extruded from.
Editing
While in edit mode, you can perform the following operations to the bones in
an armature.
Adjusting
Select one or more bone joints and use any of the standard transformation
operations to adjust the position or orientation of any bones in the armature.
Note that IK chains cannot have any gaps between their bones and as such moving
the end point of a bone will move the start point of its child.
You can select an entire IK chain at once by moving the mouse cursor over a
joint in the chain and pressing LKEY. You can also use the
boundary select tool (BKEY).
Deleting
You can delete one or more bones by selecting its start and end points. When
you do this you will notice the bone itself will be drawn in a highlighted
color. Pressing XKEY will remove the highlighted bones. Note
that selecting a single point is insufficient to delete a bone.
Point Snapping
It is possible to snap bone joints to the grid or to the cursor by using the
snap menu accessible with SHIFT+S.
Numeric Mode
For more precise editing, pressing NKEY will bring up the
numeric entry box. Here you can adjust the position of the start and end points
as well as the bone's roll around its own axis.
Undo
While in edit mode, you can cancel the changes you have made in the current
editing session by pressing UKEY. The armature will revert
to the state it was in before editing began.
Joining
It is possible to join two armatures together into a single object. To do
this, ensure you are in object mode, select both armatures and press CTRL+J.
Renaming
Assigning meaningful names the bones in your armatures is important for
several reasons. Firstly it will make your life easier when editing actions in
the action window. Secondly, the bone names are used to associate action
channels with bones when you are attempting to re-use actions, and thirdly the
names are used when taking advantage of the automatic pose-flipping feature.
Note that bone names need only be unique within a given armature. You can
have several bone called ``Head'' so long as they are all in different
armatures.
Basic Naming
To change the names of one or more bones, select the bones in edit mode and
switch to the edit buttons with F9. A list of all the
selected bones should appear.
Change a bone's name by SHIFT-LMB in the bone's name box
and typing a new name.
It is easier to name the bones by either only editing one bone at a time, or
by making sure the ``DrawNames'' option is enabled in the EditButtons F9 (see ).
Pose Flipping Conventions
Character armatures are typically axially symmetrical. This means that many
elements are found in pairs, one on the left and one on the right. If you name
them correctly, Blender can flip a given pose around the axis of symmetry,
making animation of walk-cycles much easier.
For every bone that is paired, suffix the names for the left and right with
either ``.L'' and ``.R'' or ``.Left'' and ``.Right''. Bones that lie along the
axis of symmetry or that have no twin need no suffix. Note that the part of the
name preceding the suffix should be identical for both sides. So if there are
two hands, they should be named ``Hand.R'' and ``Hand.L''.
Basic Parenting
To change parenting relationships within the armature, select the bone that
should be the CHILD and switch to the edit buttons window. Next to the bone
there should be a menu button labeled ``Child Of''. To make the bone become the
child of another bone, pick the appropriate parent from the list. Note that this
is much easier if the bones have been correctly named. To dissolve a parenting
relationship, choose the first (blank) entry in the list.
Note that the parenting menu only contains the names of valid parents. Bones
that cannot be parents (such as children of the current bone) will not be
displayed.
IK Relationship
The IK toggle next to each bone with a parent is used to determine if the IK
solver should propagate its effects across this joint. If the IK button is
active, the child's start point will be moved to math its parent's end point.
This is to satisfy the requirement that there are no gaps in an IK chain.
Deactivating the IK button will not restore the child's start point to its
previous location, but moving the point will no longer affect the parent's end
point.
Setting Local Axes
To get the best results while animating, it is necessary to ensure that the
local axes of each bone are consistent throughout the armature. This should be
done before any animation takes place.
Clearing Transforms
It is necessary that the when the armature object is in its untransformed
orientation in object mode, that the front of the armature is visible in the
front view, the left side is visible in the left view and so on. You can ensure
this by orienting the armature so that the appropriate views are aligned and
pressing CTRL+A to apply size and rotation. Again, this
should be done before any animation takes place.
