Bake animation does not bake custom properties on bones on new action #65773

New Issue

System Information
Operating system: Win 10
Graphics card: Nvidia GTX 1070

Blender Version
Broken: 2.80, c13e10a740, Branch:blender2.7 , 2019-06-04 00:52, as found on the splash screen

Short description of error
When baking animation to new action (from NLA editor) custom properties on bones will not be keyed and baked down.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Create 2 bones with one bone having a custom property on in the bone tab. Drive another bones position or rotation with that custom property. Set keys and change the value of the custom property over time. Create an NLA track from the current action. Select all bones in the armature and bake using the "pose" setting and "selected bones" options. Observe that in the new action, only translation, rotation and scale will be keyed, leaving the custom property unkeyed. When muting the original NLA track, the driven animation will no longer play.

**System Information** Operating system: Win 10 Graphics card: Nvidia GTX 1070 **Blender Version** Broken: 2.80, c13e10a7404d, Branch:blender2.7 , 2019-06-04 00:52, as found on the splash screen **Short description of error** When baking animation to new action (from NLA editor) custom properties on bones will not be keyed and baked down. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Create 2 bones with one bone having a custom property on in the bone tab. Drive another bones position or rotation with that custom property. Set keys and change the value of the custom property over time. Create an NLA track from the current action. Select all bones in the armature and bake using the "pose" setting and "selected bones" options. Observe that in the new action, only translation, rotation and scale will be keyed, leaving the custom property unkeyed. When muting the original NLA track, the driven animation will no longer play.

#102057 was marked as duplicate of this issue

#101149 was marked as duplicate of this issue

Added subscriber: @Addison

Added subscriber: @ZedDB

Could you attach a minimal .blend file where we can just open the file and press bake to observe the issue?

Certainly. I've replicated it with the standard rigify rig. If you notice, when merging the NLA strips and muting the two NLA tracks, the IK key switch doesn't get baked and transferred up to the new action.bugNLA.blend

Certainly. I've replicated it with the standard rigify rig. If you notice, when merging the NLA strips and muting the two NLA tracks, the IK key switch doesn't get baked and transferred up to the new action.[bugNLA.blend](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F7579842/bugNLA.blend)

Isn't this expected? The tool tip for Bake Action specifically says that it will only bake loc/rot/scale...

Isn't this expected? The tool tip for `Bake Action` specifically says that it will only bake loc/rot/scale...

Actually you’re right, I guess this would be a requested feature.

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Added subscriber: @BClark

Hello, I just hit this today and found this bug entry. Did this get added as a feature request somewhere I am not finding it? Thank you.

there was a build where it was being worked on it looked like https://dev-files.blender.org/file/data/buwk5rog44tnuzhb2sm2/PHID-FILE-yeini5cgtzo24yhfbbv2/release_scripts_modules_bpy_extras_anim_utils.py

Added subscriber: @ChristiaanMoleman

I too would like to know if this has since been added as a feature or feature request. Not being able to bake blend shapes tied to custom controls is very annoying.

Added subscriber: @wbmoss_dev

I think it is solved in the https://developer.blender.org/D8867 improvements going on from @wbmoss_dev and or is where it should go possibly since it is an issue when trying to combine actions.

In #65773#1098465, @BClark wrote:
there was a build where it was being worked on it looked like https://dev-files.blender.org/file/data/buwk5rog44tnuzhb2sm2/PHID-FILE-yeini5cgtzo24yhfbbv2/release_scripts_modules_bpy_extras_anim_utils.py

A bit of miscommunication. I sent that link just to show where to look for adding the support you're looking for.

Has anyone tested the D8867 build to see if it solves the problem?

> In #65773#1098465, @BClark wrote: > there was a build where it was being worked on it looked like https://dev-files.blender.org/file/data/buwk5rog44tnuzhb2sm2/PHID-FILE-yeini5cgtzo24yhfbbv2/release_scripts_modules_bpy_extras_anim_utils.py A bit of miscommunication. I sent that link just to show where to look for adding the support you're looking for. Has anyone tested the [D8867](https://archive.blender.org/developer/D8867) build to see if it solves the problem?

