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Can bones follow a path?

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 4:20 pm
by Poptoogi
Just wondering if anyone knows if a bone can follow a path? The reason I ask is that I have a character that I want their hand to make a specific movement but want the arm to move with the hand as they are all parented together. I can use follow path with the hand layer but then the arm becomes disconnected. It's not a big deal as I can just keyframe the movement but it would be nice if I could draw a path and have specific bones follow it. It would be great for walk/run cycles as you could really fine tune movements and stride by drawing different semi circles and bind them to feet or hands. Just a thought!

Re: Can bones follow a path?

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 3:47 pm
by hayasidist
it's on its way... at present my follow curve only animates points; bone translation is due to finish in a couple of months at most; bone IK - which is what I think you're saying that you want - comes after that ... viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25384

Re: Can bones follow a path?

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:56 pm
by Poptoogi
Awesome!!!! If this works how I think it will work it will be one of the most useful tools ever made for AS! If groups of characters could all be assigned the same movement based on attaching bones to one path that would be truly mind blowing!... Again, if it works the way I think it would! :)

Re: Can bones follow a path?

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 5:31 pm
by heyvern
hayasidist wrote:it's on its way... at present my follow curve only animates points; bone translation is due to finish in a couple of months at most; bone IK - which is what I think you're saying that you want - comes after that ... viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25384
That is pretty cool!

A looooong time ago, I scripted a bone/path layer script intended for joints. It was a real pain in the arse. I think I did it for v6 or v7? Back then, no follow path, I had to create my own "link" between the path and the bone using bone names and point group names. I used it for really basic simple things. A bone followed a tiny short curved path to move points around a joint area. I gave up on it because of the naming conventions and trying to link multiple bones to multiple paths on the same layer. It worked but it was very slow and klunky. I will be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.