Bendy Bones: Advanced B-Bones for Easier + Simple Rigging

This commit/patch/branch brings a bunch of powerful new options for B-Bones and
for working with B-Bones, making it easier for animators to create their own
rigs, using fewer bones (which also means hopefully lighter + faster rigs ;)
This functionality was first demoed by Daniel at BConf15

Some highlights from this patch include:
* You can now directly control the shape of B-Bones using a series of properties
  instead of being restricted to trying to indirectly control them through the
  neighbouring bones.  See the "Bendy Bones" panel...

* B-Bones can be shaped in EditMode to define a "curved rest pose" for the bone.
  This is useful for things like eyebrows and mouths/eyelids

* You can now make B-Bones use custom bones as their reference bone handles,
  instead of only using the parent/child bones. To do so, enable the
  "Use Custom Reference Handles" toggle. If none are specified, then the BBone will
  only use the Bendy Bone properties.

* Constraints Head/Tail option can now slide along the B-Bone shape, instead of
  just linearly interpolating between the endpoints of the bone.

For more details, see:
* http://aligorith.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/bendy-bones-dev-update.html
* http://aligorith.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/an-in-depth-look-at-how-b-bones-work.html



-- Credits --
Original Idea: Daniel M Lara (pepeland)
Original Patch/Research: Jose Molina
Additional Development + Polish: Joshua Leung (aligorith)
Testing/Feedback: Daniel M Lara (pepeland), Juan Pablo Bouza (jpbouza)

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/source/blender/editors/armature/pose_slide.c b/source/blender/editors/armature/pose_slide.c
index 9ef46c63f0f..cd0ea23e2d3 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/armature/pose_slide.c
+++ b/source/blender/editors/armature/pose_slide.c
@@ -303,8 +303,8 @@ static void pose_slide_apply_vec3(tPoseSlideOp *pso, tPChanFCurveLink *pfl, floa
 	MEM_freeN(path);
 }
 
-/* helper for apply() - perform sliding for custom properties */
-static void pose_slide_apply_props(tPoseSlideOp *pso, tPChanFCurveLink *pfl)
+/* helper for apply() - perform sliding for custom properties or bbone properties */
+static void pose_slide_apply_props(tPoseSlideOp *pso, tPChanFCurveLink *pfl, const char prop_prefix[])
 {
 	PointerRNA ptr = {{NULL}};
 	LinkData *ld;
@@ -313,8 +313,10 @@ static void pose_slide_apply_props(tPoseSlideOp *pso, tPChanFCurveLink *pfl)
 	/* setup pointer RNA for resolving paths */
 	RNA_pointer_create(NULL, &RNA_PoseBone, pfl->pchan, &ptr);
 	
-	/* custom properties are just denoted using ["..."][etc.] after the end of the base path, 
-	 * so just check for opening pair after the end of the path
+	/* - custom properties are just denoted using ["..."][etc.] after the end of the base path, 
+	 *   so just check for opening pair after the end of the path
+	 * - bbone properties are similar, but they always start with a prefix "bbone_*",
+	 *   so a similar method should work here for those too
 	 */
 	for (ld = pfl->fcurves.first; ld; ld = ld->next) {
 		FCurve *fcu = (FCurve *)ld->data;
@@ -328,7 +330,7 @@ static void pose_slide_apply_props(tPoseSlideOp *pso, tPChanFCurveLink *pfl)
 		 *	- pPtr is the chunk of the path which is left over
 		 */
 		bPtr = strstr(fcu->rna_path, pfl->pchan_path) + len;
-		pPtr = strstr(bPtr, "[\"");   /* dummy " for texteditor bugs */
+		pPtr = strstr(bPtr, prop_prefix);
 		
 		if (pPtr) {
 			/* use RNA to try and get a handle on this property, then, assuming that it is just
@@ -517,9 +519,16 @@ static void pose_slide_apply(bContext *C, tPoseSlideOp *pso)
 			}
 		}
 		
+		if (pchan->flag & POSE_BBONE_SHAPE) {
+			/* bbone properties - they all start a "bbone_" prefix */
+			pose_slide_apply_props(pso, pfl, "bbone_"); 
+		}
+		
 		if (pfl->oldprops) {
-			/* not strictly a transform, but contributes to the pose produced in many rigs */
-			pose_slide_apply_props(pso, pfl);
+			/* not strictly a transform, but custom properties contribute to the pose produced in many rigs
+			 * (e.g. the facial rigs used in Sintel)
+			 */
+			pose_slide_apply_props(pso, pfl, "[\"");  /* dummy " for texteditor bugs */
 		}
 	}