A:Icons for breaking and merging tangents (clamp/unclamp etc)
B:Field for entering frame number the key is in(doesnt advance time line).,ie the X value.
C:Value field to enter Y values for the key.
D:Keeping this icon pressed down allows u to scrub on the time line without advancing values on the curve.
This allows u to copy values from one frame to another regardless of if a keyframe exists there or not.(this feature is used a lot in all other anim software and in blender it just a lil tedious to do the same thing).
The rest is pretty self explanatory…
a “W” specials menu to have commonly used options.
Hope it gets someones attention and gets implimented…
Very nice proposle. Aligorith has actualy opened a new branch for animation tools enhancements. So this is the right time to come with such ideas.I guess you may contact him nirmaldavid.
Hi…
yeah kind of already did…
Hope they like it and give it a thought…
this would really boost the “animator-ness” of the IPO…
do post additions and suggestions…it will be good to see what other users have wanting for the IPO editor.
considering one of the icons I have in there is already redundant(mute IPO does exactly what i had in mind.) the clutter seems to be reducing already…
Thanks man…“mute IPO” is exactly what i had in mind…:D.
That doesn’t let you alter the exact position of the handles, but there are some usefull snapping options with shiftS as well…
What’s quite high on my wish list is the ability to use tab and shift tab when you’re editing a value in a field to confirm the new value and skip to the next or previous field. Right now, it makes you jump to a field, or position that’s closets to the mouse cursor. So if your mouse cursor is over some description text of a certain option, you all of a sudden select a piece of text you’re not supposed to be able to select to begin with.
Auto snap keys to frame when dragged is much needed. You rarely need keys on half frames or anyother decimal value of a frame. I’m not sure what you mean by (D).
I believe all this functionality currently exists, just not in the manner you propose. The interface is very consistent with the 3D modeling interface, so most conventions is the 3D modeling interface apply here also.
A: Under the menu Point -> Handle type (also has key shortcuts)
B & C: Hit the N key for the panel to show for entering X and Y values directly
D: Not sure if this is the same thing, but if you have a point or points selected in the IPO window, and hit Shift-D you can copy those points and move them to other places in the time line without actually scrubbing. (Hit the X key to lock the X axis while moving.)
Edit I didn’t read the whole thing and realized Mute-IPO is what you were talking about.
Not sure if you were asking for functionality, or just a change in the UI…
Hit Shif S -> 3 to snap the key to the nearest frame. If you move the key after that, hold down Ctrl while doing so and it will lock to exact frames.
Hmmm…
there is an auto snap option in the action editor…would be great in the IPO editor too no???
Yes there is…but the point is while animating this way of working actually breaks ur flow…and these are options an animator is constantly changing…
The key stroke “H” seems to cycle thru the handle types thats defenitely an annoyance while animating…even a simple specials menu to quickly grab the specific option will be less obtrusive…IMHO.
Again an obtrusive method…having a window floating around in ur IPO window
is something that I personally find annoying…an fixed entry field will not only allow u to change things quickly … it will also allow you to quickly peek at values without having to invoke the "n’ window.
Dont get me wrong…it functions as good as any other curve editor or even better…:yes:.
But I just feel the workflow could be better especially for animation intensive projects…im sure we are missing out on many things which the coders have already got a handle on and are implimenting as we speak ;).
What we really need here is a context sensitive buttons window. Originally the buttons window were buttons to be used in conjunction with the 3D View window. But as more types of windows have been created, we have tried to stuff their functionality into either the window header or floating panels of some sort.
We need a buttons window that can have buttons for whatever type of window you are working in. Having a buttons window that is meant to supplement the IPO window is really what we need here.
We kinda did this with the sequencer window, but it’s buttons window is tucked away within the rendering section. Blender needs to expand on this and have a generic design of having a buttons window context to pair up with each of the other window types. Well, not all of them need it, but most do.
