I've finally fixed the bug with the Constraint Space Conversion. It was a single matrix multiplication in the wrong order (for local->pose).
Also, there is more code added for the space conversion process when bones have 'hinge' on. (NOTE: this stuff for hinge bones may still not work really nice yet)
Here are some attempts at fixing bugs being encountered with the constraint system after the recode. I've just fixed a few typos (where relevant), and added some extra checks for things.
This commit adds a new constraint to Blender: the Transformation Constraint. This constraint gives you more freedom to choose how transforms are copied from one object/bone to another object/bone.
You can assign the Loc/Rot/Scale channels of a source to the Loc/Rot/Scale channels of a destination, specifying the range of motion (per axis) from the source to consider, and the range of motion (per axis) that will be applied to the destination. Also, for each destination axis, you can choose which of the source axes to copy from.
A similar constraint was coded by Jason Blary (snark), as Patch #4991. This constraint is basically rewritten from scratch, although there are some elements of the original patch which may be borrowed in future.
Various notes:
* PyAPI access has been coded.
* Space conversion is also enabled for this constraint.
* Also the useless get_constraint_col function has been removed
* Doing a rotation copy with a ratio that is not 1:1 doesn't always work correctly yet (like for the Copy Rotation constraint).
* Removed obsolete comments from constraints code
* ChildOf constraint buttons: Set/Clear Inverse are now Set/Clear Offset. Hopefully that makes it a bit clearer for users.
After just over a week of coding, I've finished doing a major refactor/cleanup of the constraints code. In the process, quite a few old kludges and ugly hacks have been removed. Also, some new features which will greatly benefit riggers have been implemented.
=== What's New ===
* The long-awaited ``ChildOf Constraint'':
This allows you to animate parent influences, and choose which transformation channels the parent affects the child on (i.e. no translation/rotation/scaling). It should be noted that disabling some combinations may not totally work as expected. Also, the 'Set Inverse' and 'Clear Inverse' buttons at the bottom of this constraint's panel set/clear the inverse correction for the parent's effects. Use these to make the owner not stick/be glued to the parent.
* Constraint/Target Evaluation Spaces:
In some constraints, there are now 1-2 combo boxes at the bottom of their panel, which allows you to pick which `co-ordinate space' they are evaluated in. This is much more flexible than the old 'local' options for bones only were.
* Action Constraint - Loc/Rot/Size Inputs
The Action Constraint can finally use the target's location/rotation/scaling transforms as input, to control the owner of the constraint. This should work much more reliably than it used to. The target evaluation should now also be more accurate due to the new space conversion stuff.
* Transform - No longer in Crazy Space (TM)
Transforming objects/bones with constraints applied should no longer occur in Crazy Space. They are now correctly inverse-corrected. This also applies to old-style object tracking.
=== General Code Changes ===
* solve_constraints is now in constraints.c. I've removed the old `blend consecutive constraints of same type' junk, which made the code more complex than it needed to be.
* evaluate_constraint is now only passed the constraint, and two matrices. A few unused variables have been removed from here.
* A tempolary struct, bConstraintOb, is now passed to solve_constraints instead of relying on an ugly, static workobject in some cases. This works much better.
* Made the formatting of constraint code consistent
* There's a version patch for older files so that constraint settings are correctly converted to the new system. This is currently done for MajorVersion <= 244, and SubVersion < 3. I've bumped up the subversion to 3 for this purpose. However, with the imminent 2.45 release, this may need to be adjusted accordingly.
* LocEulSizeToMat4 and LocQuatSizeToMat4 now work in the order Size, Rot, Location. I've also added a few other math functions.
* Mat4BlendMat4 is now in arithb. I've modified it's method slightly, to use other arithb functions, instead of its crazy blending scheme.
* Moved some of the RigidBodyJoint constraint's code out of blenkernel, and into src. It shouldn't be setting its target in its data initialisation function based + accessing scene stuff where it was doing so.
=== Future Work ===
* Geometry to act as targets for constraints. A space has been reserved for this already.
