Ikas Blender 3D ( Introduction )

Armature and Mesh - First animation - A little more - Constraints - Weight - Weight Paint -Various Tricks -

Introduction: Prior to the release of Blender version 2.20 ( 14/08/2001 ), the possibilities for animations of characters and other complex objects were, if not limited, at least particularly painful to implement. The new version ( 2.20 ) brings a true revolution in this field while introducing new tools for which the use of is disconcertingly simple.

The new IKAs system: Presentation:
The new IKA system is referred to as an 'Armature' and you will find it under this name in the main menu. The addition of Ikas in a scene is no different from previous versions. After adding an ika at the 3D cursor location, simply move the mouse to determine the size and position of the first element in the armature chain. A left mouse click confirms the addition and starts a new one. A right click or ESC finishes editing of the chain currently in progress. As it is always possible to edit the armature at a later time, a high degree of accuracy at this stage, is not necessary.

1st New Item:
Switching from standard mode to edit mode by pressing TAB is well-known, but here it will be of little use, if only to to determine the starting position of an animation. A new command has been added ( CTRL + TAB ) which is likely the only one which will allow you to generate your animation. When it is active, the chain of ikas is displayed in blue. Considering that, under Linux, CTRL+TAB generally causes a change of applications, it would be better to use the button (Yellow, "smiley" icon) located in the 3DWindow header.

In the top part of the image: Standard mode, which allows you to carry out displacements, rotations and adjustments to the scale of the entire chain.
In the middle: Edit mode, which allows the same operations as previously mentioned, but on a part of the chain. The selection is done by right mouse click ( or SHIFT + right click ) on the ends. (Note that Box select B can also be used ). You can duplicate either the entire or part of a chain with SHIFT+D, erase one or more elements with X and add new ikas by extrusion ( Select one or more handles and press E ). Important note: This is where you determine the basic structure. It is normal to see the form of the chain change for each element in this mode, even once you have started to edit your animation.
At the bottom: Animation ("Pose") mode which makes it possible to use the new Blender animation editor. A right click selects a branch of the system, keeping SHIFT pressed down makes it possible to activate several of them. You can then perform rotations ( R ) or adjustments to the scale ( S ) on the selected elements.

2nd New Item:

The Action Editor. To use it, start by creating a screen comprised of at least an IPO window ( SHIFT + F6 ) and an Action Editor window, which you can open by clicking on the window selection button and then selecting the icon which represents a character. Now, with the introductory details covered, we can continue on to more practical material.