Patch by: Matt Ebb (broken)
Currently in Blender, NLA action modifiers can work in very wacky and mysterious ways.
If an action is being modified with a path deform, when it reaches the end of that strip, it will snap back to the original un-modified location, regardless of whether the strip 'Hold' option is on. It's very frustrating to work with, and causes all sorts of problems - if you use a path to make a character walk from point A to point B, you generally want him to stay at point B, and not jump somewhere completely different, just because the strip ended.
This patch fixes this behaviour, and makes it much more sensible and predictable. There is a chance that this will break old files that were reliant on the old broken behaviour though, but I think it's definitely worthwhile to fix this problem.
Check the demo file in Blender 2.45 vs one with this patch applied - you can see the difference in behaviour.
Demo File Link (attachment in original tracker post):
https://projects.blender.org/tracker/download.php/9/127/7779/4856/wheelsetup2.zip
Relative shapekeys now allow to define the Shape it is relative to!
(It used to be relative with respect to the first key, which is still
default).
The reason for this feature is that keys don't always add together
well when they're all derived from the same base shape. A clear
example is hard to make... will wait for someone posting it. :)
- error fix: overall weight group value was used inverted
- added "Inv" button to make weight group work inverted
- added bigger, more clear Multi Modifier button
This allows to mix between the result of 2 modifiers, with both
using the same input state. This is useful for having a mesh deform
and armature deform working together.
However! This functionality could have been presented better...
this is actually Node editor stuff!
Now it works by adding a "MM" button, next to the "overall vgroup"
option. If MM is pressed, the input of this modifier is the same as
the input of the previous modifier.
Only the armature modifier has this option now...
This option sets the relative scaling factor to the amount set in the
scene "100%/75%/50%/25%" buttons. It's useful when you've got a fixed
background image, and want to do preview renders at a lesser
percentage, so you don't have to go and change the scale node each
time you change the %.
Also removed unnecessary use of a global from texture node.
Support for using the axes of a different object as the line of mirror
symmetry for a mirror modifier. As a nice consequence, this allows
"clipping" to arbitrary planes in editmode.
A fun example of using a couple of mirror modifiers and an array
modifier to easily make a nice flower type model is here:
http://bebop.cns.ualberta.ca/~cwant/chocolateC05.blend
Patch by: Roland Hess (harkyman)
For example, a constraint can be sub-targeted at the 50% (or 31.2% or 85% etc.) point of its target bone, giving you enormous rigging flexibility and removing the need for complex contraptions to do such things as:
- A bone whose base slides only between to points on a rig (CopyLoc with a variable, animated subtarget point)
- Bones that attach to multiple points along another bone (CopyLocs, each with a different head/tail percentage)
- Bones that need to stretch to a point midway between specific spots on two other bones (old way: too crazy to mention; new way: stretch bone between points on end bones, then another stretch to the midpoint of the first stretch)
It is only used for the constraint types for which it is relevant: CopyLoc, TrackTo, StretchTo and MinMax, TrackTo, and Floor.
Notes:
- This is accessed by the Head/Tail number-slider.
- This value can be animated per constraint
- The old "Copy Bone Tail" option for the CopyLoc constraint has been automatically converted to 1.0 Head/Bone values for the affected constraints
- In the code, this value is in the bConstraint struct, so it is available for all constraints, even though only a few implement it.
====================
Dynamic binding support. This means that the mesh can move _within_
the cage and still deform correct. If the mesh goes out of the cage,
don't expect correct result. Must be enabled with the 'Dynamic'
option, because it is slower and consumes more memory.
This is useful to use e.g. the cage mesh for main deformations and
still have shape keys for facial deformation working.
* made stamp filename optional
* renamed weightpaint "Filter" to "Blur"
* made the defailt weightpaint opacity 1.0 rather then 0.2 so when you select 1.0 weight you can paint it with without multiple clicks.
B-bones didn't work well with non-uniform scaling applied to them.
The code to solve this is not too pretty, but don't know how to do
it simpler, and at least it makes that stretchy spine work.
