Poses & Animation

Save checkpoints, copy and paste poses on the same character, insert keyframes, or record a continuous AutoPose take.

The Pose panel

Copy and Paste, then Clear, Restore, and Set Base, with Record underneath.

Set Base, Restore, And Clear

Despite its name, Set Base does not create a fixed pose that later solves work from. It saves the pose you can see as a checkpoint for Restore. Whenever you begin a drag, AutoPose works from the pose that was visible immediately before that drag.

Button	Shortcut	What it does
Set Base	Enter	Saves the current pose as the Restore checkpoint and deactivates every constraint
Restore		Returns the character to the saved checkpoint and deactivates every constraint
Clear		Deactivates every constraint and keeps the visible pose without replacing the checkpoint

Set Base, Restore, and Clear

a pose saved as a checkpoint, dragged away from, and restored.

Set Base is a checkpoint

Press Enter whenever the pose reaches a state you would be unhappy to lose. It stores that pose for Restore and clears the constraints. The next drag still begins from whatever pose is visible at that moment.

Restore returns to the checkpoint

Went too far? Restore puts the character back at the last checkpoint and deactivates the constraints.

Clear deactivates every constraint

The current pose stays where it is, but none of the existing constraints continue to affect later drags.

Copy And Paste

Ctrl + C copies the complete AutoPose pose. Ctrl + V pastes it and saves it as the Restore checkpoint. The panel buttons Copy Pose and Paste Pose do the same thing.

The clipboard belongs to the same reconstructed character. Paste does not transfer a pose to a different rig.

Copying and restoring a pose

Copy Pose, change the pose on the same character, then Paste Pose.

Keying A Pose

Press I to insert normal Blender keyframes on the FK controls AutoPose moved, plus the character’s world location.

If Blender’s Auto Key is on, those keyframes are added automatically as you pose.

Keying a pose on the timeline

insert a regular Blender keyframe for the pose, then move to another frame.

What receives the pose

Only the controllers you configured in Rig Setup receive transforms. The first spine controller can receive both location and rotation; every other mapped controller receives rotation only. Existing scale is preserved, and so are locations on everything except that first spine controller. Whatever else your rig does stays exactly as you left it.

Recording A Take

Keying gives you one pose at a time. Record gives you a continuous take.

1. Set your start frame

   Recording begins at the current frame and moves forward from there.

2. Press Record

   Recording begins at the current timeline frame and captures the initial pose. The button starts counting collected frames.

3. Pose continuously

   Each completed pose is captured on the next frame. Keep dragging constraints to build the take.

4. Stop

   Press the button again, or Esc. The button changes to Baking N recorded frames… while the take is written out.

Recording a take

Record started, dragged through an action, then stopped and baked.

The bake is one undo step

A finished take is baked as a single undoable action, so one Ctrl + Z removes the whole thing rather than unpicking it frame by frame.

While a take is baking

Copy Pose, Paste Pose, Clear, Restore, Set Base, and switching to Manual Pose are unavailable during recording and baking. Let the bake finish before carrying on. On a long take this takes a moment.

Next

• Interface & Preferences to set up the viewport dock and rebind the shortcuts.
• Troubleshooting if a keyed pose is not coming back the way you left it.