Action Constraint - Hidden Animation Power! | Blender Rigging For Animation

[@pauljs75]

If you're bold and have the time for it, that type of rig has the ability to make a functioning transformer robot. (The things animated under it can also control drivers and other constraints, thus even capable of switching which control rigs get to influence things.) Tricky to setup, but a lot easier to have work somewhat consistently. Really is one of the more powerful things in Blender!

[@UnknownDino]

It took just the first 2 minutes to understand why we need this. Super clear instructions!

[@warrenography]

Wow! I'm doing a feature animation and this will help with blinks, to start with. The use case was so valuable, sometimes we are shown a tool or technique and no use case, so thanks for taking that leap. Of course, you'll say it's a no brainer, but it's surprising how many times there's a "do this" but no "when to do it," or "why" or how it helps. I've also got a 50 machine gun rigged for recoil and this will save me again, as with the blinks. When I dive in today I'll look for other places to apply it, and quietly thank Level Pixel Level for the helpful reveallllll!

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Thank you! Glad you found it helpful! You might like this video as well 😁 kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3iQqXunYp2Wo8U

[@ckat609]

Holy balls, batman! That was extremely informative. Thank you!

[@LevelPixelLevel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3iQqXunYp2Wo8U enjoy

[@syam.k.yenubari]

I never seen such a complex rigging artist on you tube......

[@syam.k.yenubari]

If you copy paste attributes every bone should be uniform motion how do they rotate one after another ?

[@LevelPixelLevel]

I copy and pasted the constraint - but the action that they are linked to is geared to the bone name. While they share constraint parameters that animation on each bone was different and this allows them to have an offset rotation.

[@syam.k.yenubari]

@@LevelPixelLevel thanks

[@DavidBoura]

2020: rigging, sculpting, rigging, sculpting, more, more, more!

[@razveck]

Never smacked the subscribe button this quickly. Pure gold!

[@nategreyson6014]

your channel is gold

[@pelakalion]

Impressive, simple and fantastic!. Thanks so much for share this, it's kinda turn on light and the magic happens :)

[@rudypieplenbosch6752]

Great explanation

[@DefacedProductions]

Great channel and i'm FINALLY figuring out constraints, both rigid body ones and bonebois. thankx dood.

[@electricsam5273]

This is very amazing. I'm always having trouble writing drivers. This is time saver thanks.

[@lukasallenbaugh4728]

Very clear! I love all your tutorials!

[@kenjaictin6351]

I've finally found this incredible channel about rigging! Thank you for making those contents😁

[@Kyuboyo]

This is really informative! Can't wait to finish the rest of your Blender tutorials

[@vstreet7583]

Another great technique. Thank you once again for sharing your knowledge. Thank you. Dg

[@georgetherat3345]

Love this! Thanks

[@MrWeda2]

Thank You!!! Sincerely, Alexander.

[@QuiteDan]

6:10 When I remove an animation from the action editor, the bones sometimes stay in whatever pose was at the current frame, instead of reverting to the "rest" transforms. Any idea why?

[@lamtruong8740]

You're life saver to me :D

[@scale...3d]

Can you make a video to show how you made that spaceship mechanism rig?

[@tahirturdaliev8518]

Thank you

[@morin6661]

Hi, Thanks for tutorial. You vedios are always helpful. I had one question. Is it possible to add infinity in action constraint so it even works when controller value is exceeded.

[@eddieandersson5570]

I'm rather new to Blender in general and I love it more and more the more I use, see and learn about it. Would you be able to bake this down to the bones get this into a game engine too? I just think rigging seems so much simpler in Blender compared to Maya. You spoke of that this was like a driver, I assume you meant a driver in Maya? And if so I totally agree, it looks very much like that. But now I'm off to see your video on Drivers in Blender.

[@yogesh124]

Amazing

[@TheStrokeForge]

Superb!!k!!

[@AsyrafChannel]

Please make flare release controller tutorial.

[@markuschakera8324]

How is the action being offset. I would have thought they would rotate or do the action together, not offset

[@LevelPixelLevel]

The action almost becomes a driver, it allows you to control it as an element. You can add this to the rotation, although the initial rotation was offset (in the animation)

[@dmitrylevitsky6643]

Wow, thanks for showing your fantastic work! I just have one question: did you really go and placed all the bones in their places by hand?? like select a face - cursor to selection - add bone. and repeat that dozen times?? or is there a better way to create so many bones in bulk? what would you recommend, I'm figuring how to rig a mech, and there is a lot of details I would love to animate, but seeing that many bones in your rig... that frustrates me)) anyways thanks for your vid!

