temporarily disable dynamics

[Waldo2D]

Is the a way to 'temporarily disable dynamics' in an animation?

[Greenlaw]

If it's bone dynamics, you can disable Animation >Enable Bone Dynamics. This is a global switch that temporarily turns Bone Dynamics off for the entire project.

If it's shape physics, open the group settings, go to Physics and disable Enable Physics.

[Waldo2D]

Cool, didn't know that!
But... I need to disable it in specific sequences... Not the entire project...

[Greenlaw]

Oh, so you want to keyframe it. I don't think you can keyframe bone dynamics...it's either on or off.

You might try using Vitruvian Bones to switch between bones with and without active dynamics enabled.

Alternatively, you can switch between Interpolation modes that simulate bone dynamics (Bounce, Elastic,) and normal keys (Smooth, Linear.)

[Greenlaw]

Sorry, I was mistaken: You totally can keyframe bone dynamics. Just try it on the timeline, and a dynamics keyframe will appear. (It's the channel with the 'spring' icon.)



Note that it's a 'hard' switch, so you'll want to wait for the dynamics to settle before disabling it.

Also note that you can't keyframe the wind option specifically, but keyframing Bone Dynamics will take care of it. (Edit: This is inaccurate; see next post for more info.)

[Greenlaw]

Whoops...my bad again: you can totally keyframe wind options and animate Wind options gradually over time.

Select the Wind tool and you can keyframe the options that appear in the Options bar, like Strength and Direction.

(Obviously I haven't used Bone Dynamics for ages, and wind dynamics very much at all...yet.)

[Waldo2D]

Great!
Will create a Smart Bone in future rigs.
Then I don't need to select all those bones by hand and disable them.
Thx for the tip and swift reply!
Appreciated!
Luc