Shapekey Driver Creator [Fork]

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I read a post by @buzzkirill looking for an addon to help create shape key drivers using bones as the controllers. It was mentioned that there was a ‘Free but abandoned’ addon created by @ndee. I’ve updated some of my own un-released addons to work with current versions of blender, so I took a look at this addon and updated it to work with current versions of blender.

You can find my updated version here:
https://github.com/revolt-randy/Shapekey_Driver_Creator

I forked the old code, updated it to work with blender 3.65, renamed it, and added in a feature to add limiting constraints on the bones.

The reason why I renamed it was because it was originally called ‘Shapekey Driver to Bone Constraint’. I wanted to remove the word ‘constraint’ from the name to avoid confusion with constraints.

How to install:
Since I worked on this in 3.6.5 it is meant to be installed as an add on - copied to your scripts/addons folder. It can also be installed from User Preferences → Add-ons by clicking on the down arrow in the upper right corner of the User Preferences window and choosing ‘Install from Disk…’

How to use:

  • select a mesh object, then shift-select an armature, enter pose mode and select the controller bone.
  • the addon can now be accessed from the Pose menu in the 3D view, or the w-key → Pose Context Menu, or the F3 Search menu.

Once it’s started you’ll find this pop-up -

shapekey_driver_creator
shapekey_driver_creator694×617 114 KB

and here’s what those settings do:

  • Get Limits - if this check box is checked and the controller bone has been moved/rotated/scaled, it will consider that to be the max value where the shapekey is at 1.
  • Shape - the shapekey to be driven.
  • Type - how the bone will control the shapekey - X loc, Y rot, etc…
  • Space - the bone’s space
  • Min Value - the bone’s value where the shapekey will be at 0
  • Max Value - the bone’s value where the shapekey will bat at 1
  • Add Limit Constraint - this will add a Limit Loc/Rot/Scale constraint to the bone limiting it to the Min & Max values for the driver. *
  • Constraint Space - the space for the limiting constraint - World, Pose, etc…

The new ‘Add Limit Constraints’ feature isn’t perfect, but it does work fairly well.

I welcome any feedback…

Randy

10 Likes
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Thank you… I’ll give it a try.

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Yeah, give it a try if you can. I’ve updated the 1st post with information of how to access it and what the settings do.

Thanks!
Randy

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Hey, very cleanly done. Respect!

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does it work with the latest blender :pleading_face:?

1 Like
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Good question, glad you asked!

Short answer - Yes, I tested it in 4.2.1 LTS and it functions fine, so I assume it would work in 4.3 as well.

Long answer - Yes, I tested it in 4.2.1 LTS and during testing I found a use case were it fails. If a shape key has a Scripted Expression type of driver on it already and you use this tool, it failed to change the driver type from Scripted Expression to Sum. I just fixed this and updated it on GitHub.

Randy

3 Likes
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Kudos for reviving an addon and putting it out there.

1 Like