'Empty' Frame insertion (Dopesheet + NLA): best way to do so ?

Hi all,

I just want to insert blank/empty frames in the middle of my animation. Is there a simple way to do so ??
I have :

  • many objects (some are in ‘restrict view’ so not always visible).
  • several armatures
  • different layers
  • shapekeys
  • markers
  • on top of that, some objects are animated in the DopeSheet while others are in the NLA-Editor (unsnowflaked).

How do we shift them all in one step to insert frames ??
Thanks to all

It is kind of a hack, but you could toggle the visibility of a plane that covers the camera. Give the plane a holdout material and the frame will end up either black or transparent if you have transparent activated in film settings. That way, the frame will basically be rendered instantly, wasting very little render time.
And yes, I am assuming that you are using Cycles :slight_smile:

Hi GustavN,

No I am not working with Cycles nor rendering…

Hi batFinger,

Too bad it’s not you.
I am pretty sure I saw an addon or script to add frames directly in the Timeline. Was working on windows only so I didn’t keep it because I am on Mac. It may not do the NLA job though, I don’t know.
Thank you for the script.
So as far as I understand it does the same thing as grabbing in Dopeshhet or F-curves.

I guess many people are facing that problem and I am surprised that no one had made a one-step insertion addon.
Hope this will come in the coming Blender versions.