YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Slow motion, animation editing, All you need about the NLA in Blender 3.0

Slow motion, animation editing, All you need about the NLA in Blender 3.0 — Transcript

by Pierrick Picaut · 2,892 words · 402 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00hi everyone this is perry from p2 design
0:02if you want to create killers from
0:04motion effect transition between two
0:07actions or even create a new animation
0:09from an existing one discover everything
0:12you need to know about the blender 3.0
0:15nra editor in this video
0:19[Music]
0:21if you want a deeper look to blender's
0:23animation tools or if you want to learn
0:26animation from beginner to pro level
0:28check out my live course on
0:30p2designacademy.com
0:32let's get started with the tutorial here
0:34is trident the character i will be using
0:37for this demonstration he is currently
0:39in his t-pose i will expand the timeline
0:42and open the action editor which is
0:45under dope sheet the action editor is a
0:48mode of the dope sheet from there
0:50clicking the action library icon i can
0:52access all the action stored in this
0:55blender file among all these actions i
0:58can find a walk and a run cycle both of
1:01these actions are on place meaning that
1:04there is no root motion of the character
1:07and it's like is walking or running on
1:09the treadmill each of these animations
1:12are cycling once i will open another
1:16panel and search for the nla editor and
1:19to keep it as clear as possible i will
1:21click on the icon show selected only nla
1:24editor shows me the action that is
1:27currently being edited in the action
1:29editor but i can't use it as an analyst
1:33strip if i close the action from the
1:35editor it will disappear there are
1:37different way you can create a new strip
1:40you can open an action in the action
1:42editor and click the push down button in
1:45the action editor or in the mla editor
1:48this will push down the action into a
1:51new strip a strip is bound to an nla
1:54track you can delete the strip by
1:57selecting it and pressing x or select
1:59the analog track and press x2 to load
2:02the new strip you first need to create a
2:05new nla track by pressing shift a with
2:08the mouse cursor in the nla column then
2:11you need to make sure that the analytic
2:13track is active by clicking on it and in
2:16the timeline you can press shift a and
2:19add any action it will create a new nla
2:22strip that binds the action if you
2:25unselect the nla track and try to add
2:28another action you will get an error
2:30message with blender asking you to
2:32select an active track to add the action
2:35to i can add the run cycle if i want and
2:38blender will play the current action as
2:41the play head hit the strip the action
2:44is bound to the same way you will delete
2:46video sequences i will get rid of this
2:49second strip so that we can focus on the
2:51walk cycle as i scrub through the
2:53timeline beyond the end of this whole
2:55cycle you can see the character holding
2:58the pose and if i go to the strip menu
3:01you can see that the extrapolation mode
3:03is set to hold and it shows on the track
3:06with this transparent orange background
3:10switching to nothing this background
3:12disappear and now my character get back
3:14into t pose as soon as we don't treat
3:17the strip anymore the hold extrapolation
3:20mode will either hold the pose to be red
3:23or the last pose red selecting hold
3:26forward will only hold the last pulse
3:29rate if your strip selected if you press
3:31tab you can see it gets loaded in the
3:34action editor you enter tweak mode
3:37basically it allows you to edit the
3:40current action from there you can edit
3:42the pose of your character whether in
3:45the action editor or in the graph editor
3:48and it will update on your strip this
3:50way no need to open and close the action
3:53each time you need to edit it plus it
3:55will keep the action synchronize both in
3:58the action editor and dnla editor if you
4:01offset the strip and enter tweak mode by
4:04pressing tab it will also be offset in
4:06the graph editor or the action editor
4:09it's way more comfortable than going
4:12back to the action editor opening the
4:14action then it's no longer synchronized
4:17with the nla strip since blender creates
4:20some kind of temporary nla track for it
4:22while with tweak mode the action gets
4:25offset in time to fit the position of
4:27the analytic track it's bound to strip
4:30manipulation is pretty straightforward
4:32you can press g to move them or hold
4:34left click and drag it works the same as
4:37editing a 3d object you can press shift
4:39d to duplicate them it will likely
4:42create a new nla track press x to delete
4:44them press s and drag to scale them the
4:47scaling is performed from the playhead
4:49if i move the playhead at the beginning
4:51the scaling goes to the right scaling
4:53the strip will change the time needed to
4:56play the action so if you scale it up
4:58your action will play in slow motion
5:00press alt s to cancel the scale
5:05if we check the reversed option our
5:07animation will be played backward we'll
5:10talk about blending in influence later
5:12on when we are combining different
5:14actions i don't understand what the
5:17cyclic strip time is made for so if you
5:19know it feel free to explain it in the
5:21comment section below while it can be
5:23confusing animated strip time is pretty
5:26easy the value input reference the frame
5:29of the action loaded in the strip my
5:32current walk cycle is 32 frames long on
5:36frame 0 i will key the value 0. now as i
