Proposal: Add geometry parameters for custom shape

Archive Animation & Rigging
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Hi there.

A feature for custom shape requested by our animators, add some geometry parameters to the custom shape for bones.
Currently it has uniform scaling only.

Currently Solution:
Added many objects that adjusted offset/scaling/rotation for each bones to build rig with custom shape.
but It is very bothered for animators.

Proposal:
Add offset/individual scaling XYZ/rotation to custom shape.

Video of it in action:

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Hi @Shirakawa,

Just to clarify, are you reaching out for design approval before you can start implementing it?

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Yes I am. It is first time to commit to Blender for me.
and Custom shape has only simply scaling currently, I wanna know if it has some reasons.

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@Shirakawa I added the video you posted in blender chat.

Posting videos or pictures of the feature is really good as you can convey what it does a lot easier.

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That’s not a bad idea ! Currently I duplicate every custom shape for every bone in order to adjust their size (and sometimes orientation, although I usually prefer my controllers to be visually aligned to their axies).

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This gets a +1 from me! Some points:

  • Rotation Mode seems unimportant
  • Old uniform scale (custom_shape_scale) is not needed if there is XYZ scale
  • This needs a Tool so it can be controlled from the 3D viewport. Then you can have transform gizmos that affect the location/rotation/scale values.

Sorry for blunt wording, I’m trying to minimize the language barrier :slight_smile: Looks like a great feature, thanks for trying to contribute!

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I love this idea! +1 from me as well!

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Thanks for replies!

I think so, I will remove them parameters/UI.

It’s necessary for make it easy to adjusts.
however, It will be confuses with transform gizmos for pose bone.

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It will be confuses with transform gizmos for pose bone

Good point! Not sure what is the best way to know which tool is which (Transform vs. Bone Shape Offset)… Maybe show the active bone’s Bone Shape at its original transform, with 50% transparency? Or something like that :smiley:

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I submitted the first diff:
https://developer.blender.org/D10974

I didn’t add gizmo for custom shape in this patch because didn’t have gizmo for custom shape uniform scaling, camera’s shift_x/shift_y or something.
anyway, thanks for ideas!

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I dont heel this is that importnt in a way, but i definitelly get where youre coming from the more control over this the less specific shapes we’d need to create.

I’d be much more interested in seeing some visualization overrides for the custom shapes like:
“edge thickness” so you can make so me wireframes of controls thicker visually without creating more geometry.
also my personal favourite “shadeless material” to make the object for instance a sphere be always a shadeless ball, and also be able to make some controls always “in front” on a control by control basis, this would make designing a rig much cleaner and full of control over what is visually important for the animator.

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there really should be a thickness property, thats for sure, but i dont think this proposal is about that, its just an easier way to edit custom bone shapes over the armature without headaches

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yeah totally we descussed it in todays meeting and they’ll review the patch, we’re all happy about this improvement :slight_smile:

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14

I completely second the idea about line thickness, it’s been in the back of my mind for ten years

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Note that this proposal has actually landed in master, and will be part of Blender 3.0

fc5bf09fd88c: Rigging: Add transform for custom bone shapes

Because of this, I’ll close this thread to avoid it from becoming a little pool of feature requests :wink:

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