GSoC NLA AOK!

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Picture 2Article submitted by Chris Want. Freshman university student (and well-known Blender coder) Joshua Leung from New Zealand participated in the 2009 Google Summer of Code program (GSoC). His goal: to rewrite Blender’s Non-Linear Animation (NLA) system for Blender 2.5. Joshua has reached and surpassed his goal, with the guidance of his mentor, Matt Ebb, and his work has been merged into the Blender 2.5 branch.

User Mike Belanger has documented some of the key features of this project on his wiki page:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Mikahl

Mike has also produced some screenshots of the NLA system in action:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikejamesbelanger/NLAEyecandy

To learn more about the details of Joshua’s project, please check out the project proposal and Joshua’s wiki page:

http://socghop.appspot.com/student_project/show/google/gsoc2009/blender/t124021852198
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Aligorith/SummerOfCode2009

You can try out Joshua’s code by checking out the Blender 2.5 branch here:

https://svn.blender.org/svnroot/bf-blender/branches/blender2.5

Feedback on the project can be posted to the Blender 2.5 tasklist mailing list, or to bf-committers:

http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-taskforce25
http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers

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    • Ianvdl

      Hehe, If you look quickly the title looks like some alien language :D

      On-topic

      Well Done, Blender 2.5 is gonna be great. It’s getting a full dope sheet right?

    • http://klik.pl melon

      iSTHIsOK||VVHaT?

    • miff

      When 2.5 comes out I won’t know where I stand! I won’t have a clue how to use anything!

      oooooh well

    • http://www.youtube.com/onjofilms NeptuneKid

      Wow, this is exciting. I can’t wait. Yahhooooooooooooooo!

    • http://hamsterking.com JoOngle

      Congratulations to all of you – Nice work!

    • http://www.traylorpark.com +peter

      @ miff –

      actually, you should find this particular update to be more helpful. the project proposal states one of the intentions of this re-factor is to make the purpose of the NLA editor more clear. I’m sure usability also benefits a lot.

      I’ll be happy to drop 2.49 :)

    • pildanovak

      well he did a great job, just want to mention – mentor matt ebb was rather an adviser and cooperator than ‘mentor’ in the true sense, since Joshua Leung is currently probably the most active developer. The work he did is just huge…

    • http://www.chibiyugi.deviantart.com Senshi

      It looks amazing, but something also tells me it will take some time getting used to.. I’m looking forward to trying it though =) (Nice title btw!)

    • miff

      I am absolutely chuffed by the way – awesome work. Even when I read what I previously wrote it didn’t come out right! But yeah looking forward to seeing what the new NLA can do!

    • iblenderppc

      Really a great feature. Thxs for your work.

      BTW: In the Documentation page for this feature hints for new modifiers/effects, so what are the new modifiers/effects are we talking here. Just curious to know.

    • Saverio

      good interface & features…

    • http://www.alumnos.utfsm.cl/~pablo.barria differentsmoke

      Naive question: Is the NLA editor still for armatures only?

    • http://www.DreadKnight666.com Dread Knight

      Awesome :D it looks prettier.

    • ToastBusters

      Can blended actions be converted back to keyframes/splines for refined editing? If so that would make this feature immensely useful. Mix and blend actions to block it in quickly then do the refined tweaking to finish it off, thus allowing things like a walk cycle to be more naturalistic. (as opposed to simply cycled, which tends to look robotic)

    • MacAttack.Blend

      The tip of the ice berg. Stunning.

      ^_0 Also if you did speak alien, u’d not be human. Ahhhhh.

    • FunkyWyrm

      I thought this was about Klingons from the title…

      Never mind, this is great news. A successful GSoC project that will be really useful to animators. We’re going to be spoiled for choice on new things to learn when Blender 2.5 comes out. Much respect to all devs. :)

    • http://TweakingKnobs.com Tweaking Knobs

      cool , but i saw some blend in / blend out parameter boxes.

      it should be a line you can move with the mouse directly in the strip.

      much more easier , intuitive and interactive, better.

    • http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin tin2tin

      Looks great. I wonder if it is possible to animate/edit cameras with the NLA. That would make a total kick ass previz/machinima/unrendered camera edit tool.

    • http://mke3.net Matt Ebb

      pildanovak: You’re right, Joshua did a great job on his own, I was mostly involved in feedback and advice.

    • http://mfoxdogg.goglepages.com mfoxdogg

      Different smoke: new NLA (and even current one if you know how) can handle all animations
      ToastBusters: yes you can already just select a strip and press tab, its in the docs

    • ralmon

      Whats with the title? I tried to read it and I sound like a toad or something.

      Great news improvements ( I hear a lot of improvements all the time. Is this really happening? ). Huge leap for Blender. I’m just trying out animation, I hope I don’t need to relearn anything.

    • http://www.watchmike.ca Mike

      @ iblenderppc:

      Yeah, I realize that section is still missing, I’ll try and contact Aligorith when
      I get a chance.

    • http://blenderart.org nam

      This NLA update seems kinda pointless since 2.5 will include the “Animate Awesomeness” button, which would make this update seem outdated. Anyhow, good job on the prettiness. :P

    • L~P~T

      @ ralmon, it stands for Google Summer of Code none linear animation aok – ?
      looks great!

    • Ianvdl

      Lol @ ralmon, did you read the rest of the article?