Auto-rig Pro [3.69]

Coding Released Scripts and Themes
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860

After the bind, I go into the mesh edit mode and manually select the vertices in some fingers and then select the vertex group and click “remove”, I did it a couple of times until the fingers are rigged perfectly and not affected by other fingers nearby.

Since I did not use the weight painting brush that have built in symmetry function, how do I mirror the hand vertices to the other hand ? Thanks.

Update:
Ok, I spend two days looking around and I found the solution, it is built in but seriously I would have NO IDEA where to find it without looking around the net, this is the solution:

Here’s how to mirror the vertices:
Go to Edit mode and select the vertex of the WRONG SIDE [DO NOT select the correct side.]
Menu->Mesh->Weights->Mirror
Check all four checkboxs, [which isn’t by default] DONE !

1 Like
861

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the link, now the problem makes more sense, but I still think this is more of a bug than a feature.
Firstly, this means that any “undesirable” bone angle makes the rig practically useless. I know that in reality bones don’t really bend that way, what about some stylized character?
Secondly, these are FK controller bones that I print screened. If the issue is with the way IK chain is calculated, this should have no influence on the FK bones. FK bones should behave exactly like the reference bones that you set up.
I really think this should be fixed, since it is (imho) undesirable behaviour and can’t be controlled.

I also have another question: Is there a way to edit blend shapes on a linked armature while also animating it?

862

Custom bones can be exported:

863

Arms are by default in FK mode, see here to switch to IK:

1 Like
864

a) It’s not a matter of a bug or new feature, it’s how it’s designed to work. If the IK bones axes don’t comply with the geometrical requirements, then snapping IK to FK or FK to IK will be incorrect. That’s the way IK constraints work. I would really like it to be more flexible too, but no other ways have been found.
The other auto-rigging systems I know work the same way. If you can find any that works with free IK bones axes and correct IK-FK snap, then I’d be glad to check for reference, maybe there’s a mathematical trick somewhere.
For characters that don’t comply with these geometrical requirements, then it’s best not to use the ARP arms, create a custom rig for the arms instead.

b) Shape keys can’t be edited as a proxy, neither as override unfortunately. That’s a long awaited and needed feature for Blender.

2 Likes
865

After the binding, I am able to move “c_foot_ik.l” and the foot Inverse Kinematic works !
But when I select “c_hand_ik.r” and try to move it, nothing moves, how do I get hand IK to work ? Thanks

866

Hey Bracer, I replied here:

867

Auto-Rig Pro 3.58 was released :slight_smile:

  • Bone’s custom shapes can now be exported and imported with the current existing “Import” and “Export” buttons, showing options when exporting:
    1

  • Spline IK limbs can now be renamed:
    2

  • Bones layer visibility can now be toggled on and off from the Rig Main Properties menu:
    3

  • Rig Overrides are supported when exporting and remapping animation.

  • The Remap tool got a bunch of improvements to better support characters of various proportions: remapping a tall character to a small one is now better handled using relative location remapping for the root bone and IK bones, so that less “Interactive Tweaks” are needed.

Full log below:

–[3.58.20]–
New/improved:

  • Rig: New operators to import and export custom shapes
  • Rig: Custom names for Spline IK and Bendy-bones chains are now allowed (Limb Options)
  • Rig: Buttons to quickly toggle visibility of layers of controllers (expandable) in the Rig Main Properties tab
  • Rig: Deleting the rig data with the X button now ensures the whole rig hierarchy is deleted even if the rig is not selected
  • Export: Support for custom Spline IK names
  • Export: Support overridden armatures
  • Remap: Improved remapping technic for the root bone and IK bones, replaced with a new “relative” mode. This leads to better results when remapping to different skeleton proportions.
  • Remap: The Freeze Armature operator is now applied automatically when retargetting
  • Remap: “Redefine Rest Pose” now also applies on base meshes if any
  • Remap: Support overridden armatures
  • Remap: Print baking progress status (% percentage) in the console when retargetting

Fixed:

  • Rig: Duplicating a bendy-bone chain limb was broken
  • Rig: Import custom shape error when the bone is missing
  • Smart: The right eyeball postion was incorrect when Mirror was disabled
  • Smart: 2 fingers detection could lead to an error
  • Export: Support for new splines IK advanced options
  • Export: Breast bones were missing animation
  • Export: Compatibility error with Blender 2.90 materials
  • Export: Breast parent lost
  • Export: Twist bone transform bug when enabling UE mannequin options
  • Export: Shape keys animation errors due to update issues with proxy armatures
3 Likes
868

Thanks for the quick reply.
a) Would there possibly be a way to adjust the control bone rotations manually after the match to rig?
b) That’s a shame, hope it gets fixed in 2021.

