manual/animation/actions.rst

@@ -12,25 +12,31 @@ The benefit of this approach is that animation data can be flexibly organized an
 Action Slots
 ============
 
-The animation data inside an action is further organized into *Slots*.  Each slot has animation data for a single data-block, and an animated data-block must specify not only which action it uses but also which slot within that action it uses.
+The animation data inside an action is further organized into *Slots*.  Each action has a set of slots and different animation data for each of those slots.  An animated data-block then specifies both which action it uses and also which slot within that action it uses, and that determines which animation data the data-block is animated by.
 
 .. figure:: /images/animation_actions_slots_ui.png
 
-   Action selector and its accompanying slot selector.  **TODO: create this screenshot.**
+   Action selector and its accompanying slot selector in the properties of an object, for seeing and selecting which action and slot animate the object.
 
-Slots allow an action to store animation data for more than one data-block at a time.  For example, you may have an animation of a bouncing ball that changes its color on each bounce.  That would involve two data-blocks: the object and its material.  Slots allow you to put both the object's animation and the material's animation in the same action by having a slot for each.
+The purpose of slots is to allow an action to store distinct animation data for multiple data-blocks.  For example, you may have an animation of a bouncing ball that changes its color on each bounce, and that involves two data-blocks: the object and its material.  Slots allow you to put both the object's animation and the material's animation in the same action by having a different slot for each.
 
-.. figure:: /images/animation_actions_slots_diagram.png
+.. figure:: /images/animation_actions_slots_diagram_object_and_material.png
 
    Visualization of a ball and its material connected to different slots in an action.  **TODO: create this diagram.**
 
-In this example there is one slot for an object and one slot for a material, but you can have as many slots as you like for as many objects, materials, lights, etc. as you like.  If you're baking down a simulation of *100* bouncing balls, you could store that animation in single action with 100 slots.
+In this example there is one slot for an object and one slot for a material, but you can have as many slots as you like for as many objects, materials, lights, etc. as you like.  If you're baking down a simulation of 100 bouncing balls, you could store that animation in single action with 100 slots.
 
-Not all actions need to take advantage of slots: you are free to use 100 separate actions for all those bouncing balls if you prefer.  Nevertheless, animation data in an action is always organized into slots, and therefore you need at least one slot in an action in order to animate something.
+.. figure:: /images/animation_actions_slots_diagram_many_objects.png
+
+   Visualization of many balls all connected to different slots in an action.  **TODO: create this diagram.**
+
+Not all actions need to take advantage of slots: you are free to use 100 separate actions for all those bouncing balls if you prefer.  Nevertheless, the animation data in an action is always organized into slots, and therefore you need at least one slot in an action in order to animate something.
+
+Note that slots are not "for" any specific data-block: any data-block can use any slot.  For example, you can have two different characters use the same slot in the same action, and they'll both simply get animated by the same animation data.  Slots are just a way to organize distinct animation data within an action, and don't have any intrinsic attachment to anything in the scene.
 
 .. note::
 
-   Internally, the animation data in an action is further organized into layers and strips.  This is not currently exposed in the UI and does not impact how you utilize actions right now.  It is purely in preparation for future animation features that are not yet in Blender, and can be safely ignored for now.
+   Internally, the animation data in an action is further organized into layers and strips.  This is not currently exposed in the UI and does not impact how you use actions right now.  It is purely in preparation for future animation features that are not yet in Blender, and you can safely ignore it for now.
 
    However, layers and strips *are* exposed in the Python API, so you will need to be aware of this when writing scripts and addons that work with actions.  See the Python API documentation for more details.
 
@@ -41,17 +47,17 @@ Each slot in an action has a name.  You can set these names however you like, bu
 
 In addition to having a name, each slot also has an associated data-block type that it is intended for (for example, "material", "object", etc.).  This is set automatically when a slot is first assigned to animate a data-block.
 
-In the animation editors you can see the associated type of each slot displayed as an icon next to its name in the channel list.
+In the action editor's channel list you can see the associated type of each slot displayed as an icon next to its name.
 
