In Blender 3D, there are three constraints found in the constraint tabs which limit transformations of objects. This tutorial will cover the following Blender object constraints:
These constraints are used in this video tutorial about rigging a door in Blender.
What Are Constraints in Blender?
In Blender, constraints are functions which limit an aspect of the object it is applied to. They can be used for a variety of things and are often used to control camera movement in animations.
Constraints are located in the “Constraints” tab of the Properties Panel as shown in the following image:
When we choose to add a constraint from the Constraints Properties, we have many constraints to choose from as shown below.
Constraints function like modifiers, but are found in a separate tab of the Properties Panel. The constraints covered in this lesson restrict an object’s location, rotation or scale along each of the three axes.
There are many other object constraints that serve different purposes.
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Limit Location
The “Limit Location” constraint can be added to an object to limit how much it will move along each axis in the scene.
Once the constraint is added, there are three areas where we can limit the movement of the object. Each corresponds to the object’s three axes in 3D space.
If we place a “minimum” value for a certain axis, the object will not move below that value on the axis. For example, if we place a minimum of “0” on the X axis, the object won’t be allowed to move in the negative direction along the X axis.
A value in the “maximum” section will prevent the object from moving to a position with a location above that value.
We can choose to assign minimum and maximum values along any or all axes independently.
We can additionally choose if we want this constraint to apply based on the “World Space” which uses the global 3D coordinates. Local Space will use the object’s local coordinates. These reference the object’s individual position within the 3D scene.
Limit Rotation
The “Limit Rotation” constraint limits the object’s rotation independently along each of the object’s three axes. We can set minimum and maximum values.
Again, we see minimum and maximum values for each axis. These values are displayed in degrees because we’re dealing with rotation.
I use these often to keep items from rotating beyond a range. For example, in the door tutorial video I referenced earlier, I placed limit constraints so the door would only rotate between its closed position and its fully open position.
Limit Scale
The “Limit Scale” constraint in Blender will limit how far we can scale an object along each axis. If we only wanted to be able to scale the object a certain amount (or not at all), this could be used.
Like the other constraints, each restriction can be adjusted independently for each axis.
I rarely use this constraint because I’m rarely scaling objects in Object Mode. But, it’s there if we need it.
Example of Limitation Constraints
If you’re looking to actually do something with these constraints, this video tutorial provides a good example of how they can be used:
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