• Editor

  • duplicate constraint

    inglês

This is a subsidiary question to my previous post (http://fr.esotericsoftware.com/forum/skins-with-characters-of-different-sizes-14488)

My goal is to create a new skin setup (bones + constrains) without setting up again everything.

Here is how it looks like. Now I'd like to be able, for a new character with different proportions, to duplicate these constrains and bones so I can place the arms, legs, etc. correctly

I have tried to duplicate my target bones (those that are associated with the skin) but the associated constrains are not duplicated.
and I can't find how to duplicate constrain :tear:

Is it possible ?

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thank you very much!
I did not know the issue tracking was there, so I know now 🙂

BTW, a few feedbacks here, regarding constrains by the way:

This is not easy to setup the offset using the sliders.

  • First they are quite small while you sometime need to add a big offset. On my version (Mac OS) the slider is limited to 106.
  • then, when you want to adjust the value using the slider, it resets to a small value (probable related to the fact that the slider is small..)
    A way to edit the offset directly in the stage would really help I think

you can not select several sliders and add them to a skin
you need to add them one by one :whew:

Thanks for the feedback!
Regarding the fact that the sliders are small, you can simply enlarge the view laterally to add more room. If you're referring to the range, clicking and dragging allows to go beyond that. I generally prefer to get close to the position I want, then zoom in and fine-tune the position by manually typing values until I'm satisfied, so far this has worked great and it was reasonably fast to do.

How do you imagine the way to offset in the stage directly? something like you click a buutton and adjust?

Sliders cannot be added one by one, you can only add the whole constraint to a skin. If you mean that you want to add several constraints at once, you can actually do it easily this way:

Select the skin in the skins node, press the button Add to skin, click on the constraints you want to add, press the button Add to skin once again to complete.

Regarding the fact that the sliders are small, you can simply enlarge the view laterally to add more room.

So this is how it looks on my computer at a regular size (meaning I still have a correct view on the stage.

I use it on my MacBook screen (I like it better than on my second screen which is not retina.) and since it is not possible (or I have not found how) to detach the tools from the stage, then I let it on the same screen.
As you can notice, the UI can make a better use of the width of the panel actually. Maybe something you need to check 🙂

If you're referring to the range, clicking and dragging allows to go beyond that.

not for me unfortunately. Actually I know what is happening: I click and drag to the right to increase th value, and of course when my mouse comes to the right edge of the screen it stops. So I try to click on the slider again to move it to the right and go further, and then it goes back to a very low value (e.g. I can reach 504 at the edge of the screen and click back on the slider which then displays 47)
in this case I need to adjust by typing the value on the keyboard.

How do you imagine the way to offset in the stage directly? something like you click a buutton and adjust?

yes something like that.
In the project I am currently working on, I made a first version of the skin constrain by creating a bone for the part of the body to move, and then use it as the constrain target. Then you move this bone to the place you want and it feels like you are directly moving the constrain.
Nice but actually it has a few issues and not as straightforward as the advice yo gave me. So in the new version, as you suggested I have just created constrains (local + relative) targeting the root bone. Works like a charm, but I have to set up the constrains with the values and the sliders.
So, maybe we can have the best of the 2 versions: adding a button, and you can then see a point on the stage you can move, rotate, scale, as you do with a bone. When you are ok, you click again on the same button to exit this special setup mode.
Just an idea of course, you probably need to think more to the UX of that, and the technical side, but it will kinda help!

Sliders cannot be added one by one, you can only add the whole constraint to a skin. If you mean that you want to add several constraints at once, you can actually do it easily this way

Sorry I wrote sliders but I meant constrains.
And thank you for the tip !

Add another +1 to copying constraints for me!

utkiupe escreveu

maybe we can have the best of the 2 versions: adding a button, and you can then see a point on the stage you can move, rotate, scale, as you do with a bone. When you are ok, you click again on the same button to exit this special setup mode.

Please note that the sliders are not really intended to fully configure the constraint's offset. They are there mostly as a place to show the values, but there is little room there for so many sliders. Besides, adjusting sliders to achieve the offset needed is unintuitive. That said, in v4 you can drag up/down or left/right on the text box to more easily adjust the value when the value is out of the normal range of the slider.

If I'm understanding what you need correctly regarding transform constraint offsets, please try this workflow:

  1. Set the transform constraint's mixes to 0. This allows you to manipulate the constrained bone(s).

  2. Use the rotate, translate, scale, shear, and/or pose tools in the editor viewport to manipulate the first constrained bone. Adjust the bone so it's where you want it when the constraint mixes are 100%.
    By the first constrained bone I mean the first one listed in the constraint properties, eg here the first is other:

    Image removed due to the lack of support for HTTPS. | Show Anyway


    Note you can drag the bones in that select box to change their order.

  3. Click Match for the constraint. This sets the offset values to match the first bone. Now when you set the mixes to 100%, the bone will have its current transform.

  4. You may want to set the constraint mixes back to 0 and adjust the constrained bone as needed, if you want its unconstrained transform to be different from when it is constrained.

ryancbaker escreveu

Add another +1 to copying constraints for me!

Yaaassss, I know! :grinfake We are dying over here trying to get the v4 beta ready. There's so much we want to do. We will get there, I promise!

Yaaassss, I know! :grinfake We are dying over here trying to get the v4 beta ready. There's so much we want to do. We will get there, I promise!

I can't wait! Mostly looking forward to the new curves editor, but there are tons of goodies in the list. Keep up the good work!

Hi Nate, thanks for the reply.

Please note that the sliders are not really intended to fully configure the constraint's offset. They are there mostly as a place to show the values, but there is little room there for so many sliders.

Sure I can see that. As I mentioned thought there is a little room there (please see my screenshot).
This is not so important though.

That said, in v4 you can drag up/down or left/right on the text box to more easily adjust the value when the value is out of the normal range of the slider.

This is really cool. This is a behavior in many softs (such as Unity) and it's really intuitive.

If I'm understanding what you need correctly regarding transform constraint offsets, please try this workflow:

I'll try that. I have a few skins (with 20 constrains each!) to setup, so I'll have many occasions to test that 🙂

One last question by the way : it happens from time to time that I want to add a new bone in a constrain. So I click on the little pen icon to edit the bones field but then, the bones already selected are removed I have to select them again. Is there a better way to add a bone there?

We are dying over here trying to get the v4 beta ready. There's so much we want to do. We will get there, I promise!

Looking forward to it!
Thank you for the good work!

utkiupe escreveu

it happens from time to time that I want to add a new bone in a constrain. So I click on the little pen icon to edit the bones field but then, the bones already selected are removed I have to select them again. Is there a better way to add a bone there?

There's an issue to improve that:
Add bones to existing "Bones" list under constraints · #419 · EsotericSoftware/spine-editor
You can see all issues here:
Spine Roadmap

Cheers!

thanks

About your suggestions

If I'm understanding what you need correctly regarding transform constraint offsets, please try this workflow:

I wanted to try but I don't really feel confortable with this workflow when it comes to skinned transform constrains.
I don't want to change the bone base x and y position, and I think that playing with that while being on a skin will affect the bone original coordinates and affect each skin

Anyway, I'm quite OK with how it is now, and I know it can probably work better, especially regarding skin constrains, but I am not sure if it's a priority for you yet

Cheers

You may need to move the bone back to where it was. To do that you can select the bone and use ctrl+C to copy the transform. After setting the constraint offset, you can put the bone back using ctrl+V.