 .. figure:: /images/animation_actions_slots_in_channel_list.png
 
-   Slots displayed in the :doc:`Dopesheet Editor's </editors/dope_sheet/introduction>` channel list, with their associated type as an icon.  **TODO: create this screenshot.**
+   Slots displayed in the :doc:`Action Editor's </editors/dope_sheet/modes/action>` channel list, with their associated type as an icon.
 
 A slot must have a unique combination of name + associated type within its action.  For example, you can have two slots named "Cube" in an action as long as one of them is for objects and the other is for materials, but not if they are both for objects.
 
 .. note::
 
-   Although it's not useful, and Blender tries to make it difficult to do, it is nevertheless possible cause slots to get assigned to a data-block of the wrong type.  For example, assigning a slot intended for materials to an object.  Nothing bad happens if you manage to do this, but the F-Curves of that slot are unlikely to match any properties on the mismatched data-block, and therefore won't animate anything.
+   Although it's not useful, and Blender makes this difficult to do, it is nevertheless possible to cause slots to get assigned to a data-block of the wrong type.  For example, assigning a slot intended for materials to an object.  Nothing bad happens if you manage to do this, but the F-Curves of that slot are unlikely to match any properties on the mismatched data-block, and therefore won't animate anything.
 
 F-Curves & Channels
 ===================
@@ -62,18 +68,18 @@ F-Curves & Channels
 
    :doc:`Graph Editor</editors/graph_editor/introduction>`, displaying three F-Curves for three different properties.
 
-Blender's animation editors (such as the dopesheet, graph editor, etc.) have a **channel list** on the left side that display animated properties.  For actions, these channels correspond to the F-Curves that animate those properties.
+Blender's animation editors (such as the dopesheet, graph editor, etc.) have a **channel list** on their left side that display animated properties.  For actions, these channels correspond to the F-Curves that animate those properties.
 
 .. figure:: /images/animation_actions_channels_and_groups.png
 
-   The :doc:`Dopesheet Editor's </editors/dope_sheet/introduction>` channel list, with the animated channels of various bones.  **TODO: create this screenshot.**
+   The :doc:`Dopesheet Editor's </editors/dope_sheet/introduction>` channel list, with the animated channels of various bones grouped under their bone names.
 
-Channels also support a limited form of organization called "channel groups".  For example, by default Blender creates a channel group for the channels of each bone.  These groups are purely for your convenience and have no impact on how Blender interprets or uses the channels.
+Channels also support a limited form of organization called "channel groups".  For example, by default Blender creates a channel group for the channels of each bone.  These groups are purely for your convenience and have no impact on how Blender interprets the channels.
 
 Working With Actions
 ====================
 
-When you first animate an object (or other data-block) in Blender, Blender tries to automatically find an appropriate action for it, or if it can't find an appropriate action then it will create one.  After assigning that action, it also creates and assigns a new slot for the data-block.
+When you first animate an object (or other data-block) in Blender, Blender tries to automatically find an appropriate action for it, or if it can't find an appropriate action then it will create one.  After an action has been assigned, it also creates and assigns a new slot for the data-block.
 
 .. note::
    The full heuristics Blender uses to find an appropriate action are beyond the scope of this manual, but can be summarized as: look for actions on closely related attached data-blocks.  For example, if a camera object is already animated and you're now inserting keys for its fov (which lives on the camera data, *not* the camera object), the action the object is using will be reused for the camera data as well.  For more details on these heuristics, see **TODO**.
@@ -87,13 +93,13 @@ In the properties of each data-block there is an Animation panel with action and
 
 .. figure:: /images/animation_actions_properties_action_slot_selector.png
 
-   The action and slot selector for Camera data in the :doc:`Properties Editor </editors/properties_editor>`.  **TODO: create this screenshot.**
+   The action and slot selector for Camera data in the :doc:`Properties Editor </editors/properties_editor>`.
 
 For the active object you can also assign its action and slot in the action Editor's header.
 
 .. figure:: /images/animation_actions_action_editor_action_slot_selector.png
 
-   The action and slot selector for the active object in the :doc:`Action Editor </editors/dope_sheet/modes/action>`.  **TODO: create this screenshot.**
+   The action and slot selector for the active object (in this case a camera object) in the :doc:`Action Editor </editors/dope_sheet/modes/action>`.
 
 .. note::