Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- public:t-vien-08-1:lab_8_materials [2008/03/06 02:17] – hannes
+++ public:t-vien-08-1:lab_8_materials [2024/04/29 13:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Lab 8 - Character Animation with Blender ======
-<note warning>Under construction, please wait!</note>
 ===== Before You Start =====
-  * You need to have [[http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/|Blender]] installed on your computer.
+  * You need to have [[http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/|Blender]] installed on your computer (pick the same version of Python as you are using for Panda 3D if you can).
   * You need to have extracted the contents of the [[http://www.ru.is/kennarar/hannes/share/chicken_export1.0.zip|Chicken 1.0 Egg Exporter zip file]] into your ".blender/scripts" folder.
-  * Download and unzip the Lab 8 Asset File into your working directory
+  * Download and unzip the [[http://www.ru.is/kennarar/hannes/classes/ve2008/Lab8Assets.zip|Lab 8 Asset File]] into your working directory
 ===== Rigging and Animating a Character in Blender for Panda 3D =====
+{{public:t-vien-08-1:ve-lab8-screenshot.jpg|}}
+This lab is based on the excellent Introduction to Character Animation by Ryan Dale, created as part of the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Blender_Summer_of_Documentation|Blender Summer of Documentation]] effort.  You will jump right into rigging (creating the armature), so the finished model from the tutorial is being supplied as part of the Lab 8 Assets.  You may want to have the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/QuickStart|Blender QuickStart Guide]] handy.
   - **Exporting a Model to Panda 3D:** \\
@@ Line 17: / Line 24: @@
   - **Adding an Upper Body Armature:** \\ Follow the steps in the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Upper_body_armature|Upper Body Armature Blender Tutorial]], starting with the step called **Add Armature** and ending with a step called **Add an Armature modifier to the Mesh**.  Make sure to save your progress when you are done (even sooner).
   - **Upper Body Weight Painting:** \\ Follow the steps in the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Upper_body_weight_painting|Upper Body Weight Painting Blender Tutorial]], starting with the step called **Weight Paint Mode** and ending with a step called **Testing The Rig**.  Don't worry about the eyes, we'll not be dealing with them at all in this lab (they have been removed).  Make sure to save your progress when you are done (even sooner).
-  - **Adding an Lower Body Armature and Weights:** \\ Follow the steps in the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Lower_body_armature|Lower Body Armature Blender Tutorial]], starting with the step called **Building the Lower Body Armature** and ending with a step called **Test Poses**.  You should now be able to pose your entire character.  To pose the legs, make sure to use the special **leg** bone and not the other bones in the legs (the IK takes care of the rest).  To pose it along a particular axis (for example to move it only sideways or directly up), click on the leg bone, hit **g** (for **g**rab) and immediately hit **z**, **y** or **z**.  Now the mouse will only move the bone along the selected axsis.  Make sure to save your progress when you are done (even sooner).
+  - **Adding a Lower Body Armature and Weights:** \\ Follow the steps in the [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Lower_body_armature|Lower Body Armature Blender Tutorial]], starting with the step called **Building the Lower Body Armature** and ending with a step called **Test Poses**.  You should now be able to pose your entire character.  To pose the legs, make sure to use the special **leg** bone and not the other bones in the legs (the IK takes care of the rest).  To pose it along a particular axis (for example to move it only sideways or directly up), click on the leg bone, hit **g** (for **g**rab) and immediately hit **z**, **y** or **z**.  Now the mouse will only move the bone along the selected axsis.  Make sure to save your progress when you are done (even sooner).
   - **Adding a Master Bone and Knee Constraints:** \\ Follow [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Final_rig_adjustments|the next steps in the Tutorial]], starting with the step called **Final Adjustments** and ending with a step called **Tips for Using the Rig**.  As before, **skip the step about the eyes**.  Make sure to save your progress when you are done (even sooner).
   - **Animating and Exporting a Wave to Panda 3D:**\\
@@ Line 24: / Line 31: @@
     - Look in your working directory: You should have "alien.egg" and "alien-wave.egg".  Open **showalien.py** and instead of just loading the model, also load the wave animation and loop it (just need to uncomment the right lines in the code).
   - **Animating a Walkcycle:**\\ Follow the entire next page in the tutorial on how to [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/2-second_animation|Create a Simple Walkcycle]].  At the end of this step, you should have both a **Wave** and a **Walk** action, but you can only have one active at a time (and export one at a time to Panda 3D).  The next step solves this with the NLA Editor.
-  - **Using the NLA Editor and Exporting Multiple Animations:**\\ Finally, follow the entire [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/NLA|Tutorial Page on NLA]] to understand how you can turn Actions into **strips** (or //clips// as they are sometimes called) and place them on a time line.  To export more than one action to Panda 3D, simply place all the action strips, one after the other, on the time line, and engage the **Chicken Exporter** like before.  This time, after you have specified the frame range for the **Wave**, you can add a second frame range for the **Walk** by pressing the **Add Animation** button.  Test this out in your **showalien.py** by commenting out the right commands and making it loop either the wave or the walk (you can also blend the two together by calling ''enableBlend'' on the Actor and setting the blending contribution of each animation with ''setControlEffect'' - see commented lines in ''showalien.py'')
+  - **Using the NLA Editor and Exporting Multiple Animations:**\\
+    - Finally, follow the entire [[http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/NLA|Tutorial Page on NLA]] to understand how you can turn Actions into **strips** (or //clips// as they are sometimes called) and place them on a time line.\\
+    - To export more than one action to Panda 3D, simply place all the action strips, one after the other, on the time line, and engage the **Chicken Exporter** like before.  This time, after you have specified the frame range for the **Wave**, you can add a second frame range for the **Walk** by pressing the **Add Animation** button.\\
+    - Test this out in your **showalien.py** by commenting out the right commands and making it loop either the wave or the walk (you can also blend the two together by calling ''enableBlend'' on the Actor and setting the blending contribution of each animation with ''setControlEffect'' - see commented lines in ''showalien.py'' and the [[http://www.panda3d.org/wiki/index.php/Actor_Animations|Panda Manual on Actor Animations]])