Hi, I know you got your hands full with the Beta right now but I think this would complement the physics feature rather well.
I am aware there are ways to create IK "stopper" contraptions that only stretch or compress to limit movement, but (complexity inconveniences aside) these only work to "hard limit" a bone's movement.
Especially when it comes to physics, it would be useful to have a means to progressively dampen transforms in a particular direction only, bringing them to a stop in a less abrupt way when they move past a certain position.
The applications may synergize well with the whole animation framework, hence why I'm making this post.
To illustrate the idea, here's a mockup on what it could look like
And it would function as so
This would be calculated using a target bone to derive the neutral position, or simply the parent bone.
Slider values at 0 would yield no effect
While -100 and +100 would yield abrupt hard constriction in either direction
Anything inbetween would determine dampening intensity in either direction
In my humble understanding, logic checks (being CPU side) aren't efficient for this. So I made a test formula that only affects either positive or negative values depending on slider and position values.
That formula I tested is
NEW_POSITION = POSITION-((POSITION(((SQRT(SLIDER2))SGN(POSITION))+SLIDER)/2*SGN(POSITION))/100)
Which linearly shaves off movement only on either negative or positive position values depending on slider value, leaving the opposite side unaffected
This linear "padding" could of course be tweaked to use a sine curve, optional or by default, or perhaps even a custom handles through UI. But, I'm not a math guy and I only wanted to make sure I wasn't suggesting something that would necessitate logic conditions.
Crude tests seem about right, sorry I don't have a graph for you to visualize.
Applications off the top of my head to things like springs, resource efficient "cheap" collisions, stuff like physics affected hair bangs made to flip up but not (perceptibly) stretch down, hanging fabric resting on a leg, rotating outwards off the body but not inwards, and countless more. Not taking into account the possibilities if this is keyed into animations like other constraints. I'm sure you can envision the potential.
Just an idea, see if it's of any use.
Thanks for all the hard work