* Tidy up UI buttons of constraints
ID Properties weren't being duplicated (by shift-D or any of the other
duplication functions). So now ID properties are duplicated in the
main copy_libblock function, which (as far as I can check) covers all
ID-contained ID properties.
I also updated the constraint system to copy pyconstraint ID properties
on shift-D.
This would probably be a good thing to add to the stable branch, btw.
Simplified the code in two functions where checking for targets/subtargets could really have been done using Constraint API methods (constraint_has_target, get_constraint_target).
At last! The ability to code constraints in Python. This opens up many interesting rigging possibilities, as well as making prototyping constraints easier.
* A PyConstraint script must begin with the line
#BPYCONSTRAINT
* It must also define a doConstraint function, which performs the core actions of the constraint.
* PyConstraints use IDProperties to store custom properties for each PyConstraint instance. The scripter can choose which of these ID-Properties to expose to a user to control the behaviour of the constraint. This must be done using the Draw.PupBlock method.
Credits to Joe Eager (joeedh) for coding the original patch on which this is based. I've made heavy revisions to large parts of the patch.
For more detailed information, and some demo scripts, see the following page:
http://aligorith.googlepages.com/pyconstraints2
This (new) constraint limits the location of an object/bone to the range of locations
on a given curve. It works by comparing the location of the owner on one axis, to
the extents of the curve's bounding-box on the same axis, to find the location on
the curve.
Usage Notes:
* 'Ob:' field must point to a valid curve object
* This curve should have 'Path' turned on in order for this constraint to work. You
don't really need to do this as it will be taken care of by the code.
* 'Auto' toggle automically determines which axis should be used for the distance estimations/calculations. It is the default option, but may not work that well for
some cases.
* X/Y/Z toggles can be used to select the axis to use for these calculations. Try
to choose the axis along which the curve stretches out for most.
Python Notes:
Python API access for this constraint is not included in this commit. Will be coming
soon.
Patch by Juho Vepsäläinen (bebraw)
[ #5850 ] Inverted axis' buttons to Copy Rotation and Copy Location constraints
This patch adds the options to invert the value being copied from each axis of the Copy Rot/Copy Loc constraints.
This commit also includes some slight code sanitization and tool tips cleanup (for the two track constraints, the tool tips were really unuseful).
copy system with rigidbody constraint will link new constraints to new objects (instead of old)
fps from blender will be used when baking (left shift/ctrl/alt + P)
Now, when only one axis toggle is on and click on it, all of the other
toggles will not be turned on.
For this to work, I've moved the version patches in the drawing/evaluation
code for this constraint to the file-reading code.
Patch by Matthew Plough: This adds an option to the Track To constraint to use the target's Z axis for Up axis reference instead of the global Z axis.
Off by default for backward compat.
Although we will delay the main Rigid Body user interface after 2.43 release early 2007, I need some constraint data/UI to make progress with COLLADA Physics.
Added RigidBody constraint UI
LR_ALTKEY+LR_CTRLKEY+LR_SHIFTKEY+ P will bake rigidbody
Contribution by RCRuiz, Ramon Carlos.
Made them use the new the two new math functions I've added in arith.c (in
various patches) - Mat4ToEul and LocEulSizeToMat4 - cutting down on the
amount of code reuse.
The "Copy Size" constraint was calling a where_is_object(), this caused
the depsgraph to mess up in very weird ways and rare occasions. In the
sample file it showed strange lags in bones for using the "Stride bone"
option.
While trying to locate the bug I've revisited the Pose depsgraph in detail,
trying to figure out how it can print possible cycle errors in dependency.
That has been added now too (in console). Unfortunately the bugreport
example had no cycle errors. :)
making it much more useful. Requested and taunted for frequently by
Plumiferos folks. Click on "Use Rot" to take target object rotations
into account.
Good for using rotated empties, etc., as a sloped floor.