5:40scrub through the timeline my character
5:42is no longer moving because the animated
5:44stream time value tells blender to only
5:47read frame 0 of the action bound to dna
5:50strip on frame 32 i will key the value
5:5432. if i now expand my graph editor you
5:57can see i have a new curve that is
6:00called nla strip control and its value
6:02goes from 0 to 32 on frame 0 to frame 32
6:08by default it doesn't have a linear
6:10interpolation so we can see the
6:12animation easing in and out slowing down
6:15and accelerating if you prefer while if
6:18i select all the handles and press v and
6:20switch them to vector
6:23i will have linear interpolation and so
6:26i will be playing the 32 frames of my
6:29action
6:30over 32 frame
6:33and the action we currently play at
6:35normal speed
6:36if i want i can add a new point on the
6:39curve pressing i
6:41and as i'm editing the curve you can see
6:43the character moving and i can create a
6:46slow motion in the middle of my
6:48animation if i have set the last point
6:51of my curve to frame 40 i can then
6:53select the strip and set its frame hand
6:56to 40. now my walk is played over 40
7:00frames and you can see it's slowing down
7:02and accelerating following the curve
7:04shape
7:05if i push the curve down it will even
7:08play the animation in reverse over those
7:11couple of frames let me show you another
7:13example that may better illustrate the
7:15power of these two in my empty nla i
7:18will load the action used in this
7:20animation as i did previously i will
7:22enable the animated strip time on frame
7:260 i will add the value of 0 and on frame
7:29110 a value of 110 and key then
7:35as i do so i can see the curve in the
7:37graph editor and i will switch both
7:39handles to vector my animation currently
7:43plays normally since i have a linear
7:45interpolation of a value of 1 per frame
7:49with the curve selected i will press i
7:51in the graph editor and add a couple of
7:54keys around the kicking motion
7:57i will offset the last keys switch both
7:59handle to vector this way i still have
8:02linear interpolation between the
8:04original keys and so my animation play
8:07at normal speed but between the two new
8:10keys there is a plateau and so the
8:12animation is playing slower and so i get
8:16a slow motion then you can edit a bit
8:18the curve to get a better blending
8:20between the normal speed and the slow
8:23speed and boom you have your super slow
8:26motion effect in a few seconds this is a
8:28fantastic tool to experiment with your
8:31animation and bring even more appeal
8:35let's now see how we can combine
8:37multiple actions if i go down in the
8:39strip menu i can see the action loaded
8:42the walk i can ask blender to repeat the
8:45action which is a good way to play a
8:47cycle without adding a cyclic modifier
8:49here we can find our playback scale it's
8:52the same as when we are scaling the
8:54strip using s turning it up will slow
8:57the motion scaling it down will
9:00accelerate the motion i can split the
9:02strip with the y key the strip gets
9:05splitted where the playhead is if the
9:08strip was repeated blender will now
9:10repeat the splitted strip which can look
9:13buggy so if you want to split a strip
9:16and then continue on your cycle let's
9:19say you want to begin your walk cycle
9:20from another pose than the initial one i
9:23will press shift a to add my walk cycle
9:27i will split where i want it to start
9:30and then i will simply add another walk
9:33cycle and repeat this one i select the
9:36first strip press y to split it select
9:39its first part get rid of it and now i
9:41can repeat the second strip and my
9:43character will start his walk cycle from
9:47the contact pose and then it will
9:49continue on cycling let's make a raw
9:52function blending i will add a new nla
9:54track by pressing shift a and with this
9:57track selected i will press shift a and
10:00add my run cycle by default to track on
10:04top will override the track beneath as i
10:07scrub throughout the timeline as soon as
10:10i hit the run cycle clip my character
10:13will run and since by default the
10:16extrapolation mode is set to hold
10:18forward
10:19my character will hold the last pause of
10:22the run cycle
10:23if i set it to nothing he will switch
10:25back to work create a nice blending
10:28between the two animation i will cut the
10:31run cycle strip when the character is
10:33reaching the passing pose basically when
10:35one of his foot is planted in the ground
10:38and with this selected i will press y to
10:41split the strip then i will scrub
10:43through my wall cycle and try to find
10:45the moment where the right foot is also
10:48in the passing pool and i will adjust
10:50the run strip accordingly from there i
10:53will blend those two together i will
10:55select my run strip and i will increase
10:58the blend in the blending value is the
11:01number of frame needed to transition
11:03into the run cycle strip it's
11:06represented by a curve on top of the
11:08strip this way you can quickly get a
11:10decent transition now it's up to you to
11:13play with the speed of the walk cycle
11:15the speed of the run cycle create
11:18multiple clips
11:20blend between them to create something
11:22more realistic note that by default the
11:24blending mode is set to replace so my
11:27run action on my run strip replace the
11:30work action if you want to learn
11:33character creation rigging and animation
11:36and take your skill to a professional
11:38level you will find extensive and top
11:40rated blender courses on
11:43p2design.com hundreds of professionally
