I know any request for BFA1 will probably not fly but I have a handful of request to the rigging process that could save a few seconds for later.
- Rigging layout with all 3 armature related properties tab already open (or combine them or have them as sub tabs).
- Lock on constraint transform space so I change one target and both change (target and source) -it is rare I use two spaces on the same constraint.
- Source bone picker (not just object) or add an interactive system to select source, now select constraint, now select target – button workflow (right now it’s all a submenu and hotkey entry and it won’t work till you have all selected with active already. How is someone supposed to intuitively use this work flow with the triple hotkey without a tutorial!?)
- Add a couple of icons here and there.
- Move the bone transform orientation in edit mode to the tools panel (I use it often and having them in through two sub menus – still has me using the hotkey)
- Have a “quick” parent workflow that skips the submenu. One button to parent connected and another to parent offset. No submenu.
- Have the bone visibility, editing and properties automatically check selection and apply to all bones in selection after change or have the tool tips imply that with Alt you can do this or “Copy to Selected” (or move those menu entries to the properties area for ease of access for no “labeling redundency” and confusion and remove?)
- Minimize, reorder and combine panel features, toggles and sliders
- Better BB work flow. Currently the button is not quite there yet. (Task created)
- When creating a constraint the target or source name would be in the constraint name. Things get messy quickly when bones have more than 2 of the same constraint with the same name and I have to stop to rename everything everywhere. Or have a button in constraints to auto rename.
- Others would probably be feature request more for the Blender community: inverse the IK scaling on stretch (it violates all animation laws by INCREASING volume on stretch!), IK stretch with scale XZ preservation toggle, multi bone weight colour influences on whole armature in weight painting mode for best weight overview and editing (a la Softimage), snapping highlight on targets (vertex, face, object, etc), drag and drop driver assignment work flows, interactive constraint assignment workflows, etc
But BFA2 will be a different beast like Blender 2.8 so… I’m not sure. I think the biggest roadblock is the Tools Shelf work flow changes and huge code changes there in general.
Rigging anywhere is always a chore, but saving seconds with intuitive work flows does make it fun. No good rig comes fully automatically (and is cross compatible) unless you are doing it for copy paste character rigs with similar humanoid dimensions… or when the whole system becomes more AI machine learning work flow reliant.
By far my favorite work flows has been Truespace for all the widgets and skin targeting to bones (and full body IK with anchors to toggle). Best weighting is Softimage. Strongest with intuitive perks on traditional rigging is still Softimage.
But it’s not the time and I don’t have the skill to fix these things yet… I’ll be patient on BFA2 for now.
:dance: