BEST ANIMATION ADD-ON IN BLENDER? | How to use Anim-Aide

[@BrianKouhi]

If you have a super useful ADD-ON you use with Blender, Let me know below! ⏩ Check out our Ultimate Blender Animation Course (3 years in the making): toanimate.ca/?

[@eddieandersson5570]

Problem though seems to be we can't share links here, as I said previously? So try ans sort that out mate, and I'll share any and all Add-ons for Blender I find useful. 😉

[@real-storiesuntold]

Check out scrambler

[@BrianKouhi]

@@real-storiesuntold What does it do?

[@3dSensei952]

Check out Animation Layers for Blender. It will literally blow your mind.

[@3dSensei952]

@@BrianKouhi Scramble is an all in one addon for blender its an awesome tool to have in your arsenal.

[@TheMimzez]

god blender is SUCH a game-changer with all the open source add-ons, free and paid! maya could never bookmarking this for later

[@wall9941]

Animation layers in maya - same))) hhah btw animationlayers addon for blender doing the same job, but u can control it better)

[@cuitlahuacsantoyoalbo9215]

Blender is a great program, but in terms of keyframe 3Danimation, it has so much to work in. This thing is a basic on Maya tool "Anim Layes", Paid or free when you are working professionally you need to have those tools in the most accessible way to work in order to deliver a high-quality animation

[@wall9941]

​@@cuitlahuacsantoyoalbo9215 in my opinion NLA editor in blender much better then animlayers in maya.

[@wall9941]

@@cuitlahuacsantoyoalbo9215 I'm actually a character animator and have worked in Maya for a long time, but there are a lot more tools in blender without any addons. NLA editor, you can also copy any pose and paste it into the viewport, or you can paste it flipped(ctrl+shift+V), also you have the shift + e hotkey as "tweenmachine". You also have modifiers in the graph editor, you can easily add noise to animation etc., and adjust the influence. You can also create keysets and add only the keys you need for location or rotation etc., and many rigs have a scaling driver for curling your fingers. and much more ... Now it seems to me that Blender is much better for animation.

[@real-talesfromgrandma]

@@cuitlahuacsantoyoalbo9215 Blender has a plugin for animation Layers actually. Its awesome, just search it up.

[@SugarLightStudios]

stop keyframing by pressing i and then choosing whole character every time ,rather go to keying option in timeline and choose active keying setting to whole character or locrotscale . so that next time only pressing i will key frame it ,everytime i see someone keying manually really gives me headache. any ways good video,thanks

[@BrianKouhi]

Lol great tip! I switched out of that prior to recording cause I was trying to Animate a box for another video. But any other time I have that on 😁

[@kru3d36]

Thx for this tip!

[@alysaasylum]

The habit of constantly keying came from using Maya. I would not trust the program so much, it's better to key everything manually, at the same time and check if all the keys are in the right place.

[@emerald767]

how crazy that the thing ive been looking and searching for forever randomly shows up in my recommended

[@KrazyArrows]

This is dope. I tried using the graph editor and yea it’s a lot

[@photonos3539]

This is a life changer :D, Thanks for sharing!

[@BrianKouhi]

Absolutely! Wish I could go back In time and share it with myself 😅

[@robertyoung406]

I don't have an Anim Offset bar. Is this not compatible with the latest version of Blender? Edit: Nevermind, found out how to enable it on the Readme page. Just go to Edit > Preferences > Add-Ons > Search "Animaide" > once you enable it, click the little arrow to the left of the name > and next to the "Anim Offset on," select Panel. Done

[@RainFall800]

2 years later saving lives. Salute

[@robertyoung406]

@@RainFall800 hehe happy to help

[@eddieandersson5570]

Cool I never knew about that feature of animaide, very cool. Thanks for that. Keep it up. I just subed to your newsletter 😉

[@BrianKouhi]

Thanks Eddie!

[@BrianKouhi]

@@eddieandersson5570 KZbin must have registered it as 'Spam', that sounds insane though, I'll have to check it out for sure! Your blocked messages will probably end up in my "comments on hold", so I'll go checkout the link. Thanks for the share 👍

[@vrtex17]

I think what you've made here could be achieved with additive NLA actions. But yeah, it's cool to have a utility to directly modify the base action. Neat

[@filipzekic672]

Hi there, great tutorial! I have a question, I tried this addon on Blender 3.3 and Anim Offset bar is not showing, even when I tick it in the options, anyone have same problem?

[@jonnasussss]

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@yahyasyed9942]

Non linear animation layers in Maya changed the game 15 years back. This might be good but it has a different approach.

[@millenniumhydra7880]

Oh but there is non linear animation in blender, and it's awesome, I usually work with it especially when I make my character walk then run to crouch, just not many tutorials about it, but when you know it😍😍😍

[@yahyasyed9942]

@@millenniumhydra7880 BTW I have realized now that I have to switch to blender sooner or later the way blender is heading towards.

[@millenniumhydra7880]

@@yahyasyed9942 I mean real time rendering and working for 6 hours with no crashing, it's a holy grail😊😊😊

[@animbot6817]

@@millenniumhydra7880 Just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding. What the OP is describing is animation layers in Maya. I'm a 3ds max user which also has animation layers but it's the same idea as Maya. You add layers to an animation similar to how you would in photoshop and it allows you to add animation on top of the existing animation below it. This is perfect for doing offsets to an animation like shown in this video. What you were describing with non linear animation sounds alot like animation clips where you have individual animations that you can edit together and blend transitions in between. My question is does Blender have animation layers? I'm in the middle transitioning over to Blender and this is a big feature I normally use in my animations.

[@zurasaur]

@@animbot6817the only way currently to get it proper maya style is with the add-on called animation layers

[@tyennille]

the value sliders to change channel value in blender graph editor are CRIMINALLY underarated

[@BrianKouhi]

Agreed!

[@BrianKouhi]

There's a lot of features I miss from Blender now that I work in Maya again..

[@tyennille]

@@BrianKouhi 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️😭🙏🏽

[@BrianKouhi]

😬 Sorry about the weird Blur guys! I tried the KZbin Editor Blur (to hide secret add-on), but it ended up taking a poop on the video instead.. and I can't undo (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[@CGDive]

Can't undo? That sucks balls for real. Great video tho and it's still fine with the blur.

[@Ghalux]

"Aide" means "help" in french, so it's like "Anim-help"

[@BrianKouhi]

That explains the E at the end haha. Figured it was just "aid" in a different language. Thanks for clarifying 😁

[@Ghalux]

@@BrianKouhi you're welcome 😁

[@lottogames5364]

Are aid and help not synonymous lol

[@TherealBrandon]

in english as well

[@TobiasLeanderOfficial]

Just picked up some motion capture gear, this will be aboslutely perfect for adjusting the animation to a specific characters proportions and avoid clipping!

[@BrianKouhi]

100%! I've used it for the same purpose as well.

[@KwasiMedia]

Doesn't the add on already have this ability before this update? I guess not. But I've been using it for a while and like it. So let's go!

[@HARDstone3d]

This addon should be out of the box. Save many times.

[@BrianKouhi]

Knowing how fast Blender moves.. I wouldn't be surprised if it does become an out of a box feature within a year 😂

[@whitesilver1093]

that's incredible! coming from 3ds max to blender, I've been always looking for a function that allow me to offset animation.

[@BrianKouhi]

Great to hear!

Animaide is so powerfull, I barely scratched the surface but it has become essential in my process, even for basic stuff, not even character keyframe & mocap anim. The issue is that the main creator doesn't have time for it anymore since 2023, and 3.6 just introduced a bug : O)

[@BrianKouhi]

Yes it's very sad, but I've heard he's working with Blender developers to implement some aspects into vanilla Blender 👀

@@BrianKouhi yes apparently there was some resistance but I hope they hear reason haha. I guess the improved smooth operation in 3.6 might be part of it. Even Autodesk just added some of these feature right now in Maya, animation keys sculpting ect.. These keyframes sculpt features and anim offset/Curve tools from Animaide is what allows blender to tackle mocap, without this the only way would be motion builder for any mocap work I think.

Actually someone posted a fix for animaide in the "issue" forum, we can just find & replace a word in of of the py file of the addon, locally, worked for me too.

[@fabioaugusto2863]

Amazing thank you!

[@yajuvendra15]

loved it

[@PapayaPositive]

Holy moly!

[@MonkehEgo]

This is a blessing!

[@BrianKouhi]

It's undistinguishable from magic 🤓

[@MonkehEgo]

@@BrianKouhi I feel like I found something illegal 😂

[@ExoticAnimation]

DAYUM BRUH, videos coming out asap lol

[@BrianKouhi]

😁😁

[@DevGods]

I use Animation Layers for work like this. But it’s a paid asset. This does virtually the same thing minus the project clean up for free! Might have to take a look at this

[@button9]

I was about to say, this looks very similar but in a totally different approach to Animation Layers.

[@DevGods]

@@button9 I installed this plug in but I have yet to try it to compare it to Animation Layers. It’s already got one checkbox though because it’s free. But I want to see how it handles. I’ll probably give it a full shake this weekend

[@XboxPlayerPL]

This is great for having base animation and adjusting it for the specific character, isn't it?

[@BrianKouhi]

Oh, my, god. YEAH It'd be perfect for that! Adjusting base animations, cycles, etc

[@demnyan]

Классный инструмент, спасибо ♥️😏

[@MubarakMarafa]

Amazing video!! This is mindblowing. I haven’t really delved that deep into animation but I’m excited to! PS. My dude. I need the name of that song it. Is. 🔥

[@BrianKouhi]

Thanks! if you're talking about the background music, it' this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXPcaIulesacqNk

[@MubarakMarafa]

@@BrianKouhi Awesome! Thank you for this! Absolute gold 💪🏾

[@FrancescoGasparin]

Predictably missing tools when loaded on blender 4 ... I do hope someone will take over this addon, we need it :) !! I would not have minded paying for a collection of tools like this

[@2ksp235]

For two weeks after 2 months of modelling texturing and more of 8 characters, i started the animation part i was like " Jesus i am dead " thx for this video and for this addon it is going to help me a lot to finish faster

[@higorss]

how did it go?

[@FX_AnimationStudios]

WOW! Speechless!! any chance you could do a more thorough tutorial about all its features?

[@BrianKouhi]

I dive deeper with this for the Course content, but I might upload some on YT at some point.

[@GabrielVez]

part of the tool broke in 3.6 and the author wants to move on from maintaining and updating it. He would like to find someone to take his place or for blender to add it to the main experience which I would love. This tool is so good. I hope they will consider it. Until then I'm not sure I will update my blender or I will have to keep using 3.4 for animation and hope it stays compatible

[@scottlee38]

Okay! this is good! Something Blender needed for a while, I think!

[@rafarodriguez4765]

I always said that this feature must be included in Blender by default. It is a massive time saver. I subscribe to your channel.

[@BrianKouhi]

Couldn't agree more, it's a major time savor and a MUST have in an animation software.

[@aumhren3480]

looks like a sort of alternative to animationLayers ? thx for sharing, have fun, aum, s love nia

[@astro_1859]

THIS IS SO COOL

[@pabloezequielpadula7278]

simplemente maravilloso!

[@kleber1983]

interesting.

[@EgenMugen]

So... it's like animation layers, only completely destructive and much less controlable? Everything you've shown is done way easier via that: you create an additive animation layer, tweak position => bam, entire animation changed. Animate layer's weight => bam, it starts in new place, but ends in original one.

[@BrianKouhi]

I'll be making a video on Animation layers soon as well. They each have their place.

[@A.J.Interactive]

this looks really neat! does it work with any rig?

[@BrianKouhi]

As far as I know, it should work with any character rig! 😁

[@morgovic]

It is funny how today the only thing that is missing in this addon is the Animate offset tab xd edit: nah, it is still there, just location has changed.

[@spie9906]

where is it??

[@Unstable.]

