Smarter "Insert Needed" functionality when keying manually #117543

New Issue

Christoph Lendenfeld · 2024-01-26T12:54:52+01:00

2024-01-26 12:54:52 +01:00

This is from a discussion with Rik Schutte (@Rikstopher)

The "Only Insert Needed" option was recently split in two, one for auto-keying and one for manual keying (5e28601d69).
When it is enabled for manual keying, inserting keys when pressing I will create no keys when the object hasn't been moved away from the transform defined by the animation.

Proposal

Rik argues that an input by the user should never fail (i.e. always create keyframes)
This leads to the following proposal.

If there are changes on the object, record only the changes.
If the keying would produce no keys, key everything instead.

Issues

This makes the operator inconsistent though because it produces different results based on the state of the object.
It also creates a design issue for the following scenario.

An animator posed a character into Pose A.
Then he goes to a different frame and poses the character (without Auto Key) into Pose B.
But this Pose B doesn't modify all controllers, only a subset.
He then presses I to insert keys.
There are two ways to handle this.

Go by object
Each object is treated individually, leading to some being keyed on all channels (if they haven't been modified) and some only on modified channels.

Go by selection
Analyze the selection first. If nothing has changed on any of the objects key them all on all channels. If at least one has been modified, key only the modified channels on that and ignore the rest.

Design questions

How do we communicate this behavior.
Is this even something other animators want/struggle with.
Maybe the correct choice is to remove the option of "Insert Needed" for manual keying altogether

This is from a discussion with Rik Schutte (@Rikstopher) The "Only Insert Needed" option was recently split in two, one for auto-keying and one for manual keying (5e28601d693938525c3a23dba81f9307ab6302cd). When it is enabled for manual keying, inserting keys when pressing `I` will create no keys when the object hasn't been moved away from the transform defined by the animation. # Proposal Rik argues that an input by the user should never fail (i.e. always create keyframes) This leads to the following proposal. * If there are changes on the object, record only the changes. * If the keying would produce no keys, key everything instead. # Issues This makes the operator inconsistent though because it produces different results based on the state of the object. It also creates a design issue for the following scenario. An animator posed a character into Pose A. Then he goes to a different frame and poses the character (without Auto Key) into Pose B. But this Pose B doesn't modify all controllers, only a subset. He then presses `I` to insert keys. There are two ways to handle this. *Go by object* Each object is treated individually, leading to some being keyed on all channels (if they haven't been modified) and some only on modified channels. *Go by selection* Analyze the selection first. If nothing has changed on any of the objects key them all on all channels. If at least one has been modified, key only the modified channels on that and ignore the rest. # Design questions * How do we communicate this behavior. * Is this even something other animators want/struggle with. * Maybe the correct choice is to remove the option of "Insert Needed" for manual keying altogether

Christoph Lendenfeld added the

labels 2024-01-26 12:54:53 +01:00

Nika Kutsniashvili commented

2024-01-26 14:14:20 +01:00

Does this mean key all unchanged properties when I press I while hovering on LocRotScale? or when I'm pressing I in the 3D viewport? My feedback will be different based on that. If latter, it can be very destructive if for example I'm animating custom properties and pressing I results in LocRotScale keyframes.

Christoph Lendenfeld commented

2024-01-26 14:17:44 +01:00

Good point. I was mainly thinking of 3D viewport interaction, but we might want a different behavior when hovering over the channels

Sign in to join this conversation.

No Label

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

Smarter "Insert Needed" functionality when keying manually #117543

Proposal

Issues

Design questions