# Animation Workshop 2025 (prep+notes)

Blog post of prev workshop: https://code.blender.org/2025/01/layered-animation-workshop-2024/

## The Day

- Start at 10:00
- Split up at 12:00
- Lunch 13:00 - 13:30
- Join back up at 15:00
- Combine ideas & make wireframes
- Make presentation for conference
- End at 17:00-ish
- Dinner at Semai at 18:00-ish

## Definition of Success

Have a concrete high-level overview of how an animator is going to work with the layered animation system, including:

- Graph Editor
- Dope Sheet
- An answer to whether we want a separate Action Layers editor; a common side-bar for animation editors; or a "layers" mode of the Dope Sheet.
- Know whether we'll work with zooming to expose more detail, vs. collapsing, vs. separate editors / modes.
- Wireframe sketches of the editors

## Topic

### Split-up `A`

Use these points to present the ideas to think about. Not as a split-up.

#### 1. Presenting & interacting with data

- Prevent mess of all separate Actions with even more separate Layers
- How to make sense of this?

##### Stuff that can help with the soup

- Binding controls to layers: clear which layers are important given selection in 3D Viewport
- Visually merging / grouping layers with the same name, across Actions of selected things.
- Could have options to give different groupings / presentations / ways of slicing & dicing the data for presentation.

#### 2. UI stuff

- Separate "animation layers editor"?
- Side-bar of various anim editors?
- Tweak/layer-solo/isolate mode? Just 'solo' buttons on layers, or more?
- Graph Editor: how does it integrate / interact with the layers?

### Split-up `B`

This is the split-up we'll actually use to give the groups their focus.

#### 1. Presentation & Navigation of already-existing layered files

- How are layers shown in the Dope Sheet / Graph Editor? 3D Viewport panel?
- How do you know what is where?
- How do you navigate between layers? Delete? Rename? Hide?

#### 2. Animating from Scratch

- How do you start animating?
- How do you add your 2nd layer? Delete layers? Rename?
- How do you know which layer is 'active'? Does it matter given that keys can go to any layer?
- How do you bind rig controls to layers?
- How do you name your layers? What impact does that have?
- Maybe group them visually when they have the same name (but are in different Actions)? Or not, just put them in the same Action if you want that.
- Maybe has an impact on the Merge Animation operator? Or maybe not, and you get `LayerName` + `LayerName.001`.
- That kind of questions. Maybe better for later.

## Schedule / things to go over

- Lessons from the '23 workshop
- How to make Blender show the animation we want to work on? (Action Editor currently only for active Object)
- Split up into two groups. There's overlap between those, and maybe the difference in focus/perspective is going to give us new insights, or reconfirm/validate our earlier ideas.
- Dope Sheet, how should it layer?
- Graph Editor, how should it layer?
- Answer the "do we get a separate layer editor?" question
- Work on the presentation
- Dinner @ Semai

## People

- ✅ Christoph
- ✅ Dorothee
- ✅ Eos
- ✅ Falk
- ✅ Joseph
- ✅ Nathan
- ✅ Sybren
- ✅ Rik as Blender Studio representative
- ✅ Demeter (but happy to hand his seat to an animator)
- ✅ Nacho (NDA)
- ✔️ Nika (maybe, but will be around in physical shape)
- ✔️ Brad: can probably remote in
- ✔️ Nate: can't come, might remote in
- ❌ Pierrick: can't come
- ❌ Raymond: can't come, might be able to remote in
- ❌ Luciano
- ❌ Dillon Gu

---------------

# Notes

## NLA use case

Animation export management, important for exporting multiple Actions.

## Where do layers live in the UI?
-

## Binding controls to layers: clear which layers are important given selection in 3D Viewport

Is this going to be "the design"? Or something exceptional?

Suggestion: Animate body first on one layer, add another layer for the face, animate that.
(Christoph: "Only Available" auto keying option plays into that)

*Does the keyframe strip type affect the pose/pose vs straight ahead workflow*?
There should be no disturbance in the existing workflow
Only pay for what you use.

Baking workflow talk
absolutely needed for mocap
(Christoph: will be interesting with non keyframe strips)

talking about copy paste
we need that for the mvp
moving slots will be hard, because they are contained within strips
maybe you can only copy the layer, or the strip. We will see

Joseph: It could be useful to ghost (onion skin) curves of other layers
Eos: You need to know which layer you are working on. could be on right side
Could be an option in the outliner. Could be an extra editor

Nika: Would like to keep the data close together to avoid node darts
global and local areas like in the node editor
e.g. in layer view, select a strip, press TAB and be editing that strip

# Notes Group 1 (editing existing animation file)

Worst case file state:

- Lots of layers, all unnamed.
- Multiple actions, which animate different subsets of data blocks (not in a sensible way).
- Not clear at-a-glance what is animated on what layers in which actions.

## Tasks you might want to do in such a nighmare file:

### Edit Timing

Examples:

- Global timing of shot, with all animation data.
- Timing of just a subset of the datablocks.
- Timing of just a subset of layers (e.g. some of the layers of disabled from previous passes of animating, and you don't want to edit those).

