Layered Action - Join Animation / Move Slot #126937

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Christoph Lendenfeld · 2024-08-29T15:51:08+02:00

2024-08-29 15:51:08 +02:00

From this brainstorm document: https://hackmd.io/@anim-rigging/r170e_6PC#Merge-actions

General Functionality

Move the animation for an object from one Action to another.
This implies copying/moving the Slot.
The slot is moved if there is only 1 user, else it is copied.
The user needs to be pointed to the correct action afterwards.

Naming

Using the word "Join" instead of "Merge" to mimic the "Join" operator in the 3D viewport.
I propose the operator name "Join Animation" over "Join Actions". The latter implies that all slots of the action are moved over and its users re-assigned. This could be a useful operator at some point, but doesn't play nicely with the concept of "I want to move the Animation of this Armature to this action" which implied moving only the slot.

From the 3D viewport

Pros	Cons
easily accessible, close to where animators work	unclear what data is joined
allows artists to select by visual representation	lack of immediate visual feedback after joining
-	not all data is selectable in the 3D viewport

Proposed usage

Select 1 - n objects
Run the operator
Animation is joined into the action of the active object

Selecting 1 object and Joining could be valid if there is an action on object and data that the user wants to merge.

PR: #127414

Open Questions

From which data should the actions be joined (object, mesh, armature, material, nodetree...)
Assuming the joining targets the active object, and it has multiple actions (e.g. object and material) which is chosen. Or if there is no action on the object, should a data action be chose and with which priority?

From the Outliner

Prototype: #126839: WIP: Anim: Drag and drop for actions in the outliner

Pros	Cons
Access to all data via the different views	out of the way for animators
visual way of managing data ownership	selecting by name instead of shape (requires things to be named reasonably)
Immediate visual feedback after joining	-

Proposed Usage

Drag and drop an action onto a different action

Open Questions

The proposed interaction is probably confusing considering we are not actually merging actions. We could easily drag and drop the slot, but I am not sure this is any less confusing.
Drag and drop is hard to discover

From the Dope Sheet / Graph Editor

The concept of active channel doesn't really exist. It is the data represented by the channel that can be active, e.g. active FCurve.

Pros	Cons
It is an animator editor	No drag and drop built for the channel box
Immediate visual feedback	Slots only shown in action editor (Not sure if that is an issue)
-	Relies on anim filtering code
-	To show some animation data, "Only show selected" needs to be disabled

Proposed Usage

Select Channels
From the menu or hotkey run an operator
data is merged into the active action channel (non action channels are ignored)

From this brainstorm document: https://hackmd.io/@anim-rigging/r170e_6PC#Merge-actions # General Functionality Move the animation for an object from one Action to another. This implies copying/moving the Slot. The slot is moved if there is only 1 user, else it is copied. The user needs to be pointed to the correct action afterwards. # Naming Using the word "Join" instead of "Merge" to mimic the "Join" operator in the 3D viewport. I propose the operator name "Join Animation" over "Join Actions". The latter implies that all slots of the action are moved over and its users re-assigned. This could be a useful operator at some point, but doesn't play nicely with the concept of "I want to move the Animation of this Armature to this action" which implied moving only the slot. # From the 3D viewport | Pros | Cons | | - | - | | easily accessible, close to where animators work | unclear what data is joined | | allows artists to select by visual representation | lack of immediate visual feedback after joining | | - | not all data is selectable in the 3D viewport ## Proposed usage * Select 1 - n objects * Run the operator * Animation is joined into the action of the active object Selecting 1 object and Joining could be valid if there is an action on object and data that the user wants to merge. PR: #127414 ## Open Questions * From which data should the actions be joined (object, mesh, armature, material, nodetree...) * Assuming the joining targets the active object, and it has multiple actions (e.g. object and material) which is chosen. Or if there is no action on the object, should a data action be chose and with which priority? # From the Outliner Prototype: [#126839: WIP: Anim: Drag and drop for actions in the outliner](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/pulls/126839) | Pros | Cons | | - | - | | Access to all data via the different views | out of the way for animators | | visual way of managing data ownership | selecting by name instead of shape (requires things to be named reasonably) | | Immediate visual feedback after joining | - | ## Proposed Usage * Drag and drop an action onto a different action ## Open Questions * The proposed interaction is probably confusing considering we are not actually merging actions. We could easily drag and drop the slot, but I am not sure this is any less confusing. * Drag and drop is hard to discover ## From the Dope Sheet / Graph Editor * The concept of active channel doesn't really exist. It is the data represented by the channel that can be active, e.g. active FCurve. | Pros | Cons | | - | - | | It is an animator editor | No drag and drop built for the channel box | | Immediate visual feedback | Slots only shown in action editor (Not sure if that is an issue) | | - | Relies on anim filtering code | | - | To show some animation data, "Only show selected" needs to be disabled | ## Proposed Usage * Select Channels * From the menu or hotkey run an operator * data is merged into the active action channel (non action channels are ignored)

Christoph Lendenfeld added the

labels 2024-08-29 15:51:18 +02:00

Christoph Lendenfeld changed title from ~~Layered Action - Join / Separate~~ to Layered Action - Join

2024-08-29 17:09:19 +02:00

Christoph Lendenfeld changed title from ~~Layered Action - Join~~ to Layered Action - Join Animation / Move Slot

2024-08-29 17:26:05 +02:00

Sybren A. Stüvel referenced this issue

2024-08-30 16:45:37 +02:00