Yes, bones can appear to grow along a path by using the path constraint's properties effectively. Here's how you can achieve this:
Path Constraint Setup: First, create a path and set up a path constraint for the bones you want to manipulate. This will allow the bones to follow the path.
Spacing: Use the Spacing property of the path constraint to control how the bones are positioned along the path. You can set the spacing mode to Percent, Fixed, Length, or Proportional depending on your needs. For example, Proportional spacing can make the bones take up the entire path when the spacing value is 100.
Chain Scale: Enable the Chain Scale option in the path constraint settings. This will allow the bones to scale along the path. When Chain Scale is enabled, the bones will scale proportionally to fit the path length.
Adjusting Bone Scale: You can manually adjust the scaleX and scaleY properties of the bones in the animation to make them appear to grow. This can be done by keying the scale properties at different points along the path.
Runtime Adjustments: If you need to adjust the bone transforms at runtime, you can do so by accessing the bone's properties and setting the scale, translation, etc. This allows for dynamic adjustments based on the path's deformation.
Here is an example of how you might set up a single bone to stretch along a path:
A single bone with a Spacing set to "Percent" with a value of 100 and also make sure it uses "Chain Scale". These settings will force a single bone to always span the entire width of the path. The path vertices are then weighted to additional bones and can be moved around separately to make the path stretch, which also forces the bone to stretch.
By using these techniques, you can make a set of bones appear to grow along the path, creating a dynamic and visually appealing effect.