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Hey, yes I did rig all of these pieces :) For adding bones you can also write a script based on the object's locations, add a bone for each object and attach these objects to those bones. One other option is to just build a simple rig, and just animate the objects/details on the mech if you want secondary motion. This always depends on what the timeline is. If I had to make this for 20 animators, I would rig it, but if it was just a short animation I might just animate the objects.

[@dmitrylevitsky6643]

@@LevelPixelLevel thanks! That helps)

[@MrSuvidh]

correct me if I am wrong, you are using this to trigger a particular action (via a controller's bone) can't you use NLA editor to do that? P.S I am a newbie.

[@LevelPixelLevel]

You can use the NLA editor for something similar although you cannot add this back into a dial on the rig. Meaning you can add as many action constraints as you have and stack them.

[@MrSuvidh]

@@LevelPixelLevel also we can use this setup instead of drivers?

[@LevelPixelLevel]

@@MrSuvidh Yes, for sure, I find systems like these far easier than drivers.

[@DimitriX-zq1dr]

@Suvidh Khasgiwala The main advantage over NLA is that it combines with other animations and constraints in additive fashion. Useful for making corrective poses for your animations (like, adjust an animal's legs to uneven terrain while looped walk cycle is playing) NLA cant do it correctly as far as I know.

[@murrowboy]

Is this the same as the transformation constraint? It looks like it does a similar function.

[@LevelPixelLevel]

The transformation constraint is more like a driver, it only does one thing. You can set up something similar with many transformation constraints, but it will take a long time.

[@maximk7816]

I have a question: I'm trying to figure out the way how I can make a bone to take specific values of its position so it can be located in some certain positions in space depending on some driving values obviously.. For now I only have the idea to make an action constraint but with constant interpolation in key frames.. Otherwise I should come up with a formula or a function which can be too complicated especially if you need to apply this approach in different situations. Basically I want a bone to behave like a switch. Any suggestions?

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Okay, so if I had to get something out 'today' for a client I would just use an action constraint and dial in the values exactly how I want. Another option is the transformation constraint: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZLUk35jfsqrnNE This is a great constraint for a constant value, and can be a bit easier to tweak and test than a driver. Let me know how this goes!

[@maximk7816]

@@LevelPixelLevel well I have already tried to use action constraint for this purpose and it worked very well. With constant interpolation I can make a bone to immediately take the exact preset positions so it looked like a switch.

[@cubickreative]

Thanks a lot

[@indrakomara6966]

Thx...god job..

[@Sebastianandthedeepbluemusic]

Is this easier then just using an NLA strip?

[@insanenikral7011]

Does anyone else have issues with entering a baked action into the Action Constraint? Saved to fake user or not, it won't let me select the action but will select other actions and create users every time I try to select it

[@infinitehush]

I’m not sure I understand the power of this... guess I’ll have to head to the Patreon and see more examples!!!

[@LevelPixelLevel]

I'll be uploading an eyelid tutorial soon that shows how I use this action constraint@

[@GregEwing]

Why are other bones "delayed" I would expect everything to move at once?

[@GregEwing]

I'll answer my own question. The action has specific animation data for *each* bone. Sort of missed that bit. So your still animated all your bones first.

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Yeah! The offset was in the initial animation and that was reflected in the action constraint.

[@slamm600]

Wizardry! Im still building knowledge for animation in blender. Are there pros/cons for using an action constraint vs an action if your project never leaves blender?

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Actions are great for things like walk cycles, or run cycles. Action constraints are great for repeating little actions. I've also used action constraints for eyelids as I can use the animation of the lid to go around the curvature of the eyeball (unlike a shape key) I'll be releasing a video on this soon!

[@slamm600]

@@LevelPixelLevel Thanks! Looking forward to your next video. Your videos always catch my eye, then blow my mind.

[@tapikoBlends]

thanks

[@benjaminsmith4221]

Do you provide one on one help?

[@LevelPixelLevel]

Right now I am at capacity with contract work, but you can contact me here: www.levelpixellevel.com/work-with-us.html

[@curtisnewton895]

I really dont understand the need for driver/action constraint just to ...well, play an action

[@qaisershehzad3501]

1K likes now after my click :D

[@aliakdogan9426]

Thank you