Adjusting Roll Handles
The orientation of the bones' roll handles is important to getting good
results from the animation system.
You can adjust the roll angle of a bone by selecting it and pressing NKEY. The roll angle is the item at the bottom. The exact
number that must be entered here depends on the orientation of the bone.
The Z-axis of each bone should point in a consistent direction for paired
bones. A good solution is to have the Z-axes point upwards (or forwards, when
the bone is vertically oriented).
This task is much easier if the ``Draw Axes'' option is enabled in the edit
buttons window.
Setting Weights (DEPRECIATED)
The Weight and Dist settings are only used by the automatic skinning which is
a depreciated feature.
Object Mode Parenting
When making a child of an armature, several options are presented.
- Parent to Bone
-
In this case, the a popup menu appears allowing you to choose which bone
should be the parent of the child(ren) objects.
- Parent to Armature
-
Choosing this option will deform the child(ren) mesh(es) according to their
vertex groups. If the child meshes don't have any vertex groups, they will be
subject to automatic skinning. This is very slow, so it is advised to create
vertex groups instead.
- Parent to Armature Object
-
Choosing this option will cause the child(ren) to consider the armature to
be an Empty for all intents and purposes.
Toggle Buttons for Armatures in the EditButtons F9
Rest Position Button
When this toggle is activated, the armature will be displayed in its rest
position. This is useful if it becomes necessary to edit the mesh associated
with an armature after some posing or animation has been done. Note that the
actions and poses are still there, but they are temporarily disabled while this
button is pressed.
Draw Axes Button
When this toggle is activated, the local axes of each bone will be displayed
in the 3d view.
Draw Names Button
When this toggle is activated, the names of each bone will be displayed in
the 3d view.
Skinning is a technique for creating smooth mesh deformations with an
armature. Essentially the skinning is the relationship between the vertices in a
mesh and the bones of an armature, and how the transformations of each bone will
affect the position of the mesh vertices.
Automatic (DEPRECIATED)
If a mesh does not have any vertex groups, and it is made the armature-child
of an armature, Blender will attempt to calculate deformation information on the
fly. This is very slow and is not recommended. It is advisable to create and use
vertex groups instead.
Vertex Weights
Vertex groups are necessary to define which bones deform which vertices. A
vertex can be a member of several groups, in which case its deformation will be
a weighted average of the deformations of the bones it is assigned to. In this
way it is possible to create smooth joints.
Creating
To add a new vertex group to a mesh, you must be in edit mode. Create a new
vertex group by clicking on the ``New'' button in the mesh's edit buttons.
A vertex group can subsequently be deleted by clicking on the ``Delete''
button.
Change the active group by choosing one from the pull-down group menu.
Naming
Vertex groups must have the same names as the bones that will manipulate
them. Both spelling and capitalization matter. Rename a vertex group by SHIFT-LMB on the name button and typing a new name. Note that
vertex group names must be unique within a given mesh.
Assigning
Vertices can be assigned to the active group by selecting them and clicking
the ``Assign'' button. Depending on the setting of the ``Weight'' button, the
vertices will receive more or less influence from the bone. This weighting is
only important for vertices that are members of more than one bone. The weight
setting is not an absolute value; rather it is a relative one. For each vertex,
the system calculates the sum of the weights of all of the bones that affect the
vertex. The transformations of each bone are then divided by this amount meaning
that each vertex always receives exactly 100% deformation.
Assigning 0 weight to a vertex will effectively remove it from the active
group.
Removing
Remove vertices from the current group by selecting them and clicking the
``Remove'' button.
Selection Tools
Pressing the ``Select'' button will add the vertices assigned to the current
group to the selection set. Pressing the ``Deselect'' button will remove the
vertices assigned to the current group from the selection set.
