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!
* Loading old (2.4x) files with keyframes now inits them properly so that keyframes are tagged as normal keyframes not breakdowns
* TrackTo consraint was flagged wrongly for adding it with a target. This meant that the target didn't get set when using the Ctrl-Shift-C hotkey.
* #19419: PoseLib rename/remove tools could crash when an invalid
(However, now care is needed when touching that index field, since the warnings can keep piling up)
* Added Browse Poses for PoseLib to the toolbar
* Removing constraints from bones now properly updates. A DAG rebuild is now forced, and the constraint flags are cleared.
* Attempting to improve the situation with Copy Rotation constraint and rotation orders other than xyz. Unforunately, it looks like a different method is required...
* Split object_edit.c into multiple files:
object_add.c, object_edit.c, object_hook.c, object_relations.c,
object_select.c, object_transform.c.
* Rename files to have consistent object_ and mball_ prefix:
object_shapekey.c, object_lattice.c, object_vgroup.c, mball_edit.c.
* Added operators:
* vertex group menu and set active
* apply location, rotation, scale, visual transform (location is new)
* make local
* make vertex parent
* move to layer
* convert to curve/mesh (not finished yet)
* Many small fixes for marked issues, but still much code to be cleaned
up here...
