limitations about shape actions updates - bug / feature request / recipe ? #36238

New Issue

Jerome Mahieux · 2013-07-21T06:20:59+02:00

Jerome Mahieux commented

2013-07-21 06:20:59 +02:00

Category: Animation

%%%
it is possible to replace a rigged mesh by another one from an external blend using a libload() scene and some tricks with a 1-tic addobject() : the new mesh will still be animated.

it is also possible to change the textures of the materials of the new mesh with videotexture, replacemesh() make the new ones available.

or to tweak the mats itself using GL,

So one can change the clothes of an avatar on demand, build a community driven library system for a game, with some features about textures, shaders, uv animations for each cloth item/external blend file the artists could create. nice.

but nothing can be done to use shape keys from external files (to my knowledge and 3 days+ of deep tests and dozen of setups using bricks and python).
it's not efficient to load a cloth armature everytime a new external cloth item is needed. say there's 3 avatar rigs each with 7 kind of selectable clothes and your library contains 3 items for each kind... 64 armatures at least + logic for each one ; the existing avatar armatures must be used.

if one creates an action directly from shapes and tweak the action actuator when replaceMesh() occurs, it sometimes works (the new mesh can be 'shaped') but most often the action is not rendered. it's erratic, and I'm unable to find any solution or hint about the variation.

some info : http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?301326-strange-behaviour-with-%28shape%29-action-actuator-after-a-replaceMesh%28%29

if one define an action from a 'morph' bone of the avatar armature in order to drive the shape of the meshes, this perfectly work with replaceMesh()...
... provided the other meshes are located in the main file. the mesh can be on a hidden layer using some code, and it does not have to be parented and rigged to the armature.
Unfortunately this won't work from an external mesh. An armature has to exist in the external file to define the driver.

ok I could locate all of my clothes in the main file : but it's not about library system anymore, so it prohibits any project about internet sharing, avatar setup files import/export, community creations.

I'd really like if driven shape keys could have the same versatility than :
. the vertex groups : if they are the same on several objects of a kind, each one will hook to the unique armature when requested and deform as they should. so only an empty mesh rigged to the armature with the groups in the main blend, and only one mesh with no parent and no armature per external file with the right vertex groups.
. the action name : actuator.action does not need to be changed after the replacemesh(). the action use the same bones to drive the different morphes of each mesh.

the armature/bone referenced in the driver of the cloth should not have to exist first.
or the link could be red in game using a 'single property' driver, with a data path to a game property. driver would then become dynamic (but there's no path to game props, and I doubt bge is aware of bpy data path anyway, hard to code I suppose)

or/and I'd realy like that shape actions work and blend correctly (when not using shape drivers) : actuator.action can reference actions from external files.

I hope this is understandable (sorry english is not my natural language)%%%

**Category**: Animation %%% it is possible to replace a rigged mesh by another one from an external blend using a libload() scene and some tricks with a 1-tic addobject() : the new mesh will still be animated. it is also possible to change the textures of the materials of the new mesh with videotexture, replacemesh() make the new ones available. or to tweak the mats itself using GL, So one can change the clothes of an avatar on demand, build a community driven library system for a game, with some features about textures, shaders, uv animations for each cloth item/external blend file the artists could create. nice. but nothing can be done to use shape keys from external files (to my knowledge and 3 days+ of deep tests and dozen of setups using bricks and python). it's not efficient to load a cloth armature everytime a new external cloth item is needed. say there's 3 avatar rigs each with 7 kind of selectable clothes and your library contains 3 items for each kind... 64 armatures at least + logic for each one ; the existing avatar armatures must be used. if one creates an action directly from shapes and tweak the action actuator when replaceMesh() occurs, it sometimes works (the new mesh can be 'shaped') but most often the action is not rendered. it's erratic, and I'm unable to find any solution or hint about the variation. some info : http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?301326-strange-behaviour-with-%28shape%29-action-actuator-after-a-replaceMesh%28%29 if one define an action from a 'morph' bone of the avatar armature in order to drive the shape of the meshes, this perfectly work with replaceMesh()... ... provided the other meshes are located in the main file. the mesh can be on a hidden layer using some code, and it does not have to be parented and rigged to the armature. Unfortunately this won't work from an external mesh. An armature has to exist in the external file to define the driver. ok I could locate all of my clothes in the main file : but it's not about library system anymore, so it prohibits any project about internet sharing, avatar setup files import/export, community creations. I'd really like if driven shape keys could have the same versatility than : . the vertex groups : if they are the same on several objects of a kind, each one will hook to the unique armature when requested and deform as they should. so only an empty mesh rigged to the armature with the groups in the main blend, and only one mesh with no parent and no armature per external file with the right vertex groups. . the action name : actuator.action does not need to be changed after the replacemesh(). the action use the same bones to drive the different morphes of each mesh. - > the armature/bone referenced in the driver of the cloth should not have to exist first. - > or the link could be red in game using a 'single property' driver, with a data path to a game property. driver would then become dynamic (but there's no path to game props, and I doubt bge is aware of bpy data path anyway, hard to code I suppose) or/and I'd realy like that shape actions work and blend correctly (when not using shape drivers) : actuator.action can reference actions from external files. I hope this is understandable (sorry english is not my natural language)%%%

Jerome Mahieux commented

2013-07-21 06:20:59 +02:00

Changed status to: 'Open'

Inês Almeida commented

2014-06-06 20:15:31 +02:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Inês Almeida closed this issue

2014-06-06 20:15:31 +02:00

Inês Almeida self-assigned this 2014-06-06 20:15:31 +02:00

Inês Almeida commented

2014-06-06 20:15:31 +02:00

@littleneo from what I understand, this is not a bug report, but a question or feature request. Please post your questions at the mailing lists or IRC channels instead.

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limitations about shape actions updates - bug / feature request / recipe ? #36238