Weight painting is an alternate technique for assigning vertices to vertex
groups. The user can ``paint'' weights onto the model and see the results in
real-time. This makes smooth joints easier to achieve.
Activating
To activate weight-painting mode, select a mesh with vertex groups and click
on the weight paint icon.
The active mesh will be displayed in weight-color mode. In this mode dark
blue represents areas with no weight from the current group and red represent
areas with full weight.
Only one group can be visualized at a time. Changing the active vertex group
in the edit buttons will change the weight painting display.
Painting
Weights are painted onto the mesh using techniques similar to those used for
vertex painting, with a few exceptions.
The ``color'' is the weight value specified in the mesh's edit-buttons. The
``opacity'' slider in the vertex paint buttons is used to modulate the weight.
``Erasing Weight''
To erase weight from vertices, set the weight to ``0'' and start painting.
To manipulate the bones in an armature, you must enter pose mode. In pose
mode you can only select and manipulate the bones of the active armature. Unlike
edit mode, you cannot add or delete bones in pose mode.
Entering
Enter pose mode by selecting an armature and pressing CTRL+TAB. Alternatively you can activate pose mode by selecting
an armature and clicking on the pose mode icon in the header of the 3d window.
You can leave pose mode by the same method, or by entering edit mode.
Editing
In pose mode, you can manipulate the bones in the armature by selecting them
with RMB and using the standard transformation keys: RKEY, SKEY and GKEY.
Note that you cannot ``grab'' (translate) bones that are IK children of another
bone.
Press IKEY to insert keyframes for selected bones.
Clearing a pose
If you want to clear the posing for one or more bones, select the bones and
press ALT+R to clear rotations, ALT+S to
clear scaling and ALT+G to clear translations. Issuing these
three commands will all bones selected will return the armature to its rest
position.
Copy/Paste/Flipped
It is frequently convenient to copy poses from one armature to another, or
from one action to a different point in the same action. This is where the pose
copying tools come into play.
To
copy a pose, select one or more bones in pose mode, and click on the ``Copy''
button in the 3d window. The transformations of the selected bones are stored in
the copy buffer until needed or until another copy operation is performed.
To paste a pose, simply click the ``Paste'' button. If ``KeyAC'' is active,
keyframes will be inserted automatically.
To paste a mirrored version of the pose (if the character was leaning left in
the copied pose, the mirrored pose would have the character leaning right),
click on the ``Paste Flipped'' button. Note that if the armature was not set up
correctly, the paste flipped technique may not work as expected.
An action is made of one or more action channels. Each channel corresponds to
one of the bones in the armature, and each channel has an Action Ipo associated
with it. The action window provides a means to visualize and edit all of the
ipos associated with the action.
For every key set in a given action ipo, a marker will be displayed at the
appropriate frame in the action window. This is similar to the ``Key'' mode in
the ipo window.
Moving Action Keys
A block of action keys can be selected by either RMB on
them or by using the boundary select tool (BKEY). Selected
keys are highlighted in yellow. Once selected, the keys can be moved by pressing
GKEY> and moving the mouse. Holding CTRL will lock the movement to whole-frame intervals. LMB will finalize the new location of the keys.
Scaling Action Keys
A block of action keys can be scaled horizontally (effectively speeding-up or
slowing-down the action) by selecting number of keys and pressing SKEY. Moving the mouse horizontally will scale the block. LMB will finalize the operation.
Deleting Action Keys
Delete one or more selected action keys by pressing XKEY
when the mouse cursor is over the keyframe area of the action window.
Duplicating Action Keys
A block of action keys can be duplicated and moved within the same action by
selecting the desired keys and pressing SHIFT+D. This will
immediately enter grab mode so that the new block of keys can be moved.
Subsequently LMB will finalize the location of the new keys.
