Create Music-driven Animations With This Free Add-On
This add-on by Ryo Suke converts midi files to keyframes, allowing you to drive animations of instruments, like keyboards or launchpads.
Officially releasing my plugin today “MIDI to Keyframes” ? You can download it on GitHub. Should be up on Blender Extensions soon once they approve #b3d
— Ryosuke (@whoisryosuke.bsky.social) 2024-10-03T22:21:54.209Z
How to use
Open up the side panel labeled “MIDI Importer”, it’s available in the 3D viewport in the n-panel (the right side panel that’s usually collapsed).
- Select a MIDI file you’d like to import.
- Assign 3D objects to piano keys.
- Click the button labeled “Generate Keyframes”
Not happy with the animation? You can undo the keyframes (CTRL/CMD + Z). Can’t undo? Try the “Delete All Keyframes” button, it will delete all keyframes on any selected note object.
Tips
Auto Assigning Keys
The plugin can automatically assign piano keys if you create a collection with objects with the note letter appended to the end.
For example, you’d name your objects something like:
- ObjectName.C maps to the C piano key
- yourobject.F# maps to the F# piano key
- Then you can select the collection and press the “Auto-Assign Keys” button.
Visualizing the MIDI Track
I’d recommend downloading Audacity to visualize the MIDI tracks and see what the note charts look like before you import them into Blender.
FPS and Music Timing
When creating the animation keyframes, we use the current scene’s frame rate to calculate the music time. If you change the frame rate after generating keyframes, you should re-generate keyframes to ensure the timing is correct.
