Blender – Create constraints quickly

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

To create constraints quickly:

  1. Select the target object.
  2. Shift + Select the object to constrain (Active Object)
  3. Press Ctrl + Shift + C
  4. Choose the wanted constraint type.
  5. select the constrained object to set the constraint parameters.

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Related post:
Copy bone constraints

Blender Python – Make an unselectable object local so it can be selected..

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

If you happen to link an external object that was made unselectable in the original blend file, You will have no interactive way to make it selectable again, or local, or even delete it from the current blend file.

The good news is that it can easily be done by a very short Python script:

import bpy

obj = bpy.data.objects['the_untouchable_object']
obj.make_local()

It should also be very easy script a loop that will find all those linked objects,
I will post an example when I’ll have a minute to breathe… 😀

Blender – Select Pattern

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

Use the Select Pattern tool to select multiple objects with name similarities.

  1. In the 3D View in Object mode choose Select > Select Pattern…
  2. In the Select Pattern dialog, type a part of a name with an Asterisk to define wild cards.
    For example *car* will select all objects who’s names contain the string ‘car’,
    And car* will select all objects who’s names begin with the string ‘car’.

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Blender – Bake NLA animation

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

When you wish to bake your NLA animation mix into one Action,
The Bake option in the Animation tab will not work.
The way to do this is to:

  1. Select the object in Object Mode.
  2. Press Space and type ‘bake‘
  3. Choose Nla: Bake Action
  4. In the Bake dialog, select Pose, deselect Only Selected, and press OK.
  5. After the process, the Armature will have a new action that is the baked animation.

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Blender – Bake rigid body physics to Keyframes

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.82

  • I always forget this, try to do it through the regular animation baking option and get frustrated that it doesn’t work…

When you want to bake an object’s Rigid Body physics simulation to regular Keyframes:

  1. Select the wanted objects.
  2. Press F3 to open the command search floater,
    Begin typing: bake to keyframes to Locate the command:
    Rigid Body: Bake To Keyframes and select it.
    Note:
    The command will appear only if objects with rigid body physics properties are selected.
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  3. Set a frame range for the bake and press OK:
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  4. The physically simulated motion is recorded to keyframes:
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Related:

  1. Bake NLA animation
  2. Cloth to shape keys

Blender Cloth animation to Shape Keys

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

Steps for creating Shape Keys from cloth simulation: 

  1. Create an object with Cloth simulation.
  2. Give the Cloth Cache a name.
  3. Set Cloth cache to Disk Cache.
  4. Bake the Cloth animation.
  5. Move the time slider to wanted cloth state.
  6. Press the ‘Apply as Shape Key’ button on the Cloth modifier.
    * The cloth modifier will be deleted from the object.
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  7. Apply new cloth settings to the object.
  8. Set Pinning to be the same Vertex Group if necessary.
  9. Give Cloth Cache the same name as before.
  10. Set Cloth cache to Disk Cache.
  11. Play the animation timeline so that the cache frames on disk will be loaded again.
  12. Repeat from step 5 for each cloth pose you want to turn to a shape key.