11:46edited video shipped with all the models
11:49rig and blender files use the code p2
11:52design to get 10
11:54off on any of the crosses i will start
11:57with a fresh analog track where i just
11:59have one wall cycle i will add a new
12:02track i will select my rig in pose mode
12:06and on the scale of the root bone i will
12:10insert a keyframe i can see blender has
12:12created a new action i will push it down
12:15and it will be assigned to the selected
12:17nla track if i press tab with the strip
12:20selected i will enter trick mode this
12:23allows me to edit the current action in
12:26the graph editor or the action editor
12:29i will push up the scale to 3. since by
12:32default the blending mode is set to
12:34replace this scale of 3 on the root bone
12:38from this new strip
12:40override the one from the walk cycle you
12:43can solo an nla track by simply clicking
12:46the little star icon if i do so on the
12:49walk nla track blender now ignores the
12:53other track and my root scale is back to
12:561. if i set the blending mode to add
13:00the current scale of 3 will be added on
13:02top of the scaling of 1 and the scale
13:05result is 4. if i enter tweak mode by
13:08pressing tab and set the new scaling of
13:10the root bone to 0.5 since the blending
13:14is set to add now the result of both
13:17strip is going to be 1.5 multiply will
13:21output a result of 0.5 or 1 multiply by
13:250.5 and subtract a result of 0.5 1 minus
13:310.5
13:33so it's pretty logical and might be
13:35useful for motion design but for
13:37character animation it's tricky because
13:40if you apply the same thing to rotation
13:43location etc
13:45with all the relationship in your rig
13:47everything is going to be funky
13:49but there is another mode called the
13:51combine mode that mixes this different
13:54operation
13:55and can lead to nice result let's see
13:57how to use it with my nla track cleared
14:00i will add a new empty and a track on
14:02top of my walk cycle and i will display
14:05the double-handed sword of my character
14:08by now playing the animation doesn't
14:10look super realistic as the sword look
14:13weightless i'd like him to put the sword
14:16on his shoulder in a relaxed way since
14:18the hand will be contacting the sword
14:20that will be contacting the shoulder
14:22it's easier for me to switch to inverse
14:25kinematic if you want more information
14:28on how and when to use inverse and
14:30forward kinematics check out my related
14:32video a new nla track is selected i will
14:36key the custom property that allows me
14:38to switch between fk and ik
14:41the hand of my character is now stuck in
14:43the air i will make sure that the ik
14:46controller follows the torso root by
14:49enabling and king the proper custom
14:52property
14:53i can now push down the action
14:55and see the result as i play the
14:57animation the blending mode is set to
14:59replace so the new value of the custom
15:02properties that allow me to switch get
15:04replaced by the top strip if i change
15:08the blending to combine you can see that
15:10it doesn't work the combine option
15:13proceed with different type of blending
15:15at the same time
15:17and for the custom properties it's
15:19better to use replace i will call this
15:22track ik switch and i will create a new
15:24track where i will start animating my
15:26character
15:27this time using the combined blending
15:30mode so you may create a dedicated nla
15:33track or your custom properties and then
15:36another track for your current animation
15:39with this new track selected i will key
15:42my hand controller i will also key the
15:44shoulder a bit of the torso root a bit
15:47of the chest etc
15:49to offset the weight of the character on
15:52his right where the sword is slightly
15:55bent in
15:56basically revise his pose to make it
15:59look better by default the blending mode
16:01is set to replay so it looks a bit weird
16:03but if i switch to combine now the new
16:06pose i created is combined with my walk
16:09cycle so from there i can enter twink
16:12mode on my revision track key the
16:14controller i need to get a better result
16:16on my animation
16:18you can quickly reposition the fingers
16:20for example you can reposition the
16:22shoulder reposition the elbow you can
16:25also use a space switching if you're not
16:28familiar with space switching check out
16:30my introduction to space switching video
16:33or check out my animation course live
16:35where i will show you how to use these
16:37techniques step by step the animation
16:40needs to be polished but after a few
16:42minutes i get to this result pretty
16:44easily and without modifying my initial
16:47work cycle now let's say the current
16:50action pleased you you can select all
16:52your controllers go to pose animation
16:55bake action
16:57you will enable only selected bones and
16:59visual cane
17:01you will set the frame range to your
17:03animation loop and click ok
17:06this will bake the current visual action
17:09of the different controllers
17:11and now if i push the newly created
17:13action in the nla and solo it
17:16you can see my new walk cycle action
17:19called
17:20action.003 has been created this is the
17:23end of this video i hope you have a
17:24better insight on the nla editor and i
17:27will see you very very soon
17:30[Music]
17:39you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Slow motion, animation editing, All you need about the NLA in Blender 3.0 by Pierrick Picaut, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 2,892 words across 402 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.