by shengmingu·Workflow
Images © shengmingu. Used for product review; image policy.
A compact add-on at 6.0 KB that turns a repetitive constraint-setup task into a single button, with matching cleanup and gradient influence controls.
Damped Track Chain automates the creation of Damped Track constraints along a bone chain in Blender. Select the root bone or bones of a chain, click the button, and every child bone automatically receives a Damped Track constraint pointing to its direct parent. You can select multiple root bones at once, and each chain is processed independently.
The add-on offers gradient influence control: set a start influence value and a step value, then choose whether the influence decreases or increases as you move deeper along the chain. A track axis parameter defines the local axis that points toward the target bone, keeping the default Y axis in most cases. All settings live in the Rigging tab of the 3D View sidebar, revealed by pressing N in Pose Mode.
A dedicated Clear button removes all Damped Track constraints from the selected bone chains without deleting manually added constraints. The developer describes this as a performance-friendly way to simulate wiggly motion in hierarchical bone structures such as hair or tails. Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.
Damped Track Chain is best for blender riggers setting up secondary motion on hierarchical bone chains such as hair, tails, or ropes.
Damped Track Chain is completely free to download and use.
Damped Track Chain is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer. The add-on's settings appear in the Rigging tab of the 3D View sidebar while you are in Pose Mode, which you open by pressing N. To use it, select your armature, enter Pose Mode, adjust the parameters, then select the root bone or bones of one or more chains and click Add Chain to create the constraints automatically.
Damped Track Chain installs like a standard Blender add-on. Download the latest release, then in Blender go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons and click Install in the top-right corner. Select the downloaded .zip file, then enable the add-on by checking Rigging: Damped Track Chain in the list. It can also be dragged and dropped into Blender or installed from disk. Once enabled, its panel is available under the Rigging category in the sidebar during Pose Mode.
Damped Track Chain includes a dedicated Clear button for removal. Select the root bone or bones of the chain, then click Clear Chain to remove all Damped Track constraints from the selected bone chains. This cleanup is designed to be safe: it removes the Damped Track constraints without deleting other constraints you added manually, so you can undo the add-on's changes without disturbing the rest of your rig setup.
Damped Track Chain is listed here as free and is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. The add-on requires no special permissions in Blender. For current licensing details, the source, and the latest release, refer to the developer's GitHub page. The extension is small at 6.0 KB and installs through Blender's standard add-on workflow, so there are no additional dependencies noted for getting it running.
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