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Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin

by tykuii's lil shop·Workflow

Images © tykuii's lil shop. Used for product review; image policy.

Why we like it

Puppetiere earns a spot in the superhive library for bundling rigging, naming and collection utilities across Blender's object, edit and pose modes into one panel-driven plugin.

What is Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin?

Puppetiere is a rigging and animation plugin for Blender 4.1+, built by tykuii's lil shop. It organises armature work through several named sections: Marionette Web for object, edit and pose modes, a Bone Director, Locks, Snaps, Collection Tools, Bone Information and a PUPUI panel for previewing and exporting a Python UI.

In edit and pose modes it adds operators for renaming bones, forcing a bone's Z axis to a selected global axis, flipping bones, swapping bone names, and renaming a chain incrementally from parent to child. Pose Bones adds operations such as clearing pose modifications on visible bones and copying constraints from the active bone to selected bones. The Bone Director includes UI toggles between Blender's native UI and Puppetiere's UI, display options, deform filtering, quick deform toggling and collection tools.

The Snaps section stores coordinates of mesh points and snaps bones, bone heads, tails or the cursor onto those points. Collection Tools can export the previewed PUPUI to a Python script file for animators. A video showcasing new features is noted as coming.

Who is Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin best for?

Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin is best for blender riggers and animators who want organised armature, naming, collection and snapping tools plus an exportable Python UI.

How much does Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin cost?

Puppetiere: The Blender 4.1+ Bone Plugin is completely free to download and use.

Key features

  • Marionette Web tools spanning object, edit and pose modes for armature work
  • Bone Director with a UI toggle between Blender's native UI and Puppetiere's UI, display options and deform filtering
  • Edit-mode operators: rename bones, force bone Z axis, flip bones, swap bone names and rename a chain incrementally
  • Pose-mode operations including clearing pose modifications on visible bones and copying constraints to selected bones
  • Snaps section to store mesh point coordinates and snap bones, heads, tails or the cursor onto them
  • Collection Tools to export the previewed PUPUI to a Python script file for animators
  • Bone Information flagging system for tagging properties under a category in the exported Python UI

Tags

#Blender#rigging#animation#armature#bones#python#workflow

Frequently asked questions

Does Puppetiere work with Blender 4.1?

Puppetiere is described as the bone plugin for rigging and animation in Blender 4.1 and above, and its 7/3/24 update is a Blender 4.1 update covering the Marionette Web, Bone Director and new Locks, Snaps and Collection Tools sections. If you run a different Blender version, check the developer's page for the exact compatibility range before installing so the operators and UI panels behave as documented here.

What can Puppetiere's Snaps section do?

Puppetiere's Snaps section stores the coordinates of points on a mesh, either with context sensitivity or by using the average point in space. Users can rename these stored points for convenience, then snap bones to selected points, snap bone heads, tails or entire bones onto points in space or lines. The 3D cursor can also be snapped onto these stored points, giving a reusable set of positions to work against during rigging.

Can Puppetiere export a UI for animators?

Puppetiere's Collection Tools can export the previewed PUPUI to a Python script file, letting animators access exposed collections and properties. A flagging system in Bone Information tags properties under a specified header or category for that exported UI, and the PUPUI-PREVIEW panel lets the rigger preview the Python-exported UI. Bone collections do not need to be assigned for the exported file to work, since the name is what matters.

Is Puppetiere free?

Puppetiere is listed as free in this catalog. For current licensing terms, along with any updates to the plugin, refer to the developer's page from tykuii's lil shop. The developer also invites feature requests by email when enough like-minded people ask for the same thing, and notes that a video showcasing the new features is coming.

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