869

Is it possible to export the whole rig, with controllers, to Unreal Engine, is it possible to use Auto-rig Pro to create rigs for Unreal that would allow full character animation directly in the Unreal interface?

870

Controllers and constraints are not part of the Fbx format, it only stores deforming bones. There are rig plugins I think for UE, but never tested them.

1 Like
871

Not sure to understand, could you clarify?

872

Okay, thanks for the reply and for the info, and yes, there are rigs for Unreal, the allright plugin seems good, thanks again and keep up the good work!

1 Like
873

Okay, thanks for the reply and for the info, and yes, there are rigs for Unreal, the allright plugin seems good, thanks again and keep up the good work!

Allright Rig plugin has not been updated for more than a year.
I’ve been using that plugin but despite of my best efforts, UE4 is not dedicated for that.
There are many small features missing.

I would strongly suggest sticking to 3D software when It comes to animating.

2 Likes
874 
Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.91\scripts\addons\auto_rig_pro-master\auto_rig.py", line 2974, in execute
    _align_spline_limbs()
  File "C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.91\scripts\addons\auto_rig_pro-master\auto_rig.py", line 4314, in _align_spline_limbs
    align_spline_ik_bones(name, side)
  File "C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.91\scripts\addons\auto_rig_pro-master\auto_rig.py", line 19782, in align_spline_ik_bones
    root_bone.head = first_ref_bone.head
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'head'

location: <unknown location>:-1
875

Thanks for the reply, and yeah, it is more and more evident that UE4 isn’t build for character animation, let’s hope UE5 will change that!

876

For your information :
https://actorcore.reallusion.com/learn-and-support/my-software/blender

1 Like
877

UE4 does have a control rig, although I haven’t taken a close look at it yet.

878

Auto-Rig Pro 3.59 is released!

Fingers IK:

Fingers can now be manipulated with IK controllers and a bunch of tools dedicated to ease fingers posing. This setting can be added on the fly, backward compatible with older rigs!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/markets-rails/uploads%2F1612544650367-fingers+ik.gif(image larger than 5 MB)

Documentation:

Setting up IK Fingers

Using IK Fingers

New animation export options:

It’s now possible to export actions with custom frame ranges, and bake only the active action.

Thanks to Jesper for funding this feature request!

Set custom bones made easy:

Setting custom bones for Fbx export is now eased with dedicated buttons, avoiding the tedious work of renaming bones or adding custom properties:

IK Bones for Unreal now support animation:

So far IK bones added at export time as UE options were static only. They now support animation, following feet motions!

Full release log below:

–[3.59.22]–

New/improved:

  • Rig: New Fingers IKs option for arm limbs. Backward-compatible with older rigs. Fingers IK-FK switch and snap. IK target on finger tip/ or third phalange bone root. Can be changed on the fly. Custom shape and color options. Parent options. Automatic Free-Lock IK targets parent
  • UI: Enhanced the arm options interface layout
  • Export: New animation export options: export only the active action + frame range settings. Thanks to Jesper for funding these features!
  • Export: New buttons to quickly set/unset the selected bones as custom bones for export
  • Export: IK bones for Unreal now support animation
  • Export: Allow export of humanoid without neck/head
  • Remap: New option to use the current pose or real rest pose when redefining the armature rest pose
  • Remap: New “Rokoko” preset compliant with new Rokoko bone names convention
  • Skinning: Voxelize could not work in certain cases. Improved with more accurate internal tests
  • Skinning: Voxelize could lead to vertices with no weight in certain cases

Fixed:

  • Skinning: Scale Fix did not work with some very low scale models. As a fix, doubled the scale factor.
  • Skinning: Remove warnings in the console
  • Export: Bottom bones not exporting
  • Export: Ear bones parent could be wrong when exporting as humanoid
  • Export: Animation Layer addon and action blend type different than “Replace” fix
  • Export: Splines IK and UE options error
  • Export: Issue with Splines IK as proxy
  • Remap: Freeze armature incorrect rotation
  • Remap: Error when using an ARP as target armature with scale value different from 1
  • Remap: Ensures the target armature is set to pose position when cancelling Redefine Rest Pose
5 Likes
879

No options for facial animation in the build in rig, at this time the best all around solution is the Live Link plugin for body and facial capture!