One pose at a time
AutoPose creates full-body poses from direct viewport drags. Key individual poses or record a continuous take when you want animation.
FAQ
Quick answers to the questions that come up before reading the full guides.
Manual Pose and Record
Refine the rig directly in Manual Pose, then continue from the visible pose. Record captures your AutoPose take and bakes it to the timeline.
Your rig, your controls
The finished pose is applied to the FK controllers you mapped.
Humanoid bodies
AutoPose poses the body. Fingers, faces, and final detail stay with your rig’s own controls.
What It Is
Section titled “What It Is”Is this the same thing as Blaze Puppeteer?
Section titled “Is this the same thing as Blaze Puppeteer?”No. They are separate add-ons for separate jobs.
| Blaze Puppeteer | Blaze AutoPose | |
|---|---|---|
| Produces | Motion over a frame range | One pose at a time |
| You provide | A prompt and guides | Direct drags in the viewport |
| Best for | Performance, locomotion, action | Key poses, stills, blocking |
They can be installed side by side and each keeps its own rig mapping.
Does it use my GPU?
Section titled “Does it use my GPU?”No. AutoPose solves on the CPU on every supported platform. No dedicated GPU is required, and there is no GPU setting to configure.
Which rigs work?
Section titled “Which rigs work?”Rigify, Auto-Rig Pro, CloudRig, Mixamo, and Puppet Studio have built-in presets. Custom rigs work too - you map the five chains yourself once, and everything afterwards is identical.
Use a humanoid rig with FK body controls. Non-humanoid rigs, fingers, and facial controls are not supported. Linked or overridden rigs must be made local before setup.
Do I have to run Rig Setup every time?
Section titled “Do I have to run Rig Setup every time?”No. Rig Setup belongs to the character and is saved in your .blend file. You run it once, and afterwards you go straight to AutoPose and press Start AutoPose.
You only return to it if the rig itself changes - a renamed controller, a rebuilt rig, or a mapping you want to correct.
I already set this character up in Blaze Puppeteer. Do I have to do it again?
Section titled “I already set this character up in Blaze Puppeteer. Do I have to do it again?”Not from scratch. When you select a character that already carries a Puppeteer setup, AutoPose picks that mapping up and tells you it has done so in the status line. Check the chains, reconstruct, and confirm the T-pose.
Why does it insist on a T-pose?
Section titled “Why does it insist on a T-pose?”The T-pose is the reference AutoPose measures your character against. An A-pose, a relaxed pose, or a dropped shoulder all change that measurement, and every pose you make afterwards inherits the error. It takes about thirty seconds and it is the single highest-value minute in the whole setup.
What are the extra rigs that appeared in my scene?
Section titled “What are the extra rigs that appeared in my scene?”Reconstruction creates three helpers beside your character: YourRig_Blazed, YourRig_AutoPose100, and YourRig_TPOSE. They are internal. Do not rename, delete, constrain, or animate them - if they ever fall out of step, run Reconstruct AutoPose Rig again.
Can I use a linked or overridden rig?
Section titled “Can I use a linked or overridden rig?”Not directly. Rig Setup writes properties onto the armature and builds sibling rigs, which is not reliable on a datablock owned by another file. Make the rig fully local with Object → Library Override → Make Local and reopen the panel.
Posing
Section titled “Posing”How many constraints should I use?
Section titled “How many constraints should I use?”AutoPose allows up to 16 active constraints, but that is a maximum rather than a target. Three or four is typical. Every active constraint reduces how freely AutoPose can adapt the rest of the body, so deactivate constraints you no longer need.
Why did the rest of the body move when I dragged one hand?
Section titled “Why did the rest of the body move when I dragged one hand?”That is the whole idea. Joints you have not constrained are free to move, which is what lets a single drag produce a coherent full-body pose. Constrain a part when you want it to keep guiding later solves. Use Alt + F only to protect its handle from accidental editing; Freeze does not make the target exact.
What pose does AutoPose work from?
Section titled “What pose does AutoPose work from?”The pose visible immediately before you begin each drag. AutoPose adjusts relative to that pose while considering all active constraints. Set Base does not define this starting pose; it only saves a checkpoint that Restore can return to.
How do I protect a control while I work elsewhere?
Section titled “How do I protect a control while I work elsewhere?”Two ways, for two situations:
- Freeze (Alt + F) prevents selection or editing without changing whether the constraint is active. If it is already active, it continues guiding the solve. If it is inactive, it stays inactive.
- Deactivate (RMB) removes the constraint from the solve without moving the pose. Use it when the joint should be free again.
What is the difference between Clear, Restore, and Set Base?
Section titled “What is the difference between Clear, Restore, and Set Base?”Deactivates every constraint and leaves the pose exactly as it is. The next drag starts from that visible pose.
Puts the character back at the saved Restore checkpoint and deactivates every constraint. Use it to return to a pose you deliberately saved.
Saves the pose you can see as the Restore checkpoint and deactivates every constraint. It does not define the starting pose for later drags.
Can I still use Blender’s own posing tools?
Section titled “Can I still use Blender’s own posing tools?”Yes. Press Shift + R for Manual Pose and the handles step aside so you can work on the rig directly. Press it again to return; your edited rig pose stays visible and becomes the starting pose for the next drag. It does not replace the saved Restore checkpoint. That is the right place for fingers, facial controls, IK snapping, and any small correction AutoPose is not built for.
Can I pose more than one character?
Section titled “Can I pose more than one character?”Yes, one at a time. Change Character Rig to the other character. Each rig keeps its own setup and its own constraint state, so switching back and forth costs nothing.
Does Preserve Foot Contact lock the feet?
Section titled “Does Preserve Foot Contact lock the feet?”No. It treats a foot in Contact as planted, but the guidance is soft. Small amounts of sliding or lifting can occur as AutoPose balances foot contact with the rest of the pose and the active constraints.
Results
Section titled “Results”What does AutoPose actually write to my rig?
Section titled “What does AutoPose actually write to my rig?”Ordinary transforms on the FK controllers you mapped, and nothing else. The first spine controller can receive location and rotation; every other mapped controller receives rotation only. Existing scale is preserved, and so are locations everywhere except that first spine controller.
Are the keyframes normal Blender keyframes?
Section titled “Are the keyframes normal Blender keyframes?”Yes. Press I to insert regular keyframes on your controllers plus the character’s world position. Another artist can open the file and work with them without AutoPose installed.
Can I paste a pose onto another character?
Section titled “Can I paste a pose onto another character?”No. Copy and Paste work on the same reconstructed character. Use them between frames or before trying a variation on that character; the clipboard is rejected if you switch to another rig.
Does finishing a session undo my pose?
Section titled “Does finishing a session undo my pose?”No. Finish AutoPose leaves the current pose on your controllers. Nothing needs to be committed first.
Support
Section titled “Support”Where are the logs?
Section titled “Where are the logs?”AutoPose writes one log per Blender session and keeps the last five. Open Log Folder in preferences takes you straight there.
How do I report a problem?
Section titled “How do I report a problem?”Turn on Debug Logging, reproduce the problem, then press Save Support Bundle. Use Report a Bug to open the Blaze creator page on Superhive and attach the bundle to your message. If you cannot share your scene’s naming, turn off Include Object Names in the save dialog to replace those names with anonymous tokens.
Troubleshooting Specific symptoms and what to check for each one.