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>Blender Documentation Volume I - User Guide: Last modified April 29 2004 S68</TH
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><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H1
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="character_animation_armature"
></A
>The Armature Object</H1
><P
> The armature Object is the key Object of
character animation. It is an object comprising
several interconnected or not interconnected "bones".
A series of interconnected bones is an "Inverse Kinematics
(IK) Chain" or simply "Chain"
of bones. An IK Chain is something more complex than a
standard Parent relation
inasmuch not only the movements of the "Parent" bone are transmitted
to the children, but also the movements of the last
child of the chain can
transmit up in the chain to the parent bone if an Inverse Kinematics
solution is asked for.
Bones can be moved as if they were a set of rigid, undeformable
Object with perfect joints.
Consider an armature to be
like a skeleton for a living creature. The arms, legs, spine and head
are all part of the same skeleton object.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="figure"
><A
NAME="BSG.CHA.F.S68.103"
></A
><DIV
CLASS="mediaobject"
><P
><IMG
SRC="PartA/character_animation/gfx/ToolboxArmature.png"></P
></DIV
><P
><B
>Figure 3. Adding an Armature</B
></P
></DIV
><P
> To create a new armature, select <B
CLASS="keycap"
>SPACE</B
>>>Add>>Armature from the
Toolbox (<A
HREF="x6508.html#BSG.CHA.F.S68.103"
>Figure 3</A
>).
A new bone will appear with its root at the location
of the 3D cursor. As you move the mouse, the bone will resize
accordingly. <B
CLASS="keycap"
>LMB</B
> will finalize the bone and start a new
one that is the child of the previous one. In this way you can make a
complete chain. Pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>ESC</B
> will cancel the addition of
the bone.
</P
><P
> You can add another bone to an armature while it is in Edit Mode with
<B
CLASS="keycap"
>SPACE</B
>>>AddDgt;>Armature from the toolbox again.
This will start the
bone-adding mode again, and the new bones you create will be a part of
the current armature but will form a separate chain.
</P
><P
> You can also extrude bones from existing bones by selecting a bone
joint and pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>EKEY</B
>. The newly created bone will be a
child of the bone it is extruded from, but <I
CLASS="emphasis"
>not</I
> of
its IK chain.
</P
><P
> While in Edit Mode, you can perform the following operations to the
bones in an armature.
</P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Adjusting</I
> -
Select one or more bone joints and use any of the standard
transformation operations to adjust the position or orientation of any
bones in the armature. Note that IK chains cannot have any gaps
between their bones and as such moving the end point of a bone will
move the start point, or <I
CLASS="emphasis"
>root</I
> of its child.
</P
><P
> You can select an entire IK chain at once by moving the mouse cursor
over a joint in the chain and pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>LKEY</B
>. You can also use
the boundary select tool (<B
CLASS="keycap"
>BKEY</B
>).
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Deleting</I
> -
You can delete one or more bones by selecting its start and end
points. When you do this you will notice the bone itself will be
drawn in a highlighted colour. Pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>XKEY</B
> will remove the
highlighted bones. Note that selecting a single point is not enough
to delete a bone.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Point Snapping</I
> -
It is possible to snap bone joints to the grid or to the cursor by
using the snap menu accessible with <B
CLASS="keycap"
>SHIFT-S</B
>.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Numeric Mode</I
> -
For more precise editing, pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>NKEY</B
> will bring up the
numeric entry box. Here you can adjust the position of the start and
end points as well as the bone's roll around its own axis.
</P
><P
> An easy way to automatically orient the z-axis handles of
all selected bones (necessary for proper use of the
pose-flipped option) is to press <B
CLASS="keycap"
>CTRL-N</B
>. Remember
to do this before starting to create any animation for the
armature.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Undo</I
> -
While in Edit Mode, you can cancel the changes you have made in the
current editing session by pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>UKEY</B
>. The armature will
revert to the state it was in before editing began.
</P
></LI
></UL
><P
> It is also possible to join two Armatures together into a single Object.
To do this, ensure you are in Object Mode, select both armatures and
press <B
CLASS="keycap"
>CTRL-J</B
>.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="character_animation_armature_renaming"
></A
>Bones Naming</H2
><P
> Assigning meaningful names the bones in your armatures is important
for several reasons. First it will make your life easier when
editing Actions in the Action Window. Second, the bone names are
used to associate Action channels with bones when you are attempting
to re-use Actions, and third the names are used when taking
advantage of the automatic pose-flipping feature.
</P
><P
> Note that bone names need only be unique within a given armature. You
can have several bones called "Head" so long as they are all in
different armatures.
</P
><P
> To change the names of one or more bones, select the bones in Edit
Mode and switch to the Editing Context Buttons with <B
CLASS="keycap"
>F9</B
>.
A list of all
the selected bones should appear in the <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Armature Bones
</TT
> Panel (<A
HREF="x6508.html#BSG.CHA.F.S68.104"
>Figure 4</A
>).
