Blender Instant Animation Version 1.0

Blender Instant Animation Version 1.0 . . . . release . . .

I am releasing Blender Instant Animation Version 1.0 today. You will need to download the Blender file from my Github Site, this is not yet a plugin, I want it to be out for a while before I add it as a plugin. The tutorials are done, in two parts, Part One is about 9 minutes long, located here: https://youtu.be/XgPWicNP1ng Part Two is about 15 minutes long, located here: https://youtu.be/25WA77n_gOI The tutorial says that the quadruped has no ears, but that is no longer so, I fixed that today . . . 5,972 lines of Python code. To truly understand how to make the program work for you, you should watch BOTH tutorials. Questions, comments, ideas are welcome. This is the Blender version of what what originally created in Maya (as Walkerman), a long time ago by me, and I have to say that, as a programmer, Blender by far and wide exceeds Maya in so many ways. I do not say this because it was easier to write this program in Blender, it was not, just that Blender has more capability and less problems with the coding. Call it a personal bias if you like. Download the Blender file IAVersion_1.0.blend at my github site. https://github.com/Skywola/anim Watch the tutorial to get started.

Uh-oh, I fiddled with buttons and now the man is walking like a spastic while the bird is hopping on him!
Can’t wait to try other ones!
Yes please! There be dragons!

A dragon would simply be a quadruped with wings I suppose. On the old Walkerman program, I was able to delete parts of one character and parent it to another character, but it was complicated and messy. It probably would not work well, because the controls would not be available for one part. When I get some time, I will see if I can get an option put on the quadruped, like a button, to add wings . . . . same with the biped, because who knows, someone might want to create a flying biped. I have considered the idea of just modulizing parts so you could build your own monster of different parts, but I am not sure how you would apply the controls that way . . .

Yes, pretty that.
A dragon: a quadruped with wings (and a tail)
A man with wings: an angel.
And so on…
Good job, I like that.

Go to my Github site https://github.com/Skywola/anim and look for version 1.1 . . . in this case, I have added the wings as a separate “character”, so they work like a character would, but once you have created them, you will have to parent them to whatever you are adding the wings to. (The action adjustments for the wings work off of a separate panel too.) I have done some testing on them, and as far as I can tell they work well, but this is a new feature, so if you run across any problems let me know. There are two ways you can deal with skinning issues with the wings, you can simply add more bones to it in edit mode, or, fiddle with the bone weights. I have done some preliminary settings for the bone weights, but until I use the feature, I will not know how good the adjustments are.

Yet it flies…

Need to try to parent to human body…
But… can I modify bones in edit mode, or everything is procedural?
I baked an animation “without baking”, that is I just set the render tab, no 'I’s on timeline…
So I guess it’s all procedural…
Tail Please!

:(:(:frowning: no way… can’t embed an animated gif…

hope it moves on discourse asap…

Yes, you can add and scale bones in the edit mode. This means that you can add bones for functionality, like a tail, or, you can add them simply to improve the way the envelope weights work. (the skinning) I am currently working on an improvement for the wings, I have added more and smaller bones to make up the wings, so you can manipulate them easier, add extra bones, etc. in edit mode. I am also planning on a tutorial for wings themselves.

Wings are controlled by drivers, using mathematics and trigonometry. I am currently working to improve the performance of them and in the process of trying them out to animate a pterodactyl, so I will get a little more insight on what will work best and fastest. One change coming will be more and smaller bones, and some additional bones on the wings to work for parenting feathers to, with manipulators for both the wing and position of the feathers on the wings. Incidentally, version 1.2 is now out on my Github site https://github.com/Skywola/anim although it is only a preliminary taste of what is to come . . . .

This wing modification is an in-process programming thing, so I hope I have your understanding that you may run into a glitch or two here and there right now; I generally try to check things over quite well when i post the code, but because this is still all experimental, it is possible that I might overlook something in the process. Usually when I finish with the modifications, I do a much better sweep to check functionality, and get it operating a max performance.

I gave a try at the new version you posted. I’ve rigged the wings in edit mode modifying bones position, and changing the setup in the addon. Everything worked without problems.
I have to come up with some code for sticking the bones to the objects centers or something similar. I discovered the wings shape (the one I’ve posted) it’s not at all easy to rig, because the twisting layout makes difficult to evaluate position in the space, even with alignment…
:eek:

I exported the script from the blend you posted, and reimported in a clean blend together with the model.
Here’s for reference.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]516618[/ATTACH]

Attachments

feather_wings12.blend.zip (1020 KB)

Wow, I have to admit, I am pretty clueless on how you would apply the matrix math to animate it, I do all my animation with mathematical functions, or, simply using Blender’s interface. That is a pretty complex model to begin with. Even if the bones are not centered, you can add bones and put them in places that control the outlying areas of the model. Your model has a relatively irregular shape, that is the real kicker. Have you watched the tutorial that I posted, in Part Two of it, I go over how to adjust the bone envelope weights.

Part One here: https://youtu.be/XgPWicNP1ng
Part Two here: https://youtu.be/25WA77n_gOI

Envelope weights can help, but adding bones to control the irregular surfaces is also possible, and combining both methods is probably the best way to deal with an irregular model.

By the way, version 1.4 is on my Github site now . . . https://github.com/Skywola/anim The bones for the wings are much smaller and more intricate, and I have added bones for attaching feathers too. I will be coming out with a new tutorial for the wings later on, I still have a few things I want to add before I do the tutorial. The advantage of the newer version is that because the bones are smaller and more of them, you have much more flexibility on how to attach and skin the model.