Bone Selection Design #54949

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William Reynish · 2018-05-04T11:01:41+02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:01:41 +02:00

In Blender 2.8, we want to avoid relying on wireframes for users to do their work.
Currently, Wireframe Mode is used as a way to select bones that are only visible inside the mesh.

Here's how we intend to solve that.

Normal view. The bones are inside the mesh, so the animator cannot see them:

If the user wants to select a bone, he/she can press the Z key. This enables 'Bone Selection X-Ray' overlay mode.

Here, the mesh is dimmed using a transparent overlay. The meshes or materials themselves don't change, they simply become darker, and the bones fade into view, like so:

The user can now select a bone.

If the user HOLDS the Z key, we can show a 'local' X-Ray view:

When a bone is selected, the user can see it on top, like so:

Here's a view with multiple characters, both of which are in Pose Mode:

While transforming, the user only sees the active bone:

In Blender 2.8, we want to avoid relying on wireframes for users to do their work. Currently, Wireframe Mode is used as a way to select bones that are only visible inside the mesh. Here's how we intend to solve that. Normal view. The bones are inside the mesh, so the animator cannot see them: ![bone_selection.001.jpeg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3253610/bone_selection.001.jpeg) If the user wants to select a bone, he/she can press the Z key. This enables 'Bone Selection X-Ray' overlay mode. Here, the mesh is dimmed using a transparent overlay. The meshes or materials themselves don't change, they simply become darker, and the bones fade into view, like so: ![bone_selection.002.jpeg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3253613/bone_selection.002.jpeg) The user can now select a bone. If the user HOLDS the Z key, we can show a 'local' X-Ray view: ![bone_selection.003.jpeg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3253651/bone_selection.003.jpeg) When a bone is selected, the user can see it on top, like so: ![bone_selection.004.jpeg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3253659/bone_selection.004.jpeg) Here's a view with multiple characters, both of which are in Pose Mode: ![bone_selection.005.jpg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3254120/bone_selection.005.jpg) While transforming, the user only sees the active bone: ![boneselection.001.jpeg](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F3254272/boneselection.001.jpeg)

William Reynish self-assigned this 2018-05-04 11:01:41 +02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:01:41 +02:00

Added subscribers: @WilliamReynish, @dfelinto, @Jeroen-Bakker

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:35:44 +02:00

Added subscriber: @LucianoMunoz

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:35:44 +02:00

I like the ideas here,
wouldnt it be nice that the mesh around the bones would dim automagically while you hover around a bone that's inside the mesh?
this could be a property for the bone to have on / off, so you can set in the rig the bones that will benefit from this, maybe by default they're all on, and if youre getting into more complex rigs you choose not to have this function for certain bones.

I like the ideas here, wouldnt it be nice that the mesh around the bones would dim automagically while you hover around a bone that's inside the mesh? this could be a property for the bone to have on / off, so you can set in the rig the bones that will benefit from this, maybe by default they're all on, and if youre getting into more complex rigs you choose not to have this function for certain bones.

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:36:41 +02:00

That's what image #3 already shows.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:37:31 +02:00

i meant without holding Z, just by hovering

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:38:24 +02:00

actually forget my comment, this makes more sense.

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:39:33 +02:00

Ah, right. Yes, we may test various methods to engage and disengage this view.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:46:21 +02:00

amazing man, I think youre doing a great job!!!,
cant wait to test the new stuff out!

amazing man, I think youre doing a great job!!!, cant wait to test the new stuff out!

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:46:59 +02:00

Have you put some thought into how to combine bones with the face selection thingy?

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:48:30 +02:00

This view will not be necessary when using Face Maps. Face Maps are a rigging feature, and so we needed a way to pose armatures if riggers haven't added Face Maps.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 11:50:05 +02:00

Oh yes, totally, I was saying if you're thinking of a combined workflow with this and facemaps, say i want to use facemaps for the facial rig, but for the rest of the body just bare bones.

William Reynish commented

2018-05-04 11:53:04 +02:00

That will be for the rigger to decide.

Facemaps work especially well for limbs, which are very easy to select and manipulate.

That will be for the rigger to decide. Facemaps work especially well for limbs, which are very easy to select and manipulate.

Joshua Leung commented

2018-05-04 11:56:02 +02:00

Added subscribers: @billrey, @JoshuaLeung

Joshua Leung commented

2018-05-04 11:56:02 +02:00

Face maps for faces, and bone xrays for bones. Perfect :)

BTW, @LucianoMunoz I take it that your previous suggestion - about hovering over hidden bones without pressing any keys and having the one under the cursor show up over the mesh - as being analogous to a kind of "preselection highlighting" like tool? As we don't really want to support preselection highlighting for various reasons, I doubt we'd support that particular variant either.

On another note, as I was mentioning to @billrey, there's also the issue of what kind of radius we want to use for including/not-including bones for the zkey-hold thing.

Face maps for faces, and bone xrays for bones. Perfect :) BTW, @LucianoMunoz I take it that your previous suggestion - about hovering over hidden bones without pressing any keys and having the one under the cursor show up over the mesh - as being analogous to a kind of "preselection highlighting" like tool? As we don't really want to support preselection highlighting for various reasons, I doubt we'd support that particular variant either. On another note, as I was mentioning to @billrey, there's also the issue of what kind of radius we want to use for including/not-including bones for the zkey-hold thing.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-04 12:32:25 +02:00

@JoshuaLeung : forgive me, I wasnt trying to sneak in a preselection highligting it just felt like it would be nice to let the user know when you can click...

@billrey : what i meant with the statement above is will facemaps work in armatures pose mode?, is that the intended workflow?, because I dont see use for it if I have to jump out of the armature selection to select an object to select a facemap,
that's what i was trying to ask.

@JoshuaLeung : forgive me, I wasnt trying to sneak in a preselection highligting it just felt like it would be nice to let the user know when you can click... @billrey : what i meant with the statement above is will facemaps work in armatures pose mode?, is that the intended workflow?, because I dont see use for it if I have to jump out of the armature selection to select an object to select a facemap, that's what i was trying to ask.

Dalai Felinto commented

2018-05-07 09:26:00 +02:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Dalai Felinto closed this issue

2018-05-07 09:26:00 +02:00

William Reynish commented

2018-05-07 15:38:08 +02:00

In #54949#499633, @LucianoMunoz wrote:
@JoshuaLeung : forgive me, I wasnt trying to sneak in a preselection highligting it just felt like it would be nice to let the user know when you can click...

@billrey : what i meant with the statement above is will facemaps work in armatures pose mode?, is that the intended workflow?, because I dont see use for it if I have to jump out of the armature selection to select an object to select a facemap,
that's what i was trying to ask.

We want to make Face Maps work in Pose Mode instead. That way it won't be an issue.

> In #54949#499633, @LucianoMunoz wrote: > @JoshuaLeung : forgive me, I wasnt trying to sneak in a preselection highligting it just felt like it would be nice to let the user know when you can click... > > @billrey : what i meant with the statement above is will facemaps work in armatures pose mode?, is that the intended workflow?, because I dont see use for it if I have to jump out of the armature selection to select an object to select a facemap, > that's what i was trying to ask. We want to make Face Maps work in Pose Mode instead. That way it won't be an issue.

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2018-05-07 15:52:18 +02:00

Amazing <3

Loïc DAUTRY commented

2018-05-09 01:01:30 +02:00

Added subscriber: @L0Lock

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Bone Selection Design #54949