[Bf-committers] blender2.5's new IK

[Benoit Bolsee]

malefico wrote:
>> Many applications can be derived from this concept:
>> - manual tuning of IK pose by rotating bones in the UI
>> - give preferred direction for certain bones (relative
>> to parent bone)
>> - automatic deviation from precorded actions based on
>> a cartesian constraint (e.g. avoid an obstacle)
>> - smoothing of a precorded action based on robot
>> dynamics (e.g. max velocity)
>> - control the joint angle by python
>>   
> 
> Sounds really cool, are you going to work on any of these ?
> 

Well, these applications are already possible, it's just that I didn't
experiment much to see if the solver performs well in all these
situations. What is missing is specific UI for these applications. For
example, the smoothing function could be activated through a script that
would set the joint constraint automatically on all bones of the action.


My contribution so far has been to implement the solver and the IK
plugin; I didn't change the UI, except adding a few buttons for the
settings of the new solver. Nothing has been changed in the 3D view: I
reuse the IK drawing features of the old solver (joint limits, end
effector, etc.). 

At some point, it might be necessary to add drawing features to support
some advanced features of the new solver but I have no plan at present:
drawing code is not my speciality and there is still a lot to do on core
features.  The next step is merging with trunk.  When I start to get
feedback from animators or robotic users, I'm sure requests will come in
for better UI or new core features. 


/benoit