- Using NLA stride didn't work at all for Motion Blur render... appeared to
be a typo even, using 'ctime' instead of 'stime'. :)
- When entering editmode on a striding Armature, the position of the
armature was incorrect (missing depsgraph refresh)
- changes in constraint.c is just a small cleanup, unused 'ctime' arg.
Posemode, Wkey option "Select constraint target" did not work for Copy
Scale constraint.
Also added a check for NULL pointer, constraint targets cannot exist...
Small fix, but results are at least less frustrating now. It uses the
"compatible euler" function from inserting key positions here, preventing
euler values to be constrainted that differ weirdly.
I've tried several other approaches to get a definite rotate constraint,
but only constraining a single axes seems to me impossible magic still...
At long last!
This new constraint is pretty simple. Following in the footsteps of such giants as Copy Loc and Copy Rot, it lets you constrain the size of an object/bone to another object/bone, with per axis restrictions.
Here are my notes on things to look out for as potential problem
spots:
source/blender/blenkernel/intern/displist.c:
+ is initfastshade(void) supposed to be empty? I had
to make it empty to get the merged tree to compile.
source/blender/python/api2_2x/Armature.c:
+ went with the version that had Armature_getLayers()
source/blender/python/api2_2x/Object.c
+ went with the version of Object_getPose() from bf-blender.
(#ifdef 0-ed the other version)
source/blender/python/api2_2x/Pose.[ch]
+ had problems linking due to no Pose_Init() ... copied these
two files straight from bf-blender.
source/blender/src/drawview.c:
+ view3d_panel_properties() had things shifted a few things shifted
a few pixels, otherwise, things were painless
source/blender/src/splash.jpg.c:
+ went with bf-blender version (orange is dead)
source/gameengine:
+ went with bf-blender version -- does not compile due to IMB_rect* stuff,
Ton should look into this.
- follow path constraint + stride path didn't update correct on file load
- selection of 'stick' bones didn't work in object mode, solid view
- change bone layer sends redraw to NLA too
The locality is restricted to action or user-transform only. Or as it goes
in the code now: by setting a constraint local, it executes the constraint
before it calculates the influence of Action or user transforms.
ALso note that this works in Evil Eulerians. Meaning that when you only
want to copy the X,Y or Z compenent of a euler, it can give unpredictable
results when the other euler values are set, this because euler axis
rotations work on top of each other.
1) Target-less IK
If you add an IK constraint without a target set (no object or bone target),
it now can be grabbed and moved with IK, using its own Bone tip or root as
target itself. This way you can use IK for posing, without having the IK
executed while it animates or while a Pose is being solved for real IK.
After grabbing "Target-less IK", it applies the resulted motion in the
pose-channels, which then can be used to insert keypositions.
The Target-less IK bone can still be rotated without IK, also its chain
can be edited as usual.
UI: The CTRL+I menu gives this as an option too. In the 3D window it is
drawn with orangish color.
Note that IK is not resistant to non-uniform scaling yet.
2) Auto-IK
When the option "Automatic IK" is set, in Edit Buttons Armature Panel,
it creates automatic temporal Target-less IK for the Bone you grab or
translate.
The rules are:
- it only works when a single Bone is selected
- if the Bone is a root bone (no parent), it adds IK to the end of the
chain(s)
- otherwise it adds the IK to the active Bone
- the temporal IK chain only consists of connected Bones.
This method is still a bit experimental. Maybe it should become a special
grabbing option (like SHIFT+G in Pose Mode). It also only works OK for rigs
that fit for it well... when a rig already is fully setup with IK it can't
do much good. :)
- Action Editor: hotkeys V and H for handles were invisible, added menus
- NLA strips: when current frame is exactly on the strip end, it didn't
include that action... needs a rounding correction for it.
- Action/NLA: deleting keys in Action, which results in only 1 key left,
resulted in zero sized strip length. Now the strips are defaulted to be
1 frame in size minimal.
- NLA editor: ALT+C "Convert to strip" didn't increment Action user count
- 3D Window: CTRL+P make parent to Bone still gave the insane menu with all
bone names. With unified PoseMode select it can just parent to the
active Bone. Note; this now requires the Armature to be in PoseMode to
work.