Ah, sorry, yes I misunderstood. It makes sense to me that it would go in with the layer merge bake feature possibly so that custom property animation can be properly combined to new actions.
I haven't yet tested the D8867 to see if it worked.

Ah, sorry, yes I misunderstood. It makes sense to me that it would go in with the layer merge bake feature possibly so that custom property animation can be properly combined to new actions. I haven't yet tested the [D8867](https://archive.blender.org/developer/D8867) to see if it worked.

Added subscriber: @adamscott

Added subscriber: @feldlaufer-4

any news on this? working on a feature that uses stepped animation, and all my animation of custom properties is getting lost on baking it is utterly annoying....

Added subscriber: @SUNGHOON-JEONG

I'm trying to apply Rigify character to Unreal Engine workflow for my team project.
For the maintenance of complex movements, I organized my animation using NLA and tried to bake it as an action for export to Unreal Engine when the animation was completed.
However, bake action operation of Blender doesn't take into account custom properties, so Rigify's IK-FK conversion, parent retarget, neck/head follow and etc features were ignored, The final animation loses its expressiveness and I lead to a dead end to workflow planning.
It would be great if the Bake Action operation works with custom properties.

I'm trying to apply Rigify character to Unreal Engine workflow for my team project. For the maintenance of complex movements, I organized my animation using NLA and tried to bake it as an action for export to Unreal Engine when the animation was completed. However, bake action operation of Blender doesn't take into account custom properties, so Rigify's IK-FK conversion, parent retarget, neck/head follow and etc features were ignored, The final animation loses its expressiveness and I lead to a dead end to workflow planning. It would be great if the Bake Action operation works with custom properties.

Added subscriber: @AgeofGar

How come it is closed while the issue has not been resolved, is it being tracked elsewhere ?
I am dealing with this on 3.1.0 still. The fact that FK IK switching won't get baked to a single layer is quite a handicap to work with.

How come it is closed while the issue has not been resolved, is it being tracked elsewhere ? I am dealing with this on 3.1.0 still. The fact that FK IK switching won't get baked to a single layer is quite a handicap to work with.

It is closed because it is considered a "Feature request" as the Bake action tool wasn't designed to work that way, it is considered not a bug or broken. It is on the list of things that need to be addressed from the animation module and part of the NLA redesign.

https://vimeo.com/503261365

Added subscribers: @Andrej-4, @OmarEmaraDev

Added subscriber: @Gary-Carse

I'm using the NLA editor on a small production, and I have run into this problem. It has meant rethinking our animation pipeline to exclude the use of the NLA editor.

For the record, we wanted to transfer our NLA editor timeline from one scene to another (using the same character rig), instead of reassembling the timeline of strips in the new scene file. We thought the Bake Action option was a good way to package up the keyframes of our NLA editor into one strip, which we could then append into our new scene as an action strip.

It would have been better if there was a way to append the NLA editor's timeline from one scene to another (the way an XML file works in Adobe Premier). Does anyone here have any advice on how to approach this?

Thanks
Gary

I'm using the NLA editor on a small production, and I have run into this problem. It has meant rethinking our animation pipeline to exclude the use of the NLA editor. For the record, we wanted to transfer our NLA editor timeline from one scene to another (using the same character rig), instead of reassembling the timeline of strips in the new scene file. We thought the Bake Action option was a good way to package up the keyframes of our NLA editor into one strip, which we could then append into our new scene as an action strip. It would have been better if there was a way to append the NLA editor's timeline from one scene to another (the way an XML file works in Adobe Premier). Does anyone here have any advice on how to approach this? Thanks Gary

Happy to talk with you about this in the animation module chat https://blender.chat/channel/animation-module and not add noise to the issue here.

Excellent - thank you, Brad - I will speak to you over on the animation module chat.

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Bake animation does not bake custom properties on bones on new action #65773