How to bake(convert) bones as FK from IK in Blender - three.js

How can I convert from IK(Inverse Kinematics) to FK (Forward Kinematics) in Blender?
I am trying to export a model which has skeletal animations, to THREE.js. However, It does not support IK. therefore, I need to convert all bones into FK.
Does anyone know any solutions?
Thanks! Happy Holidays!

I found, Bake Action can be bake all frames as IKs. But I suppose, there are better solution...
If you'd like to bake all frames, see the following link.
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?308277-bake-ik-to-fk
From the pose menu select Animation -> Bake action with "Clear
constraints" and "visual keying" checked. You should get baked Actions
that you can see in the graph editor for each bone. This won't
transfer from one rig to another, but I assume you can work on copies.

One of the issues with using Bake Action is that it generates a bunch of keyframes in between your original keyframes.
I wrote an open source Blender Addon that generates an FK rig from your IK rig, without creating any additional keyframes.
Hope it helps! - https://github.com/chinedufn/blender-iks-to-fks

Related

How can i create a controlled stand-alone 3D viewer?

I'm trying to create a custom 3D viewer that can show up a rigged model created with blender. Particulary, the model will be a mechanical one, so in need to move them with an IK solver: i ll move/rotate a single bone (which will be the motor axes) and all other components must follow it.
I've already done the Blender part (see link below), but now i'm stuck on how to make a stand-alone viewer (ideally a single executable file) that can communicate with another application/process (maybe with TCP socket?) and move the 3d model based on the information sent by it. I'm working on Win10.
Does anyone have any ideas?
(sorry my bad english, I hope explanation was thorough)
https://youtu.be/5rR7BKrGzFg

What to use for creating custom 3D objects and animations?

I'm used to working with SolidWorks and Catia for 3D object and basic animations but i got a personal project that i work on where i need to build a LASER manufacturing machine and i need to make it look like it is in real life, make zoom inside the machine and see how the light gets polarized as it passes through a crystal, see how the laser beam hits the surface and particles fly of the hit surface,etc.
I thought about Unity Engine but don't know much about this area of 3D and in what program to do the models before importing into Unity, can you guys help me with better solutions ?
Thanks,
Adrian
If you want to use Unity, you can import the following file formats: .FBX, .dae, .3DS, .dxf, .obj (http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/HOWTO-importObject.html)
From Solidworks, you can export as an STL, then import the STL into a 3d Application (ex. Blender), and in Blender you could export the model as an FBX.
I think you're able to achieve more in terms of animation with unity. You can design your model documents in SolidWorks or CATIA and save them in IGES (neutral format).

Blender MakeHuman to Three.js

I'm trying to integrate a animated 3D character in a Web navigator.
I use MakeHuman 1.02 to create a character which I import in Blender 2.74 in .mhx format.
I retarget to a BVH using the MakeWalk plugin for Blender. It's for the motion.
When I try to export the character in .json format (three.js), the following error appears :
MakeHuman is not a valid mesh object.
A mesh object is an object that we can modify properties or vertices, isn't it ?
I try others format like .dae format (collada) but it seems that the navigators doesn't find the skeleton and the textures of the character (even if they are in the same directory) necessary for the character's motion.
How to get the character like a mesh object ? Or somebody knows another process to success ?
Like Erica pointed out, you need to have a mesh selected to export it. The problem with this is it doesn't seem to work if you have multiple meshes. Only one will export. This is a problem when using MakeHuman because their clothes are separate meshes.
One way to fix this is to select all meshes and combine them into one (I believe that's CTRL + J). However, you'd have to somehow merge all your texture files into one big one and I have no idea how to do that.
What I do is to export the entire scene. Then it doesn't matter what is selected. All meshes get exported. You can load it using either the ColladaLoader, which I would recommend since you're retargeting to a BVH (worked great for me), or the new ObjectLoader.
If you have your own Scene object on the page that you want to use, you can still load the scene created by the exporter, traverse it to get the items you care about, and add those items to your scene that will display on the page.

Export Blender Particle System Hair To Three.JS

After several months of casual research on three.js as I work on a model in Blender 2.7 I have yet to locate a method for exporting the blender particle system hair? By chance would anyone have any ideas how would I go about achieving this feat, would I need to perhaps export to OBJ or some other format? I have yet to see any three.js imported particle systems from any 3d system?..Any ideas would greatly appreciated !!
The method I use is make your particle hair. Then, under the modifiers tab, select "convert" to convert it into a mesh.
Next add the "screw" modifier. Set the objects center accordingly to get the best "screw" results. Use X, Y, or Z axis, and change to 2 degrees. Change the number of sections to 2 as well.
This will make a mesh like hair.
This solution is a visualized version stated by beiller.
Step by Step
Go to Modifiers.
Click Convert.
Now the hair become like this.
Add Screw modifier to the hair and so change the Angle to 2.
Click Apply.
Export your model to what file format you need.

Model with bones animation (blender export) animating incorrectly in three.js

I am currently working on skeletal animation tests in three.js. I have a simple model which animates just fine in blender. Basically it consists of three stacked, bending cubes.
When I export the blender file to the three.js using the blender export plugin with Blender V2.64, the animation in the webGl context appears different as if the skinweighting is wrong.
WebGL-Demo:
http://rainbowrangers.de/threejs/animation_test01/
Blender-File:
http://rainbowrangers.de/threejs/animation_test01/model/animation_test01.blend
What do I have to do to get the correct result in three.js?
I am the person you quoted from the github discussion. I have recently been experimenting with this pipeline, ( ie Blender bone animations into threejs,) and have found that it is very very difficulty to find a reliable process that will work every time.
On my blog, I have compiled a list of 'tips' that allowed me to achieve success on some occasions:
http://dev.mothteeth.com/2012/10/threejs-blender-exporting-skeletal-animations/
To summarise, the most important things I found were:
Delete the Armature Modifier before exporting, or the animation will be all messed up.
Check that your Vertex Groups are properly assigned to the bones. ( In Blender, you can use automatic bone weights. )
Key all bones in the first and last frames of your animation. ( As you discovered, if you only have keys for the bones you have changed, ThreeJS won't infer anything about the other ones, and things will be broken. )
Even following these guidelines, I can't get things to work consistently, and have been considering using morph targets until the library matures a bit more. The file sizes for morph targets are much larger but they seem to be a more reliable option at this point, in my experience.
After a lot of digging I finally found the answer in one of the three.js github discussions:
"Insert a full keyframe for all of the bones at the beginning and end of the animation. I found that without the first keyframe the animation would be subtly distorted, and without the one at the end I would lose parts of the animation toward the end."
Source: https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/issues/2106
That was exactly what happened to our render. We only hat keyframes set for the bones that were changing and not for the static ones.
I've also found that to get the exported model working right the export should be done at frame 0 in Blender.
Another thing that solved a problem I've encountered was not to scale model after exporting it. This means that the model can't be scaled in the JSON file and probably in the code directly.
Using three.js r56

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