Ikas Blender 3D ( 2 - The first animation )

Introduction - Armature and Mesh - A little more - Constraints - Weight - Weight paint -Various Tricks
The first animation:
Select the cylinder and in the Edit Buttons window (F9) click ' SubSurf ', set the subdivisions at 2 and press Z to switch to gouraud shaded display mode. Then select the armature, click on the ' pose ' mode button and view the results obtained by selecting one or more branches (right click) and performing rotations (R) or adjustments to the scale (S) operations on the branch(es). If you do not wish to use the new ikas to perform animations, you may be satisfied to use them instead as a modelling tool to deform objects.
Note: In these examples the armature is seperated from the cylinder for improved comprehension, but for real work it would be better to place it inside of the tube.
An amusing trick: Select the tube and move it, you could use a fixed chain of ikas to create an animation path...

Don't forget: To return to a result similiar to that shown above, switch again to 'Edit' mode to display this ( Unless you did not perform any of the preliminary modifications ). That's alright. In 'Edit' mode, pressing U ( Reload original data ) will cancel any modifications made, as long as you did not quit this mode.

A final detail before we begin the animation, ALT+R, ALT+S can cancel all the transformations made in 'pose' mode, if you are not satisfied with the results. Return to 'Pose' mode ( Armature blue ) and give it a position similar to that of the first image. Adjust the frame number to Frame 1, select all of the branches ( A ), press I ( I as in indigo, not L ) and choose the option 'LocRotSize' and observe the transformations in the Ipo and the Actions editor windows.

The Ipo Window: You will notice that the IPO's window contains a new button ( automatically added with the insertion of the first key ) and that certain curves ( a little flat at the moment ) carry new designations ( QuatW, X, Y, Z ) specific to the 'bones' ( A 'bone' is an English term and it is also used to refer to a branch of the armature, B1, B2 and B3, which are the three distinct 'bones' ). Verify that no element is active and while clicking on the small white dash '-' button, you should see a list: Action.B1, Action.B2, Action.B3 which is the group of curves associated with each element. If you select one or more elements, the curve associated for the last element selected ( of the armature ) will be displayed. Pressing the small button that resembles a thumb tack cancels this effect ( The curve for a certain element which was displayed at the time the "tack" button was pressed will remain, irregardless of which element(s) are selected in the 3D window ). When the lock icon button is active, ( it is inactive by default ), it makes it possible to see the movement of the object in real time when you modify the curves directly in the window (the remaining commands available are absolutely identical to those for standard Ipo's ).
Note: Often you will not be able to see all of the curves, since the majority of them are superimposed, ie. they are overlaid, one on top of the other.
Without touching anything in the Ipo window, set the frame slider to 'Frame' 50, ( In 'pose' mode = blue ) select all of the 'bones' or elements of the armature and press ALT+S, then ALT+R. The cylinder should become "flat" (straighten out). Once again, press I ( it is an I, not an L ) and select 'LocRotSize' from the pop-up menu and then a second point should appear on the curves. Return to Frame 1 and press ALT+SHIFT+A to view the animation.

The Actions Editor: Nothing could be simpler to use. Each rectangle represents a pose assigned to each element of the armature. Start by changing the scale of the window so that the lower scale bar displays the values from 0 to 100 ( CTRL + middle mouse Button + Drag, Note: + and - do not currently work here ). Then select the first three rectangles ( B1, B2, B3 at 0 ) as you would normally select any object in Blender and duplicate them with SHIFT + D. With this completed, move the copy to Frame 100, but *** ATTENTION *** the calculation is rather long and the arrow cursor will flicker frantically. If you are nervous about the erratic movements during this time, you may believe that Blender has even locked up... Calmly continue to use the mouse despite the fact that the arrow cursor continues to 'flicker' a little more. Left click to confirm the new position or right click to cancel the operation. Pressing the X key erases the selected elements. Attention: There is no UNDO possibility here, so make a backup before performing any perilous operation in this window. Once these elements are duplicated, play the animation ( ALT+SHIFT+A ) again until Frame 100 to see the result.
That's not all: It is also amusing to copy some of the elements and place them on the animation time line and watch the effects produced...

Still a little more... With regards to these three small odd buttons which do not appear in the 3D Window header, unless you're in 'Pose' mode. The 'downwards pointing arrow' icon button copies the current pose of the selected elements into the buffer. Then you can change the frame to some point in your animation and by clicking the second button, give the current elements, the pose which you have just copied, or the exact opposite pose by clicking on the third button. It is obviously useful, only if we think of inserting a new key via 'I' immediately after making a copy.

You can open the tut-ika-01.zip file which was used in this example.

And the Ipo curve? In this example, only Ipo's specific to the new functions were used. However, the traditional editing of Ipo's is still possible. If you want to add a global movement to an armature, it remains possible to assign a completely normal Ipo curve to it, which will influence the entire movement.