0

Does an Add-On exist for Blender that allows the use to create a motion trail for a vertex (particularly after it has been deformed)? Here is such a script in Maya:

enter image description here

I see that it is possible in Blender, so I am hoping such an Add-On exists.

Thank you!

Dr. Pontchartrain
  • 661
  • 5
  • 14
  • 1
    Related (and includes add-on that takes a trail of particles and converts into a curve) : https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/94976/29586 – Rich Sedman Oct 30 '21 at 06:36
  • https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7744/particle-trails-in-cycles https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/117090/particles-with-motion-trails https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/52830/is-it-possible-to-create-a-path-from-an-existing-object-animation – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Oct 30 '21 at 23:39

1 Answers1

0

This question was answered by Jan-Willem van Dronkelaar, @jwvdronkelaar on blender.chat: http://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVS2eSjI1oyF7_JsBYSs8g-nevj29nz-/view?usp=sharing

The solution:

  1. Select Armature, click Rest Position
  2. Go into Edit Mode for mesh of character
  3. Highlight the vertex
  4. Press Shift+S > Cursor to Selected
  5. Switch to Object Mode
  6. Shift+A to add an Empty, which should be at the 3D Cursor & Vertex position
  7. With the Empty active, Shift select the character mesh
  8. Switch back to Edit Mode
  9. Ctrl/Cmd+P to Make Vertex Parent
  10. Select Armature, click Pose Position and the Empty should follow the Vertex
  11. To get the motion trail, go into the Object Properties of the Empty, go to Motion Paths, click Calculate
  12. After edits, recalculate the Motion Path by clicking Update Paths.

(With Blender 3.0, if you are in the Armature's Pose Mode, when you right click there's an option to refresh motion paths.)

Thanks again to Jan-Willem for this solution!

Dr. Pontchartrain
  • 661
  • 5
  • 14