====================
The MeshDeform modifier can deform a mesh with another 'cage' mesh.
It is similar to a lattice modifier, but instead of being restricted
to the regular grid layout of a lattice, the cage mesh can be modeled
to fit the mesh better.
http://www.blender.org/development/current-projects/changes-since-244/modifiers/
Implementation Notes:
- OpenNL has been refactored a bit to allow least squares matrices to
be built without passing the matrix row by row, but instead with
random access. MDef doesn't need this actually, but it's using this
version of OpenNL so I'm just committing it now.
- Mean value weights for polygons have been added to arithb.c, a type
of barycentric coordinates for polygons with >= 3 vertices. This
might be useful for other parts of blender too.
"Rotation Difference"
This option, for Bones, allows the angle between two Bones to be
the driver for another Ipo channel. This angle now is hardcoded
based on the Bone-space orientation (without parenting rotation).
Thanks to nathan for poking and test!
==
Solving is now done independent of scale, by scaling the chain to have a
size of about 1.0. This solves some issues with small or big chains, and
also makes the IK stretch setting independent of scale. The latter breaks
backwards compatibility somewhat, but is an improvement over what it did
before.
This changes the default behaviour in adding new objects, which has been
discussed for a long time, in person, on the funboard, and in the tracker,
and was agreed to be implemented during the 2.5 release cycle, so here it is.
They have been made default, with preferences to bring back old behaviour since
although people like myself still prefer the new default anyway, it will benefit
new users the most.
The preferences are in the 'Edit Methods' section, changing back to old behaviour
is as simple as a click of a button.
- Switch to edit mode preference
By default, now adding a new object doesn't automatically switch to edit mode.
Not only can this be annoying (most of the time when setting up scenes and models
I don't want to edit it straight away anyway), but it's a major hurdle in the learning
curve that new users have had to deal with at a very early stage.
Blender's different modes are an important part of understanding how the software works
and should have clear behaviour. The problem is that when a user selects something from
the add menu, he's not telling Blender to change modes, he wants to add an object.
But Blender then goes ahead and changes modes underneath him anyway, something that was
never explicitly asked for, something that's unrelated to the mental task at hand, and
fundamentally important to the operation of the software.
We observed plenty of people struggling with this during the training sessions that
we ran during Project Orange, and there's also no shortage of "why can't I select
other objects" questions on the forums.
- Aligned to View preference
Now by default, adding a new object doesn't rotate it so it's aligned facing the view,
but rather, it's remains unrotated in world space. This is something that's more of
a convenience issue (allowing people like me to stop the 'Add->Tab->Alt R dance),
but also makes things easier for new users, especially when doing things like rigging.
For a lot of tools in Blender, like curve deform, path cycling, constraints, it's necessary
for your objects' local axes to be aligned. This requirement isn't that obvious, and I've
had to debug rigs a few times from the animator in our studio, who has everything set up
correctly, but he just happened to be in a different vie at the time he added the object,
so they're misaligned and causing problems. Having all objects get created aligned to
worldspace, by default, makes a lot of these problems go away. It's much more understandable
when rotations are caused by something you've done explicitly, rather than as a side effect
of the software.
For convenience as well, most of the time, when I'm working in context and I decide I need a new object,
particularly working on production scenes that involve more than just one model, an Alt R
is almost always required after adding, since I don't want to have to disrupt the current
view of the scene by switching to top view, just to add an object. It's a bit arbitrary,
the view from which you want to look at your objects isn't usually the way you want them to
be looking at you.
Now the Copy Scale Constraint also has the Offset functionality that Copy Loc/Rot have.
== Copy Rotation Constraint ==
Also, fixed the tooltip for the CopyRot Offset button.
Note: when working with pose-bones, and using offset, setting both owner+target spaces to pose-space should cancel any unwanted rotations visible.
Copy Rotation constraint now has ability for the owner's rotation to be added on top of the copied rotation (i.e. an 'offset' like for the Copy Location constraint).