@@spie9906 not sure where it is by default (it says it's on the "headers" but I couldn't find that). But if you go to the addon preferences you can change anim offset to show up on the panel that pops up when you press "n"

[@spie9906]

@@Unstable. I found it, it's the time icon on top of the bar in the dopesheet

[@astro_1859]

Can you make another video explaining the order tools?

[@BrianKouhi]

I actually have a full video going through all of the tools written out for the course. It'll be uploaded in there once it's out 😁

[@astro_1859]

@@BrianKouhi YAY!

[@Nativefall]

How is this ANY different from Record Keyframe?

[@internetcampas717]

They have updated the ADDON. It is harder to use now. Would you please assist?

[@JJHazy]

go to addons, click the small arrow on animaide addon and on the addon preferences select "anim offset" in panel so it should be like before

[@weclipstudio]

hi , thanks but AnimOffset section is not apear for me

[@lonecolamarine]

shiiii and I thought blender animation was easy before!

[@neutronstar5840]

In Blender 4.0 when changing position after setting the button to activated, it brings changes of position through all animation. So i may suggest, this tool doesnt work on Blender 4.0.

[@BrianKouhi]

The support stopped for it on 3.6, the creator however is working with Blender Devs to bring some of the features into vanilla Blender

[@geikaka]

Can someone help? The Anim Offset tab is missing.

[@BrianKouhi]

Try going to Edit -> Preferences -> Addons Search for "Animaide" Select the down arrow on the addon to expand its information, and make sure that in the "AnimAide' preferences, you have "Anim Offset on" set to "Panel". Hope this helps.

[@yakuza_suske3189]

What is this? Am i the only one using the normal blender timeline with key frames for animation? I feel like that would be much more easier than using graph editing. If anyone can explain it to me better then please do. I can easily animate and move bones exactly how i want them by key framing. Why use the graph editor?

[@BrianKouhi]

There's no ONE way of animating. and I'm more of a timeline guy myself, BUT.. You can polish up your animation a lot easier and faster with the graph editor. It gives you a visual representation of something going wrong or looking wrong, and lets you see how you can fix it on the graph. Some people work with the graph editor from start to end, for me, I usually start using the graph editor in late spline and polishing stages of the animation.

[@yakuza_suske3189]

@@BrianKouhi interesting thanks for explaining it. Ive been using the key frames from the start so i guess im sort of already accustomed to it.

[@casiitard]

How are you moving the pose just by dragging it like that?

[@rasheedvfx8519]

sir, i have a small doubt about What is the Difference between AnimAide and Animation Layers Addon, or these are the same?

[@leonelsantos6517]

Naice

[@uhuhhuuhu]

Is there any more Anim-Aide tutorials somewhere on yt or on the internet?

[@BrianKouhi]

I'm not sure haha, but my partner wrote out an entire lesson for the upcoming Blender Animation course just on Anim-Aide.. it's capable of a lot!

[@uhuhhuuhu]

@@BrianKouhi thanks, is this course already available?

[@BrianKouhi]

@@uhuhhuuhu We'll be pre-launching it on Kickstarter mid November! If you'd like to keep up to date, we send out a monthly update, showing what we've done on the course to our newsletter subscribers :) you can check out the site for more info: www.toanimate.ca

[@Nekotico]

wait....but there is a function called NLA editor that does the same?

[@tengenriku]

Are u using animaide in the animation course I purchased.

[@BrianKouhi]

Hey, we try to do everything with vanilla Blender to make sure everyone can follow along and knows how to do things the right way first. We do have an extensive lesson on the Anim-Aide addon in the course though, so you're welcome to use it during the lessons.

[@smithsquared1848]

The change you made is so slight that it really doesn't explain what is so special about this tool. Perhaps if you showed doing the task without the tool? Also, half the video was instructions on how to get it installed before you convinced me I needed to have it, so i skipped that. So if part of the explanation of why I would want it is hidden in that part, I'm not going to see it. All in all this didn't convince me of anything except a need for better video editing

[@pawpotsRS]

this works too with mr.mannequins addon?

[@BrianKouhi]

I've never used me.mannequins add-ons, sorry :)

[@theshadow6273]

cool! but.. why is there a horrible smear in the top right of your screen?