Deleting Action Channels
Delete one or more entire action channels (and all associated keys) by
selecting the action channels in the left-most portion of the action window (the
selected channels will be highlighted in blue). With the mouse still over the
left-hand portion of the window, press XKEY and confirm the
deletion. Note that there is no undo so perform this operation with care.
Action IPO
The action ipo is a special ipo type that is only applicable to bones.
Instead of using Euler angles to encode rotation, action ipos use quaternions,
which provide better interpolation between poses.
Quaternions
Instead of using a three-component Euler angle, quaternions use a
four-component vector. It is generally difficult to describe the relationships
of these quaternion channels to the resulting orientation, but it is often not
necessary. It is best to generate quaternion keyframes by manipulating the bones
directly, only editing the specific curves to adjust lead-in and lead-out
transitions.
The action actuator provides an interface for controlling action playback in
the game engine. Action actuators can only be created on armature objects.
Play Modes
- Play
-
Once triggered, the action will play all the way to the end, regardless of
other signals is receives.
- Flipper
-
When it receives a positive signal, the action will play to the end. When
it no longer receives a positive signal it will play from its current frame
back to the start.
- Loop Stop
-
Once triggered, the action will loop so long as it does not receive a
negative signal. When it does receive a negative signal it will stop
immediately.
- Loop End
-
Once triggered, the action will loop so long as it does not receive a
negative signal. When it does receive a negative signal it will stop only once
it has reached the end of the loop.
- Property
-
The action will display the frame specified in the property field. Will
only update when it receives a positive pulse.
Blending
By editing the ``Blendin'' field you can request that Blender generates
smooth transitions between actions. Blender will create a transition that lasts
as many frames as the number specified in the Blendin field.
Priority
In situations where two action actuators are active on the same frame and
they specify conflicting poses, the priority field can be used to resolve the
conflict. The action with the lowest numbered priority will override actions
with higher numbers. So priority ``0'' actions will override all others. This
field is only important when two actions overlap.
Overlapping Actions
It is now possible to have two non-conflicting action actuators play
simultaneously for the same object. For example, one action could specify the
basic movements of the body, while a second action could be used to drive facial
animation. To make this work correctly, you should ensure that the two actions
do not have any action channels in common. In the facial animation example, the
body movement action should not contain channels for the eyes and mouth. The
facial animation action should not contain channels for the arms and legs, etc.
The following methods are available when scripting the action actuator from
python.
getAction()
Returns a string containing the name of action currently associated with this
actuator.
getBlendin()
Returns a floating-point number indicating the number of blending frames
currently specified for this actuator.
getEnd()
Returns a floating-point number specifying the last frame of the action.
getFrame()
Returns a floating-point number indicating the current frame of playback.
getPriority()
Returns an integer specifying the current priority of this actuator.
getProperty()
Returns a string indicating the name of the property to be used for
``Property-Driven Playback''.
getStart()
Returns a floating-point number specifying the first frame of the action.
setAction(action, reset)
Expects a string action specifying the name of the action to be associated
with this actuator. If the action does not exist in the file, the state of the
actuator is not changed.
If the optional parameter reset is set to 1, this method will reset the
blending timer to 0. If the reset is set to 0 this method leaves the blending
timer alone. If reset is not specified, the blending timer will be automatically
reset. Calling this method does not however, change the start and end frames of
the action. These may need to be set using setStart and setEnd
setBlendin(blendin)
Expects a positive floating-point number blendin specifying the number of
transition frames to generate when switching to this action.
setBlendtime(blendtime)
Expects a floating-point number blendtime in the range between 0.0 and 1.0.
This can be used to directly manipulate the internal timer that is used when
generating transitions. Setting a blendtime of 0.0 means that the result pose
will be 100% based on the last known frame of animation. Setting a value of 1.0
means that the pose will be 100% based on the new action.
setChannel(channelname, matrix)
Accepts a string channelname specifying the name of a valid action channel or
bone name, and a 4x4 matrix (a list of four lists of four floats each)
specifying an overriding transformation matrix for that bone. Note that the
transformations are in local bone space (i.e. the matrix is an offset from the
bone's rest position).