I definitely vote that IPO editor need really big enhancement to be easy to use for animation. TO be honest actually it is rather not too user friendly compared to standards:
Very helpful would be to have direct access (new icons as suggested here or at lest buttons in Transform properties panel (N key)) to:
Handle type (actually there are 4 shortcuts for them, really not too friendly to use)
Transform should have also standard ability to use only one axe (like standard GX, GY keys in Blender), now when I need just to polish Y value in Edit mode by grabbing automatically also X is edited which is really pain because it means that I move keys and more over we are not in full key bud some kind of mid key (this maybe also problem for vector blur I guess when keys are in mid frames)
Transform should have the ability to move only full values in X (like Ctrl G)
Maybe there is relevant question whether Edit mode for curves is really needed for curves and why not have direct access to the curves. So when you pick the point of curve it will be editable directly. When using IPO editor now I feel still like clicking Tab over and over again. Like the Blender IPO editor is surprised that I want to tweak (edit) IPO curves in the editor.
More goodies would to have also ability to choose which IPO will be available or have in one IPO editor curves for more objects/bones.
Anyway good points nirmaldavid. More I use Blender for animating more bigger is my credit to Big back Bunny and Elephants Dream animators
I’d like to see a “synchronize scales between IPO windows” button or a “lock IPO scale” to some other IPO window button, to use when editing two IPO curves that need to match each other.
Definitely good suggestion because overcome of only one object/bone in IPO suffers by problems of different scale of more IPO windows. This would be useful even if we have someday posibility of more objects in one IPO wondow.
Sure, the current hotkeys are rather obscure, and admittedly hard to remember. One of the main reasons we don’t have buttons to directly access these, is due to our current concepts of reserving the header for ‘state’ stuff that applies to the stuff being edited. Such buttons don’t really fit in with that concept, but we currently lack any other place to put them.
Use GX or GY. You should also be able to do ‘drag then press Y’. Dunno what’s the problem here…
Try holding Ctrl-key once transform has been started. However, this only snaps to 1.0 frame increments but not to the gridlines. Improvement here is possible.
How many people actually use ‘curve’ mode at all? Could I get an indication/estimate of how often this is used? The code here is a bit clumsy, and could get cleaned up…
This is something that doesn’t currently fit in the paradigm of ‘ipo edit’ (i.e. datablock edit). However, from what I understand, this is necessary, so I’ll attack this at a later point (after firstly dealing with a dopesheet for action editor, which is set up better for this stuff).
Basically, the IPO Editor currently has a lot of cruft - messy code, a complex and messy backend system - and has hardly been maintained for a few years. I’ve mainly been focussing on getting the Action Editor up to scratch first, as it was closer to a usable state (also, I had more experience using it). IMO, it’s more important to have at least one very usable editor that can get the job done (or at least mostly/roughly done)
rather than 3 mediocre editors.
Aligorith, I like what you’re doing, all your additions are very much welcomed. All the work on the curve editor is important. I have contacts in some animation and vfx shops who are looking forward to the changes. Thanks for your work.
Well…we could integrate some of the most commonly used options into a “w” specials menu??that would eliminate having buttons all over…and we wont have to keep multiple key shortcuts in mind for different options in the IPO editor.
Wouldn’t an auto snap toggle option in one of the menus be more logical.
I’ve animated for about 6-7 yrs now and have never had the need to use decimal values on keyframes except on one occasion to tweak some motion blur
…what end’s up happening most often with blender is …while animating u forget to snap keys to frames and then…scrub around thinking ure on a key frame and end up accidentally adding another key very very close to the earlier one …and then pull ur hairout trying to figure out why the animation is snapping
P.S:Im bald.he he.
If you’re asking if people depend on the IPO editor more than the action editor???
Personally for me…animating is 90 % editing curves and 10% other editors only to move stuff and scale etc…but most animators depends on curves especially when it comes to finessing the animation…
…I would feel terribly insecure letting the software decide how my in-betweens are timed :D.
Infact I would call the IPO/curves the actual animation editor and the others(action/NLA) tools to enhance the abilities of the curve editor.
Using less keyframes and more curve tweaking to nail ur timing makes for less messier scenes and a very legible animation workflow.
Great thank for your attention. Regarding IPO editor I also can confirm that for me at least 90% animation work is made in IPO editor and editing curves, other editors 10%.
and gets implimented…
:eyebrowlift2: 
:RocknRoll: 