[@BrianKouhi]

I was trying to hide a secret plug-in after uploading... I added a small little blur box on KZbin.. and KZbin turned it into a giant smear lol.

[@Bobby-yr9wt]

I don't have the "Anim Offset" tab

[@HelenRadkev]

Hey I know I'm late AF but does it work in 3.6??? ty

[@priagungwicaksono5232]

i cant mask in blender 4.0, is there any way to fix this?

[@BrianKouhi]

The support for the addon ended at 3.6. The creator is however now working with the Blender Development team to bring Animaide features to vanilla Blender.

[@luisahelena4226]

can we use it with Vroids characters?

[@Pcrate]

am just starting animation in blender can you help me on how you can add a character like the rain cloud one to your blender file

[@nickfai9301]

This tool is same function as Animation Layer 2 addons right?

[@BrianKouhi]

Not all of Animation Layer's functionality, but it does have some that are similar. For example, just like the animation layers, you're able to change an animation through out the entire shot with a couple of keys, but you won't have access to any layers.

[@nickfai9301]

@@BrianKouhi May I have your opinion, which one is better?

[@BrianKouhi]

@@nickfai9301 Animation layers is something I use more often. Also since this is free, the developer couldn't sustain the work on the add-on, and so there is no support for it past Blender 3.3

[@nickfai9301]

@@BrianKouhi Thanks for the answer. Please let me know if there is special discount campaign for your animation course in the future 😉.

[@BrianKouhi]

@@nickfai9301 Will do :) We'll be notifying our email list, and post our twitter and other social media about it. We actually also have a partnership with the animation layers add-on creator, and so TOAnimate students get a discount on the addon as well.

[@hyunjucho2104]

In Maya, you can simply use Animation Layer (Override/add) which also has weight value on it so that you can blend your existing animation with your new tweaked animation. Blender is cool but personally, in terms of animation workflow and efficiency, Maya is far better than Blender. Hopefully, Blender get similar efficiency in near future.

[@BrianKouhi]

There's an animation layers addon in Blender as well. Which actually is better than the Maya animation layers if I'm being honest. 😁

[@jamaalsineke2405]

how is this different to Animation Layers addon you reviewed?

[@BrianKouhi]

This has less features but it's free, vs the Animation Layers which is paid. Unfortunately the creator of this addon stopped stopped support after Blender 3.3

[@jamaalsineke2405]

@@BrianKouhi Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate your advice

[@BrianKouhi]

No worries!

[@jamaalsineke2405]

@@BrianKouhi Sorry ,to bother...1 more question....does Anim-aide have any unique features that Animation layers doesn't? Need to be sure before making such a pricey commitment( $ is so much stronger than my currency)

[@laserpew4684]

Isn't that what animation layers are for?

[@BrianKouhi]

Yep, but Blender doesn't really have an animation layers (excluding NLA editor). So if you don't want to pay for the animation layers addon, you could use something like this. Since it's free :)

[@gumball1328]

You could just use an anim layer

[@BrianKouhi]

I have a video on Animlayer as well. This is the free alternative.

[@kordaling]

How is this different from animation layer?

[@BrianKouhi]

It's definitely similar! I found out about the animation layer addon right after making this video. The difference is that this is free, and the animation layer is a more complex and versatile version, but it's paid.

[@Bloodsong13T]

i've activated the animation offset... but i can't seem to do what i want to do. my foot ik controller bone won't move. i can't paste the 'correction' pose onto the rig while it is activated, and i can't even paste or type in location numbers. is there some sort of more in-depth tutorial somewhere, or where can i ask questions/get help with it? :/ i tried 2.93.3 and 2.93.5

[@Bloodsong13T]

the new update (1.0.3.5 i think) acts even more FUBAR for me than before. i'm just lucky, i guess. well, animaide is still in development. hoping it works out!

[@GustavoCBX250]

go to reddit

[@zevac]

that was an unusually large addon file haha

[@tfugeyman5893]

a n I m e-a I d e

[@millenniumhydra7880]

Why don't you create a pose library, then your animation would be just a few clicks of buttons?