Change a bone's name by <B
CLASS="keycap"
>SHIFT-LMB</B
> in the bone's name
box and typing a new name.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="figure"
><A
NAME="BSG.CHA.F.S68.104"
></A
><DIV
CLASS="mediaobject"
><P
><IMG
SRC="PartA/character_animation/gfx/ArmatureEditButtons.png"></P
></DIV
><P
><B
>Figure 4. EditButtons for an Armature</B
></P
></DIV
><P
> It is easier to name the bones by either only editing one
bone at a time, or by making sure the <TT
CLASS="literal"
>DrawNames</TT
> option
is enabled in the EditButtons <B
CLASS="keycap"
>F9</B
> (<A
HREF="x6508.html#BSG.CHA.F.S68.105"
>Figure 5 in the Section called <I
>The Armature Panel</I
></A
>.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="tip"
><P
></P
><TABLE
CLASS="tip"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="25"
ALIGN="CENTER"
VALIGN="TOP"
><IMG
SRC="./stylesheet-images/tip.gif"
HSPACE="5"
ALT="Tip"></TD
><TH
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="CENTER"
><B
>Pose Flipping Conventions</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
> </TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
> Character armatures are typically axially symmetrical. This means
that many elements are found in pairs, one on the left and one on the
right. If you name them correctly, Blender can flip a given pose
around the axis of symmetry, making animation of walk-cycles much
easier.
</P
><P
> For every bone that is paired, suffix the names for the left and right
with either ".L" and ".R" or ".Left" and ".Right". Bones that
lie along the axis of symmetry or that have no twin need no suffix.
Note that the part of the name preceding the suffix should be
identical for both sides. So if there are two hands, they should be
named "Hand.R" and "Hand.L".
</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="character_animation_armature_basic_parenting"
></A
>Parenting and IK chain</H2
><P
> To change parenting relationships within the armature,
select the bone that should be the <I
CLASS="emphasis"
>child</I
>
and switch to the <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Armature Bones</TT
> Panel of the
Edit Buttons Window. Next to the bone there should be a
menu button labelled <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Child Of</TT
>. To make the bone become
the child of another bone, pick the appropriate parent from
the list. Note that this is much easier if the bones have
been correctly named. To dissolve a parenting relationship,
choose the blank entry in the list.
</P
><P
> Note that the parenting menu only contains the names of
valid parents. Bones that cannot be parents (such as
children of the current bone) will not be displayed.
</P
><P
> The IK toggle next to each bone with a parent is used to
determine if the IK solver should propagate its effects
across this joint. If the IK button is active, the parent's end point
will be moved to match its child's start point.
This is to satisfy the requirement that there are no gaps in
an IK chain. Deactivating the IK button will not restore
the child's start point to its previous location, but moving
the point will no longer affect the parent's end point.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="note"
><P
></P
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><TD
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><IMG
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><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
>There can be only one IK relation between a Bone and it's child
so only one of the <TT
CLASS="literal"
>IK</TT
> Tog Buttons of the
children of a given bone can be set at a time.</P
></TD
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><DIV
CLASS="tip"
><P
></P
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><TD
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><IMG
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><TH
ALIGN="LEFT"
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><B
>Setting Local Axes</B
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
> </TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
> To get the best results while animating, it is necessary to ensure
that the local axes of each bone are consistent throughout the
armature. This should be done before any animation takes place.
</P
><P
> It is also necessary that when the armature object is in its
untransformed orientation in object Mode, the front of the
armature is visible in the front view, the left side is visible in the
left view and so on. You can ensure this by orienting the armature so
that the appropriate views are aligned and pressing <B
CLASS="keycap"
>CTRL-A</B
>
to apply size and rotation. Again, this should be done before any
animation takes place.
</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
><P
> The orientation of the bones' <I
CLASS="emphasis"
>roll
handles</I
> is important to getting
good results from the animation system.
You can adjust the roll angle of a bone by selecting it and pressing
<B
CLASS="keycap"
>NKEY</B
>. The exact
number that must be entered here depends on the orientation of the
bone.
</P
><P
> The z-axis of each bone should point in a consistent direction for
paired bones. A good solution is to have the z-axes point upwards (or
forwards, when the bone is vertically oriented).
This task is much easier if the "Draw Axes" option is enabled in the
<TT
CLASS="literal"
>Armature</TT
> Panel in the Edit Buttons Window.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="character_animation_armature_toggle_buttons"
></A
>The Armature Panel</H2
><DIV
CLASS="figure"
><A
NAME="BSG.CHA.F.S68.105"
></A
><DIV
CLASS="mediaobject"
><P
><IMG
SRC="PartA/character_animation/gfx/DrawOptions.png"></P
></DIV
><P
><B
>Figure 5. Draw options for Armatures</B
></P
></DIV
><P
> This panel just contains few toggle buttons.
When the <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Rest Pos</TT
> toggle is activated
(<A
HREF="x6508.html#BSG.CHA.F.S68.105"
>Figure 5</A
>), the armature will be
displayed in its rest position. This is useful if it
becomes necessary to edit the mesh associated with an
armature after some posing or animation has been done. Note
that the Actions and poses are still there, but they are
temporarily disabled while this button is pressed.
</P
><P
> <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Draw Axes</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Draw Names</TT
> toggles
allow the local axes of each bone and its name
to be displayed in the 3D Viewport.
</P
><P
> The <TT
CLASS="literal"
>X-Ray</TT
> toggle prevents the armature bones to be hidden
by your model when in solid/shaded mode.
</P
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