[Bf-funboard] Rigging system

[bassam]

heh, thanks
I don't like to make any promises, but I will be needing to script my
rigs if projects get bigger anyway, and there is almost for certain
chance that I will release anything I do.

The reason I say blender 2.5 will be 'big' is that there many
difficulties when using python in 2.48 for rig scripts- for instance, it
is safe to do things on creation, but if you have done anything-
constraints, weightpainting, etc. doing anything in python is extremely
dangerous: the ui in blender does a lot of crazy behind the scene work
to make sure that if you e.g. change the name of a bone, all the
constraints for all the objects that depend on it, and all the weight
groups change as well. This is why for instance I don't think my batch
renaming script is good for the general public: unless you use it
'first' it will actually destroy your rig, something I do not want on my
conscience :)

The other reason 2.5 is big is that python scripts will feel more
integrated and interactive- dependencies and events will be more
dynamic, and we will be able to add buttons/menu items/hotkeys.

One last reason: animato and also etchaton are both huge improvements to
animation and rigging.
 
I already script a bit- but it is small utilities to shore up some
blender difficulties, and pyconstraints- which I should release once.
The reason I don't promise anything is I don't know exactly what form
the scripts/setup will take. It will be (as usual for me) based on the
needs of production. 
I don't copy exactly, but I look very carefully at other tools, and more
importantly, at what studios and riggers are doing for productions; my
rigs are inspired by the little I know, mainly from animation master
rigs, disney rigs, plumiferos/malefico, and the rest from smaller and
smaller sources. There is a little bit of my own invention in there
too ;)

other interesting things are programs such as the setup machine,
available as a plugin for maya and animation master. many studios also
have their own autorigging setups, and hopefully as/if some of them
switch to blender they might- in the spirit of freedom/open source-
share some of their knowledge and tools with the rest of the community.

I would love to release more information in the future, Trying to figure
out what form that will take- there are now many good rigging/animation
references (William's DVD, Tony's book, Roland's book) so I feel I must
do something different next time.
cheers
Bassam
PS Sorry for the long rambling post: this is because I am extremely
optimistic about the future of blender's animation and rigging tools;
this is one of blender's core features, with many great devs working on
it , so we should expect a lot in this area in the coming months and
years )

On Mon, 2009-01-19 at 15:22 -0800, Sangwoo Hong wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 10:01 AM, bassam <bkurdali at freefactory.org>
> wrote:
>         I don't think copying CAT specifically or puppet shop
>         specifically is a
>         target, but between improvements to blender core (2.5,
>         animato,
>         etchaton) and adding python scripts for autorigging, we will
>         'get there'
>         eventually.
> 
> 
> Yeah, I didn't forward the puppet shop stuff so it can be copied but
> to show that this sort of functionality could be quite useful.
>  Looking at the stuff got me motivated to take a second look at
> armature and constraints related python libraries and I'm feeling
> pretty positive something useful can be made with it.  I'm thinking
> I'll script as much of the rigging as possible on my upcoming projects
> so I'll have stuff to build on from this point on.  But if someone
> much smarter then me with much more time on their hands want to write
> something then more power to them! :)
> 
> 
> phong.
> 
> 
> p.s. Bassam, really enjoyed the DVD.  Hope you update and release more
> information in the future.  I'll be sure to spend some real bucks to
> keep up with you. :)