- Rotation Constraint; the new options to only map to X,Y,Z rotation, did
set the not mapped rotation axes to zero. These should remain unchanged.
- AutoKey optionn for Actions; should not insert action keys on ESC
And added a fix myself:
- When SHIFT+selecting a Bone in PoseMode, and the Armature was not selected
or active yet, it doesn't extend-select/deselect the Bone anymore.
This case is only useful when you try to add IK or Constraint, so the
shift+selection should only activate the clicked Bone.
First note that this is new functionality, unfinished, and only for
testing and feedback purposes. I'll list below what works, and what will
need work still.
This text is also in cms: http://www.blender.org/cms/Ipo_Drivers.680.0.html
An IpoDriver is like an IpoCurve, but instead of a Bezier curve, it allows
to connect a property of other Objects as input for the "channel". For
example, IpoDrivers can be used to have a Shape Key being "driven" by
the rotation of a Bone. Or the RGB colors of a Material get driven by the
XYZ location of an Object.
Editing of Drivers happens in the IpoWindow. Here you can notice that the
channels (right hand window) now have an "active" channel indicator.
To add a Driver, you have to use the "Transform Properties" Panel (Nkey).
Here you can add or remove a Driver to the active channel, and use the
buttons to fill in what kind of relationship you want to establish.
Driver Objects
Note that any Ipo Channel can become driven now, but that only Object
transformation or Pose Bone transformation can be used to become a
Driver now.
At this moment, only the local transformation is taken into account.
For Objects that means the location/rotation/scale value without Parent
transform (as shown in "Transform Properties" Panel for Objects).
For Pose Bones it means that only the Pose transform (changes of rest
position) is Driver information (also as shown in Transform Property
Panel in Pose Mode).
Mapping of Drivers
When an Ipo Channel is "driven", the mapping is by default one-to-one.
It is only restricted by already built-in limits for Channels, like
for Material the "R" value can only range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Also note that when mapping rotations, the actual rotation values
in Ipos are scaled down with a factor 10.0. (180 degrees actually has
in the Ipo system a value of 18.0). This is an ancient year zero
convention in Blender... it is a bit hidden, because the ruler
(vertical as well as horizontal) displays the virtual values correctly.
Only the Properties panel shows the actual value.
When you draw an IpoCurve in a Driven channel, this curve will define
the mapping between the Driver output (horizontal) and Driven input
(vertical, as usual).
A nice new option to use is "Insert one-to-one curve" (press I-key,
or in pulldown menu). This will also zoom the display in exactly to
fill the window, allowing easy edit. If you use this option with
degrees, it will map 180 degree rotation to a range of 1.0 unit.
Live updates
Since the Drivers are integrated in the Ipo system, they will always
be updated whenever an Ipo is evaluated. This happens at least on
frame changes.
For interactive feedback, updates while transforming objects were
added in these cases:
- Driven Object Ipos, by other Objects or Pose Bones
- Driven Shape Key Ipos, by other Objects or Pose Bones
You can also insert Drivers on Action Ipos, but these are only evaluated
on frame change now.
Todo
- Drivers can also get a text button, allowing a 1 line Python script
to be executed.
- Make UI for it a bit less hidden... maybe with visualization in 3D?
- Allowing global transform coordinates as Driver too.
Issues
- renaming Bones won't rename drivers
- (file) appending the Ipo won't append the linked driver Objects
Minor modifications to simplify the code in evaluate_constraint.
The "Stick" feature will need more work as it gives bad results when skipping frames, jumping around on the timeline and when going backward in time.
Suggestion: Would be nice if it could use the local space too, not just global space planes.
Full logs for changes will be added later. Worth to note now;
- support for 'tree IK' added
- DOF and stiffness per IK bone (in pose only)
- Orientation IK support (target rotates -> chain follows)
This is still WIP. Buttons might change, button ranges will change, and the
way 'IK groups' are working will change. You can play with this, but don't
expect saved files to work still by end of this day! :)
