VisualLoc, etc.

nemyax · Post by **nemyax** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:18 pm

The current CVS version lets you set keys on "VisualLoc", "VisualRot" and "VisualLocRot". What are those options for? They don't seem to introduce any new animation channels, so what's their purpose?

lguillaume · Post by **lguillaume** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:42 pm

Hello, this options is used when you have a constraint, this options takes the real position of the mesh.

Example : you have a plane at origin, you have a cube with a floor constraint, the cube is upper the plane.
Now if you animate the cube with Loc key, if you erase the constraint the cube does not stop on the plane, with the key visualLoc, without the constraint the cube is on plane.

If I'm not clear I can doing a little sample file.

nemyax · Post by **nemyax** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:54 pm

Thanks for the explanation, it's clear now.
Is the name VisualLoc/VisualRot set in stone? Wouldn't ApparentLoc/ApparentRot be more appropriate?

harkyman · Post by **harkyman** » Wed May 03, 2006 8:33 pm

Nope. Names are easy to change. When I wrote this bit, I thought it was the most intuitive way to name, though... it's based on what you can see, not Blender's internal structures like regular Ipo keying.

AndyD · Post by **AndyD** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:09 pm

Will this feature be extended to IK bones? Currently if you switch IK influence to zero, the bones all jump to their rest positions - which is a little inconvenient and defeats the purpose . Although the visualRot keys show in the key list, they have no effect on this problem.

nemyax · Post by **nemyax** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:39 pm

Key the visual rotations of affected bones in the chain.

AndyD · Post by **AndyD** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:57 am

I tried keying the bones but nothing happened. The problem, as I see it, is that the individual bone rotations aren't updated in an IK chain (check the Num panel) so there's nothing to key.

harkyman · Post by **harkyman** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:30 pm

Hmmmm. Well, bones that are in the middle of a chain won't key for position, even if an Ipo shows it. They can't be moved from the tip of the previous bone. Try posing via IK, then setting VisualLocRot keys on all bones in that chain. Then remove the IK.

Alternatively, you can just remove the IK constraints altogether, use the AutoIK button to pose your armature, then set keys on all bones in the chain.