[@BrianKouhi]

Do you know a good way to have a Pose Library for Blender?

[@millenniumhydra7880]

@@BrianKouhi yeah, you see on your rig when you generate a rig, there is a shelf called pose library, where you can place all your poses and you can share them to your other rigs by link or append, to create a pose, just select the controls which you want your character to use for a certain pose, whether it's the whole rig, or parts of it, it will store your poses so you can work with them at any given time, even integrate them with your other rigged characters😊😊😊

[@kellyvill9413]

@@millenniumhydra7880 So if this is the case can I search for and download pose libraries?

[@millenniumhydra7880]

@@kellyvill9413 depending on the similarities in the bones names, I mean if the bones have weird names than it wouldn't work on your rig, for instance the mixamo rig and Rigify do not have the same name structure, but the mixamo add on is still in beta so maybe they will fix that... But you can edit your pose to fit that specific rig you have

[@muhammadsadri1872]

Do you have persian animation training?

[@BrianKouhi]

Nop, just in English. I have maybe 10 Persian followers as far as I know :)

[@muhammadsadri1872]

@@BrianKouhi I have alot of blender grop that they have about 10000 members i can promote your channle to persian guys

[@tyennille]

Animbot who?

[@BrianKouhi]

😂😂

[@Xegethra]

I can't stand Blenders animation system. It's not always clear so I end up making changes to one animation but it affects another....constant tweaking for things I should never have to tweak. I'm looking for a good animation plug in. Even when I lock a bone so it can't be moved, it ends up being moved after I made a different animation, it's really annoying.

[@BrianKouhi]

That doesn't sound right at all. controllers and bones work in a hierarchy, so the top of the hierarchy moves everything under it. Are you sure you're using proper character rigs?

[@نعیمهدایتفر]

سلام دادا کوجا رفتی کلاس زبان؟

[@BrianKouhi]

I live in Canada.

[@belphh3d]

How do you preview the animation in the little independant window?

[@BrianKouhi]

Do you mean the camera I set up to the left of the screen? I just made a new viewport panel and hit '0' (zero) to change it to my camera view.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

I am already doing this without the add-on. I don't get how this is a game changer. Take an existing animation push it down into an NLA strip then set the new keyframes to Add. Where you want to start changing the animation you keyframe a default all pose then move the timeline to where you want the pose to be modified tweak it, then move the timeline again to where it's done changing then keyframe a default all pose again. A default pose in add mode = changing nothing.

[@scottlee38]

^ Even READING your comment makes me Tired. I'm gonna go to CVS pharmacy and buy some Anim-Aide.

[@retroeshop1681]

what's up with the blur? hahaha

[@BrianKouhi]

😅😅 tried to hide a secret add-on after uploading, using KZbin's editor... It ended up just pooping on the video and I can't undo.

[@retroeshop1681]

@@BrianKouhi It really pooped the video xD

[@BrianKouhi]

@@retroeshop1681 yepp, learned my lesson 😁

[@DaniFewell]

@@BrianKouhi thanks for the great tutorials 😁😁

[@Knay6699]

How sad it is to animate at 14 fps. I hate the performance of Blender.

[@BrianKouhi]

It definitely depends on the rig you're using and your computer. With our new Max and May rigs, I can press play and watch the animation real time. But for sure, having a cache option like Maya's 2019+ would be amazing.

[@Knay6699]

@@BrianKouhi Honestly, I think the performance issue is part of the software and not the computer. You could have the NASA computer and still have performance issues.

[@LiquidStateAnim]

Its like using the Nla editor but without baking

[@Tahfeez-Quran]

Thanks, It's a great tutorial How can i do the animation bounce effect like in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6HYanuPg7p3ibs in second 57 and this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoaxfod_Zd9qg8k without using many keyframes Is there any blender addon?

[@friexino6580]

Bruh had to blur his addons

[@BrianKouhi]

Haha, at the time we were working on a secret addon that I hadn't announced yet.

[@dungeonmaster217]

For some reason, lost my shit at anime-aid.

[@abhijeetbhagat1165]

Dont blur important area, you can mask that area, couse of blur your video is distracting