Ok so I've finally made some critical updates to the Bone Widget Add-on with the help of SuperMaximus and BlenderDefender.....obviously not their real names!
Anyway, I need some people to help test for bugs before I merge to master.
I'm going to mention matbev, @adrian2301 and spikeyxxx here, not only because they are awesome, but because they have shown interest in seeing this day finally arrive.
I will include a zip with the code for version 1.8 which you can download and install directly as an add-on.
But the actual branch is located here on Github https://github.com/waylow/boneWidget/tree/BlenderDefender
NOTE: this is not the main branch but hopefully will be merged back to the main if testing goes well.
So if you are reading this in the future, if the version on the master branch is 1.8 or above - it already has been merged. Stop living in the past and go and download it already.
Ok back to the present/past...
I won't bore you with a list of all the changes and fixes but here's a few key things.
-There's about a billion shapes included from the start
- The add-on doesn't need to be renamed after install anymore
- You can now edit a shape that isn't in the default collection.
- You can set an object to be a shape without adding to the library
You do this in a similar way to how you would parent an object to a bone. Select the object > shift select the armature > select a bone in pose mode > click the button that says "Use Object as Widget"
I have tested this in Blender 2.93 and 3.0 alpha and it seems to all work as expected.
But please let me know if you find any bugs.
Cheers
Wayne
weeeeehay this is great news @waylow . Yeah I'm more than happy to check for bugs.
must say that it is working really nicely for me at first glance. The install method is 100% more improved and that is now working perfectly. installed for me great.
Loving all the new default bone shapes as well. they are all going to come in so helpful as I found myself making a lot of them for rigs in the previous version of the addon. so its great that they are now there as default.
one bug I have noticed. When I open a new blend file and add an armature, then go to pose mode and choose my bone shape it works great. But, if I open an existing rig with no bone shapes yet. And add a shape through the addon, it wont change.
Here's a clip of what i mean. first i have a fresh scene, then onto a rig that had been opened up. https://youtu.be/pg0M9GeGKF4
I will keep on having a test though, but first thoughts its working great and I'm so happy that its here. thank you so much Wayne, SuperMaximus and BlenderDefender. You've all done cracking work
Thanks @waylow , SuperMaximus and BlenderDefender.
Hey Wayne, I think you need to come up with a super hero name as well.
I had a play around with the new toy, and, I broke it!
Not really....
with an original early install of v2.93.0 it still doesn't install.
with v2.93.1 everything works wonderfully so far.
so I reinstalled v2.93.0 from a freshly downloaded zip, and, hey presto it works.
note: once download of v2.93.1 is installed 2.93.0 is no longer available, unless via a new zip.
I opened up the baker rig and was able to change some shapes no problem.
matbev , I'm wondering what version of Blender your existing rig was created? Would it have been an early v2.93.0?
So far so good though, all the shapes seem to be working fine. Resync widget names works, clear bone widget and delete unused also in working order.
I'll keep trying to break it, but no luck so far.
First testing on 2.93.2 and 3.0 (from today; yesterdays 3.0 wouldn't let me install any Addons) and everything seems to be working great!
Wayne, this add-on is an unbelievable time saver. Thanks to you, SuperMaximus and BlenderDefender for the continued development.
Thanks for testing everybody!
matbev , I can't replicate that issue at all. And I wouldn't have believed you unless you showed proof haha.
I think that issue might be something to do with the version of Blender you built the rig with - ie 2.92
I am currently working on a production where 2.92 is f***ing up big time. Works in 2.91, and 2.93, but crashes on Windows version of 2.92. So we are having to find work arounds........mostly that means someone who is not on Windows does that thing that needs doing.
This might be connected to the same thing.
I wonder is opening your 2.92 file and then saving it with 2.93 will solve the issue for you?
yeah @waylow I think you are right there. When I added in another new bone in that file and used the plugin, it worked fine. But just wouldn't work on the existing armature. its so weird. Opened up other rigs as well from earlier blender builds and they work fine.
So I think it must be a problem with the 2.92 version or blender that is messing it up. ah well, wont take long for me to rebuild it in 2.93
yeah 2.92 seems to be very buggy,
You could try importing the armature data, and then applying it to a new armature.
This *might* circumvent any weird 2.92 issue, however, because the data was created in that version, I might be wasting your time.
Another way to speed up the recreation is to snap the bones of a brand new armature to the locations of its evil broken counterpart. (I hope that makes sense)