Hello everyone, it's Jen from Olde Tinkerer Studio
In this tutorial, we will be learning about animation nodes in Blender 2.9
This tutorial is using Blender 2.9, but you can also follow along with Blender 2.83
So, let’s get on with the tutorial
Animation Nodes is a node-based, visual scripting system, designed for motion graphics in Blender
You can download the Blender add-on from the animation nodes website (the link is in the description)
For the most part, the interface of the animation nodes is located in the node editor
while other parts of the interface exist in the 3D viewport and other areas of Blender
You can access the node menu editor by choosing “Animation Nodes” under the Editor Type dropdown menu
To add a new node tree, click on “New”
You can also rename the node tree in the name field
You access the node menu (to add a node) using SHIFT + A just like you can with any other node in Blender
CTRL + A can be used to open a search option
The node panel can be accessed using the N key
The Item tab shows all the options for a particular node
The Tool tab shows the available tools
The View tab is where annotations are kept
The Node Tree tab contains settings and information about the node tree
Animation Nodes look at the node tree and then converts those nodes into a script
In the top-left corner of the node editor, you will notice a number –
this is the time it takes for the execution of the node tree to take place
Automatic Execution is the default – this option can be found in the tool menu under the node tree tab
There are four options available under this option
Always is the default option which means that the node tree is executed as much as possible -
it is recommended to not use this option since it is CPU intensive
The Tree Changed option is used to execute every time there are changes to the node tree
The Frame Changed option executes the node tree every time the current frame changes in the scene
The Property Changed option executes the node tree every time a property changes in the node tree
The Minimum Time Difference defines the time between consecutive executions
If, for example, you set the value to 3, three seconds will pass before the node tree will be executed
The Trigger is something that you use to watch for changes in a specific property
The Scene Property is an option to choose a scene and the ID that is related to it
The Collections Property is an option to choose a collection and the ID that is related to it
The Object Property is an option to choose an object and the ID that is associated with it
Let’s now look at an example of using animation nodes
Delete the default cube
Add a Torus and right-click on it and choose “Shade Smooth”
The first thing we need to do before we change the location, rotation, and scale of the torus
is add an Object Input node
Use SHIFT + A to bring up the node menu
Under the Object category choose “Object” to add an Object Input node
This node is used to select the object that we want to work with in the scene
Make sure the torus is selected and click on the eyedropper in the Object Input node
Since we want to manipulate the location, rotation, and scale of the torus,
we need to add an Object Transforms Output node
Use SHIFT + A to bring up the node menu
Under the Object category choose “Transforms Output” to add a Transforms Output node
This node sets the location, rotation, and scale of an object
Connect the Object Input node to the Object Transforms Output node
*For now, we will use “Always” for the execution type
The top row affects the location of the object
We can use any (or all) three axes to change the location
If we click on “X” we can move the torus along the X-Axis
If we also click on “Y” we can now move the torus along the X- and Y-Axis
If we then click on “Z” we can move the torus along all three axes
The middle row affects the rotation of the object
We can use any (or all) three axes to change the rotation
If we click on “X” we can rotate the torus along the X-Axis
If we also click on “Y” we can now rotate the torus along the X- and Y-Axis
If we then click on “Z” we can rotate the torus along all three axes
The bottom row affects the scale of the object
We can use any (or all) three axes to change the scale
If we click on “X” we can scale the torus along the X-Axis
If we also click on “Y” we can now scale the torus along the X- and Y-Axis
If we then click on “Z” we can scale the torus along all three axes
For simplicity’s sake, we are going to just animate the rotation for the torus
Zero-out the location and rotation for all axes
Change the scale back to 1
From the animation category, add a Time Info node
This node allows for animation playback
Open the Item tab in the node panel
This tab shows us that we have more options for this node than what are currently shown
To show these other options on the node, click on the monitor icon next to the options
Frame is the current frame
Start Frame is the first frame of the scene playback
End Frame is the end frame of the scene playback
Frame Rate is the frame rate of the scene playback
Since we want to only affect the rotation in this tutorial,
we need to add a Combine Euler node so we use all three axes in the animation
Under the Rotation category, add a Combine Euler node
By default, this node uses Radians as the measurement,
but we can check the “Use Degree” option to use degrees instead
This means that each frame equals 1 degree of rotation
Connect the Frame output of the Time Info node to the X-Axis input of the Combine Euler node
Connect the Euler output of the Combine Euler node
to the Rotation input of the Object Transforms Output node
Split an area and open up a timeline and change the End frame to 90
If we play the animation, we see that the torus rotates around the X-Axis 90 degrees over the 90 frames
If we want to speed up the animation, we can add a math node
Under the number category, add a Math node between the Time Info node and the Combine Euler node
The math node simply performs a variety of math operations
We will use the default option of multiply
If we change the value to 10, and play the animation, we see that the torus is now rotating 10 times faster
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Thanks for watching Have a good day