Comments on: Armatures on Curves in Blender

By: Groo

Groo — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 22:10:44 +0000

A small update to this:

It seems that with the latest 2.40 version of Blender, you can use an armature directly on a curve with the aid of the modifier stack and armature envelopes. However, the program seems to become more sluggish when you do this. Using hooks, while taking a bit longer to set up, seem to have a faster response time than using the stack.

I’m not sure why, but perhaps someone a bit more knowledgeable in this area can post with the reason.

By: Groo

Groo — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 21:37:17 +0000

If your bees are controlled by Blender’s particle system, this may be a decent way of controlling the shape of the swarm. Though for that, you may be better off using just hooks on the lattice, rather than the hooks/armature combination. If you’re using a flocking/swarming script to control the bee behavior (bee-havior? HA!), though, the lattice may or may not have any effect whatsoever.

By: Warren

Warren — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 21:08:39 +0000

Hey does that mean this is an easier way to animate swarms of bees? Could you use this to manipulate the shape, or just direction?

By: Groo

Groo — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:28:28 +0000

Indeed it does.

Also, this it goes further. Hooks can be used on Lattice objects, too. This means that you can use this technique to control a lattice with an armature. Say, for instance, you have a stream of [non-static] particles that have a unique shape, controlled by a lattice. However, you want to control this shape with the IK functionality of an armature (maybe it’s a creature with a tail made of fire). This will let you do that!

By: Roberto

Roberto — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 04:47:45 +0000

That is a great concept. Not to mention pretty useful. Hmmm…Bringing some ideas into 3D like this, may open up some doors that seemed impossible to realize in simple 2d.