Is there a way to instance, or duplicate linked, a constraint, so editing its parameters on a single bone applies to others? In particular, I’d like to do that with Action constraint. It seems to be the only way to create additive layering of animations in Blender, but it is super cumbersome. If I need to change an Action specified within this constraint (for example, I need a different animation to combine with additive pose), I’ll have to manually edit every single bone which has it.
No right now there’s no way. I expect when we get node constraints we may be able to link a node tree as a constraint just like we do with geometry nodes modifiers now, but that’s the future.
Right now the best you can do as far as I know is go through every relevant constraint in Python and change what you need.
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Oh that sucks (though I’m not entirely surprised). Okay, will be hoping for the best and digging through script reference again:(
You should be alright, this is pretty easy to do. Ask in the Python section if you’re having trouble. For me, looking up my issues on blender-stackoverflow usually leads me to a solution.
If you have multiple selected objects, with identically named constraints, you can use multiple-object operations to affect the constraint for all selected: alt click to affect all selected, or RMB->copy to selected. It’s not the same as linked constraints, but it’s almost as good.
Action constraints are definitely a cumbersome way to blend multiple animations. They’re not the only way. There’s also the NLA editor. Which is far from perfect, but much better than trying to do it with action constraints.
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I misunderstood something about Alt key. When I hold Alt over any input field in Constraint, it doesnt let me do anything
Make two cubes. Give them damped track constraints. Select both and look on constraints tab. Alt + LMB click on the “X” button on the constraint. Should see both constraints switch to start tracking X instead of Y.
I guess there could be an issue with hardware (like mac/PC keyboard differences) or possibly interface settings, but that’s the best I can offer.
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Oh my, I didn’t know this was implemented at last. I’ve heard of it for the past decade and thought it was still in the plans. Nice.
Yeah, just thought I’d see if it was working on constraints (I can’t keep track of whether stuff works or not, I’m still telling people about problems that haven’t existed since 2.77 lol).
Pretty cool for those gd finger bones. Now if only they could get the naming straight for subdividing bones and autoname l/r, and my finger woes would be over.
If you ever want to make some kind of manipulation to multiple objects, but blender currently offers no way to do that, than you could try this:
Add the following code to blenders text editor window:
import bpy
context = bpy.context
for obj in context.selected_objects:
SomeKindOfManipulation
Make sure Python tool tips are enabled ( Edit → Preferences → Interface → Python Tooltips).
Look at the tool tip for all the different manipulations you want to apply to your object (just hover over them for a bit) and replace “SomeKindOfManipulation” with the Python script from those tool tips.
Add as many as you want and make sure they are all written in the right order (They will be applied in the order you written them per object).
Select all objects you want to manipulate
Now just hit: Run script
If all went well, all your selected objects should have all your manipulations applied in one go.
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Must be something with my keymap settings. Looks like I’ll have to resort to scripts in the end
And by the way, did you see any tutorial or something where NLA additive mode is used in any practical way (like adding a spine twist or tilt over existing walk cycle animation)? Every time I tried it, it either inflated my model in a weird way or didnt do anything at all
I didn’t find NLA tutorials very useful, not past the “well here it is” stage, and the interface isn’t necessarily very intuitive. You need to pay attention to blend mode and track order, and be aware that by default, any active action is displayed on top, I think with blend mode replace. If you have a specific problem, that could probably be addressed, but we’d need a file demonstrating the issue.
Okay, if I’ll have any examples, I’ll post it on the forum