New Animation System

Workshop 2022

Rigging Nodes

Blender 4.1 features

Blender 4.2 features

Blender 4.3 features

A New Animaton System

Progress Report (and a little explanation)

Sybren Stüvel — Nathan Vegdahl — Christoph Lendenfeld

# "Animation **2025**"

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![](images/rignodes.webp)

Rig Nodes

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![](images/bone_picker.webp)

Bone Pickers

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Related animation kept together

Notes:

- You wouldn't want an action per bone: the bones are closely related.
- Being in the same armature isn't the only way two thing can be closely related.

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- Animation-level Constraints
- Example-based drivers
- Multiple rest poses per armature

- Custom bone axes

- Editable motion paths

- Ghosting (also editable, of course)

- Animation retargeting

- Dense animation workflow

- Tools for wrangling motion capture data

- ...

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## ... all by **2025** ?!?

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# Layered Animation

![](images/internal_presentation_mockup_sketch_02.webp)

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but.....

# the **NLA!**

Notes:
- Thank Nate and Brad
- Tal Hershkovich Animation Layers add-on, to make NLA somewhat usable.
- No add-on can solve fundamental limitations of NLA.
- Every strip has own Action
- Every object its own NLA

---

---

## <video style="height: 0.75em" loop src="videos/cosmos-multi-id-animation-looping.webm"></video> animate **multiple** data-blocks

**↓**

### maybe in same layer
## definitely in **same Action**

</div>
<div class="fragment">

**↓**

## Pop the NLA inside out

</div>

Notes:
- Animate multiple IDs
- Maybe same layer, def same Action
- Replacing the NLA

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Two ingredients:

## Multiple **Layers** in one Action

## **Animating Multiple Things** with one Action

Notes:
- Next: **Nathan**

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# **Slotted**
# Actions

Notes:

- Our solution to animating multiple things in one action.
- Not just preparation for layered animation... (next slide)

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### Slotted Actions: Useful even **without** layering

-  <strong>Interacting characters</strong>: two rigs
-  <strong>Game anim libraries</strong> with characters & props
-  <strong>Camera</strong>: motion, focus, zoom
-  <strong>Meshes</strong>: motion, shape keys, 'hook' empties
-  <strong>Object rigs</strong>: one 'character' is multiple objects
-  <strong>Metaballs</strong>: one blobby cluster is multiple objects
-  <strong>Baked simulations</strong>: hundreds of rigid bodies

Notes:

- (Not just preparation for layered animation)
- ...animating multiple things in one action is useful on its own!

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# **Thinking** With **Slots**

### No 🧠 to think?

### Just key, stuff gets animated

Notes:

- Okay, okay, but what's the mental model here?  How do you think with slots?
- First: if you don't care, you can ignore slots and just key things.
  - Design goal: make sure people can just sit down and animate.
  - Blender will set up actions, slots, etc. for you automatically.
- But if you do care... (next slide)

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# How does it work?

Notes:

- To understand how slots work, let's walk through a simple example first with old actions and then slotted actions.

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![](images/sketch-actions-old.webp)

Old (≤4.3) Actions

Notes:

- SIMPLIFIED EXAMPLE: for illustration, not because multiple actions are a problem here.
- Two character rigs.
- Old actions are just a bag of fcurves.
  - Requires an action per rig.
  - Each rig points at an action to use that action's animation.
- Same Action == Same Animation.
- If we want both rig's animation in the same action... (next slide)

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![](images/sketch-actions-slotted.webp)

Slotted Actions

Notes:

- Slotted Actions!  Introduce "slots" (unsurprisingly).
- Action has different animation data for each slot.
- Each rig points at an action *and* a slot.
- Now both characters' animation are in same action.

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Notes:
- Here's what it looks like in Blender.
- Action + Slot Selectors
  - In Action Editor header (only active object).
  - In Properties Editor (for any animatable data-block in there).
- Name your slots whatever you like.
  - Because like actions, slots have no intrinsic ties to what they animate.
  - Datablocks 'subscribe' to the Action/Slot.
  - Slots can be shared for identical animation.
- Slots have hidden "intended" datablock type (object, material).
  - Set automatically by Blender.
  - Slot names are unique within intended datablock type.
  - Slot selectors filter by intended type.

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#### NLA Strip   /   Action Constraint

Notes:
- NLA Strips and Action Constraints also must specify a slot now.
- You can have all data for a rig's action constraints in a single action!