Implications:

- In both dopesheet and graph editor, they *must* be capable of displaying and editing animation data from multiple actions + layers at once. Editor that limits to just seeing/working with one layer's/action's data at a time is a no-go.
- Need powerful filtering functionality to filter down to just the subset of data (datablocks, layers, etc.) you want to edit.

### Deleting frames 40-60 and fixing up the seam.

- Might want to insert keys for all channels at the seam point, before then deleting the keys between those seam points.
- Optionally collapse the (now empty) time range?

### Fixing a hiccup in one of the character's elbows.

- Could be due to:
- Multiple bones/controls.
- Multiple layers.
- Divide and conquer to find the cause(s) of the issue.
- Isolate playback of subsets of animation data.
- Operator to save current selection of bones/their fcurves to display.

### Fixing up broken constraint influence.

## Editors UX

### Layer Editor
- This adds on top of existing UI space needs (graph editor, dope sheet), so we can get pretty low on screen space.
- However, a small side-bar layer manager/editor won't work for strips in the future.
- However however, that doesn't mean we can't *also* a s small side-bar layer manager for when strips aren't relevant.
- What about a separate editor, but below a certain horizontal size collapses to a simple layer editor, above that horizontal size it's a sequence-editor-like layer+strip editor.
- Thumbs up.
- Also we don't have to figure out which editor(s) a smaller layer manager should be added to. Instead, the user can just put the small-width variant wherever they want.
- We could have a "zoomable" system that reveals more data as we zoom into layers;
- Full channel list would be way too much.
- Layer influence.
- Summary keys.
- What about tabs at the top that let you switch between a layer view and a graph editor view.
- Conceptually that's the same as multiple editors, just a bit faster to switch between them.
- UI team is already thinking about something like this to aid tablet devices.
- Filtering:
- Can switch between "Global"/"Active" modes, a bit like today's Dopesheet/Action editor switch.
- Global option has further filtering, but can show all Actions in the whole file (collapsible)
- Active option shows whatever is considered the "current" action, so for now probably the active object's action, but that could change in future.

### Dope Sheet/Graph Editor
- Channel list includes a list of collapsible layers, with the bone anim channels within.
- Layer Solo feature, including multi-solo, just like bone collections
- Displaying slot of each layer is not necessarily useful when making layered animation of only a single datablock, so maybe UI should be clever or toggle-able in some way.
- Graph editor should have the ability to show the combined final transforms of the bone.
- Maybe editable in the future, but not for MVP, because it's unclear what data would be edited by editing this. (Similar to keyframe insertion though)
- Display influence keys of selected layers? (although they are also in the layer editor)
- Influence should be shown as channel in the dopesheet etc. so that its keys can be retimed along with all other keys.

### Future ideas (not for MVP)
- Alternate hierarchy mode in Dopesheet, that shows all layers/keys that contribute to that bone; Useful for troubleshooting
- In future, an option to display per bone, and show all the layers/keys.
- Visual identification of layers
- Use colors and patterns
- Maybe future, not vital for MVP
- Retiming operator, like VSE's new retiming tools (sliding around anchor points)

# Notes Group 2

Nacho: Anything we do should be under an experimental flag asap.

Rik: About the mental model while animating
Focus on animation performance. Manage as little as possible.
Zoom in/out takes time and focus away from performance.

Sybren: Yes, thats the reason I want no new editor
Christoph: We do need a way to edit data outside of strips though

Sybren: Shows Blender taking the VSE as a reference
Rik: Doesn't like the fact that things are stacked vertically because it takes away too much screen space.

Sybren: Suggest to put layers into the channel box
Nacho: Like edit mode for strips. Pressing tab for "Edit mode".

Sybren: Lets just start drawing shit

*We drew shit*

Discussion about the workflow of starting animating.
Character with a prop. Prop is an object (with rig)
1. Either start keying
2. or enable autokey and start transforming

"1" should create an action with 2 slots if both are selected.
In the case of combined animation of object and armature, while in pose mode all selected objects that are not armatures are also keyed.

Whats the name of the action.
Named after the active object?
Brad and Rik: Could just be named Action
Nacho: Actually just "Action" is better because it's less confusing
Solution: Action is just called "Action"

Keys go to the base layer

Any bone keyed afterwards also goes into the base layer.

In the case of 2 armatures, where only one has an action. Adding a key will put the key into the existing action.

For 3 armatures, where 2 objects have different actions and the last has no action.

-> Sybren flow diagram.

result: keys always go to action of active object. if there is no action, it is created.

Sybren: Should we see the layer if there is only 1
Result: It should be possible to see it, but it doesn't need to be in your face.
you may need to expand or change the view to see it.

Question: list of layers in the N-panel? Which layers do we show, which active is active
Dope sheet would have to have a concept of active action for the editor.
Result: The editor itself will know which action is active.
That depends on the last channel you clicked.