[Bf-taskforce25] defaults & tweaks list

[Jason van Gumster]

Hi Brecht,

Brecht Van Lommel <brecht at blender.org> wrote:

> The only argument, besides standards, that I got from that discussion
> is that it's useful to not keyframe as a way to undo all changes for
> that frame and start again. But that can be implemented in other ways
> too. Maybe it's because the feature works unreliable, or affects
> unpredictable things in more complicated rigs? Or because it makes you
> more explicitly aware of what you are keying?

All of these things are valid reasons. One of the really nice things
about working digitally is that you don't have to animate in a strictly
linear fashion. You key the elements you need, when you need them. Then
you can go in and fill in the blanks. Also, even on simple rigs, if you
have autokey on by default, then elements of the rig might be keyed
without your knowledge, making debugging your animation more
complicated.

When I animate, I often have situations where I know either the pose I
want *or* the timing that I want, but not both. This means that I spend
time moving or rotating elements at frames where I don't want keys...
or explicitly setting placeholder keys for rough locations, but nothing
detailed in the pose until later. I also have occasions where I move a
limb in real time to get an idea of how it moves and deforms the
mesh... but I don't want to set any keys.

> I'd like to understand why people prefer manual keying, I haven't
> found a clear answer to this yet.

Basically, what it comes down to is predictability and control. When
you have autokey enabled on a good animation system, you generally have
a good idea of what's getting keyed and what isn't... but as rigs
increase in complexity and animation increases in complexity, keeping
this "good idea" wrapped in your braincase becomes increasingly
difficult. It's tougher to guess what is and is not keyed... or how to
fix things when you go back into the animation for refinement. When you
key manually, you know exactly what gets keyed, and when. It's far more
predictable and allows flexibility for playing with your animation as
you go.

I know it's that's not everyone's experience/workflow... but it's the
way I work, the way many (most?) animators are taught to work, and it's
a pretty standard expectation on most animation apps. I can't tell you
how many times I've wanted to kick After Effects for its default
autokey behavior.

At any rate, that's pretty much my reasoning. Hopefully I wasn't
too rambly and hopefully I made sense. :)

  -Jason