This function will override the data contained in the action (if any) for one
frame only. On the subsequent frame, the action will revert to its normal
course, unless the channel name passed to setChannel is not specified in the
action. If you wish to override the action for more than one frame, this method
must be called on each frame.
Note that the override specified in this method will take priority over all
other actuators.
setEnd(end)
Accepts a floating-point number end, which specifies what the last frame of
the action should be.
setFrame(frame)
Passing a floating-point number frame allows the script to directly
manipulate the actuator's current frame. This is low-level functionality for
advanced use only. The preferred method is to use Property-Driven Playback mode.
setPriority(priority)
Passing an integer priority allows the script to set the priority for this
actuator. Actuators with lower priority values will override actuators with
higher numbers.
setProperty(propertyname)
This method accepts a string propertyname and uses it to specify the property
used for Property-Driven-Playback. Note that if the actuator is not set to use
Property-Playback, setting this value will have no effect.
setStart(start)
To specify the starting frame of the action, pass a floating-point number
start to this method.
Constraints are filters that are applied to the transformations of bones and
objects. These constraints can provide a variety of services including tracking
and IK solving.
Constraint Evaluation Rules
Constraints can be applied to objects or bones. In the case of constraints
applied to bones, any constraints on the armature OBJECT will be evaluated
before the constraints on the bones are considered.
When a specific constraint is evaluated, all of its dependencies will have
already been evaluated and will be in their final orientation/positions.
Examples of dependencies are the object's parent, its parent's parents (if any)
and the hierarchies of any targets specified in the constraint.
Within a given object, constraints are executed from top to bottom.
Constraints that occur lower in the list may override the effects of constraints
higher in the list. Each constraint receives as input the results of the
previous constraint. The input to the first constraint in the list is the output
of the ipos associated with the object.
If several constraints of the same type are specified in a contiguous block,
the constraint will be evaluated ONCE for the entire block, using an average of
all the targets. In this way you can constrain an object to track to the point
between two other objects, for example.
Looping constraints are not allowed. If a loop is detected, all of the
constraints involved will be temporarily disabled (and highlighted in red). Once
the conflict has been resolved, the constraints will automatically re-activate.
Creating Objects
To add a constraint to an object, ensure you are in object mode and that the
object is selected. Switch to the constraint buttons window (the icon looks like
a pair of chain links) and click on the ``Add'' button.
A
new constraint will appear. It can be deleted by clicking on the ``X'' icon next
to it. A constraint can be collapsed by clicking on its orange triangle icon.
When collapsed, a constraint can be moved up or down in the constraint list by
clicking on it at choosing ``Move Up'' or ``Move Down'' from the popup menu.
For most constraints, a target must be specified in the appropriate field. In
this field you must type in the name of the desired target object. If the
desired target is a bone, first type in the name of the bone's armature. Another
box will appear allowing you to specify the name of the bone.
Bones
To add a constraint to a bone, you must be in pose mode and have the bone
selected.
Constraint Types
IK Solver
To
simplify animation of multi-segmented limbs (such as arms and legs) you can add
an IK solver constraint. IK constraints can only be added to bones. Once a
target is specified, the solver will attempt to move the ROOT of the
constraint-owning bone to the target, by re-orienting the bone's parents (but it
will not move the root of the chain). If a solution is not possible, the solver
will attempt to get as close as possible. Note that this constraint will
override the orientations on any of the IK bone's parents.
Copy Rotation
This
constraint copies the global transformation of the target and applies it to the
constraint owner.
Copy Location
The
constraint copies one or more axes of location from the target to the constraint
owner.
Track To
This
constraint causes the constraint owner to point its Y-axis towards the target.
The Z-axis will be oriented according to the setting in the anim-buttons window.
By default, the Z-axis will be rolled to point upwards.
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