@Ralph so, while on a walk I got hit with (not a car, yet) an idea for the smart-stretch.

Can be bit ridiculous since it’s doing the out-of-the-box thinking so bear with me.

First let’s like talk about how normally we do the smart-strech, like for example we have a sword we want to smart stretch at specific angle to create illusion of 3D.

Most commonly it’s just it going horizontally, smart stretching along the blade making it shorter or longer, giving illusion it’s rotating around the handle.

Sometimes, people waste nodes by having smart stretch at the tip, then going back to base which then they start making stick from. It’s easier, can’t blame them.

At times, people do that beggining bit of 2 segments to make the blade rotate along it’s own length if it’s at 90°, at times it’s done at unusual degrees for specific slashes in motion.

Which leaves us with 3 ways of making a smart stretch beggining.

Okay, so. I thought a bit about that first 2 segments thing. Not talkin like, “make it not use nodes” cuz lmfao.

I’ve been more thinking, what if we could rotate the smart stretch node, but not rotating the entire model. Kinda funky looking when imagining it but I realised it’s really giving that 3D effect on some well made models that were intended to be used with it.

So, A.Smart-Stretch, where A stands for Alternative or Advanced (since if adv. mode comes out this definitelly would be part of it)

First, in terms of layout, it *could* rotate the model when dragged around, but the whole alternative magic would come from +/- box in animation menu that would show up.

Been thinking of 2 ways it could be, one being a check box for normal smart strech.

Or a separate mode where you establish these special “nodes”. Quotation because it would be like that 1&2 back and forth motion, where to attach children to that you’d need to go to that mode, create this “node”, then attach the segments to it, as otherwise they’d not be prioritsed on normal mode.
Additional mode where you swap between some extreme nodes like that could also leave room for some future special nodes. Maybe some advanced node rigging (ex. Node A takes 60% of length from node B, and also node A is smart stretch). Just some extreme and time consuming+cluttering mode for these node enthusiasts that make animating much more easier at the same time.

Anyways, back on A.Smart-stretch. If option B was a thing, technically it could allow multiple a.smart-stretches layered on top of eachother maybe. Like you drag one, it makes model shorter/longer from one angle, then you stretch another and it makes changes from current state of the model.

It’s really funky idea. I honestly see a lot of potential and definitelly should be toyed around to see how it could perform. Personally would probably make even more funky nodes.

(ps. Not joking about that rig mode with taking % of length, could make sliders around a character that would end up working like gmod face rigging tool lmfao)