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# Swapping Actions

## Finds slots by **name**

Notes:
- When assigning or swapping actions:
  - Best effort is made to automatically find and assign an appropriate slot as well.
  - Example: changing Suzanne from JumpAction to SpinAction.
    - Both with Suzanne slot.
- Next: **Christoph**

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## Find the thing that is not a mesh

Notes:
- assigning actions -> curiosity in Blender
- Two datablocks here which are

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## Mesh & Shape Key

![](images/action_selector_4_3.png)

Notes:
- important -> each datablock gets their own Action.
- new interface
- up to 4.3 they won't share an action
- even though shape keys are highly related to the mesh and cannot be shared

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## Mesh & Shape Key

![](images/slotted-actions-material.webp)

Notes:
- slots to the rescue
- slots allow sharing an action
- not only mesh & shape key but also

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# Other examples

- Material & its shader node tree
- World & its shader node tree
- some more

Notes:
- material & its node tree
- world & its node tree
- in order to make live easier...

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# Automatic Action **Sharing**

- Object & Data (unless shared)
- Mesh & Shape Key
- Material & Shader Node Tree

Notes:
- looks at related data for an existing action
- Related is:
  - Ob + Data
  - Mesh & Shape Key
  - Material & Shader Node Tree
- automatically share an action -> means
- not automatically Object & Material
- + other relations with emph on reuse
- important: only applies if no action is set already -> manual control
- speaking of

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# Manual **Control**

- Merge
- Extract
- Separate

Notes:
- want specific action? assign before keying for manual control
- new operators:
- merge of selected objects (and it's related datablocks)
- channel list - Action Editor - extract slots
- Separate slots of action of active object
- -> power to put

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# **EVERYTHING** in one Action

Notes:
- _all_ animation into single Action
- we are thinking of adding a preference for this
- each Scene with all its anim in one Action.
- all in one action -> old files -> sybren
- Next: **Sybren**

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# Compatibility

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# Backward **Compatibility**

legacy Action → **single-slot** Action in 4.4

legacy Python API → **sees first slot only**

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# Forward **Compatibility**

Actions saved with 4.4 will **load in 4.3 and earlier**

<small>(but avoid 4.2.0 specifically, earlier & later is fine)</small>

Older Blenders will only see the **first slot**

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# So what else?

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Notes:
- No more list of options when keyframing with `I` → prefs instead
    - `K` to still show the Keying menu
    - Hold `I` with 'Pie Menu on Drag' to choose loc/rot/scale/available.
- 'Only Insert Needed' split between manual & auto keying.
- Drivers have a fallback value.
- Graph Editor:
    - Scale from Neighbour
    - Auto-lock to either X or Y axis (View → Auto-Lock Axis)

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Notes:
- Bone subdiv order
- Copy Driver to Selected
- Graph Editor WAY faster
- Frame Scene Range
- Fix to Camera
- Custom Bone Shape Width
- Motion path colour before/after

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<!--
## Blender **4.3**

Notes:
- Themable motion paths
- Action Selectors (but without slots)
- Inserting keyframes deselect all other keys (UI only, Python unaffected)
- Bone Eyedropper (select/eyedropp Armature first, then eyedropper bone)
- Autokeying indicator is red when enabled (themable)

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# The Future

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## Layered Actions

Notes:
- workshop on tuesday with artists
- Talked about what layers need

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## Workshop results
<img src="images/where_do_keys_go.jpg" style="width: 75%; height: auto">

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Notes:
- MVP:
  - New UI for selecting layers
  - Blend modes "replace" and "Combine"
  - Options to define where keys go in an intuitive way
- Simple first version. See how that works first, then polish
- Actual work will start later, first let Slotted Actions rest & polish workflows.
- Long term: replace NLA, but no strips yet

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###### A little **secret**

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## Slotted Actions

## **are**

(a bit)

# Layered

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# Slotted Actions are (a bit) Layered

- <strong>Max one layer</strong> <span class="fragment">(and you don't see it)</span>
-  <strong>Max one strip</strong> <span class="fragment">(and you can't see it, or move it, and it's infinitely long)</span>
-  That one strip is what has the "<strong>dumb bag of F-Curves</strong>" per slot.
-  Python API already has to account for this

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## Polishing existing features

- **Pushing** to pose library
- **Auto-selection** of pose library catalog based on active character
- **Timeline controls** → to footer of every anim editor
- <img src="images/cat-shredder.gif" style="height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;"> the Timeline editor

</div>

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# Future Future

- Layered Animation
- Mini Map
- Rig Nodes / Slappable Rigs
- Declarative Constraints
- Interactive Story Tool & Separate Physics Clock
- Animation-level Constraints

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#### Animation-Level Constraints

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# **Thanks!**

##  Questions?

stuvel.eu/anim-meetings