Stop-motion-OBJ

A Blender add-on for importing a sequence of meshes as frames

Stop motion OBJ allows you to import a sequence of OBJ (or STL or PLY) files and render them as individual frames. Have a RealFlow animation but want to render it in Blender? This addon is for you! There are now two versions:

• v2.0.2 for Blender 2.80+
• r1.1.1 for Blender 2.79 (also tested for 2.77 and 2.78). This version is now deprecated and will no longer be supported

If you find this add-on helpful, please consider donating to support development:

PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/justinj

Bitcoin wallet: 16Bbv5jmKJ2T3dqw2rbaiL6vsoZvyNvaU1

IMPORTANT

• You MUST restart Blender after enabling the add-on

Features

• Supported formats: OBJ, STL, PLY
• Allows changing topology
  • (the meshes don't need to have the same number of vertices and faces)
• Supports shapes with UVs and image textures
• Variable playback speed
• Multiple playback modes
• Reload from disk
  • If you change your mesh sequence, you can reload the sequence into the existing object without deleting it and creating a new one
• Object can have different materials on each frame
  • For instance, you can have a different MTL file for each OBJ file
• Bake sequence
  • This allows the sequence to be viewed on other computers without installing the addon (in a renderfarm, for example)

Limitations

• No motion blur
• Only single-object files are supported
• Only absolute filepaths are supported
  • Fixed in neverhood311#17
• File numbers must be zero-padded
  • Sorting file with correct order is added in this PR
  • Files like file1, file2, file3 will be loaded in correct order, and zero-padded filenames still work, too.
• Doesn't work with physics
  • (It actually works with rigid body physics. In Rigid Body Collisions set Shape to 'Mesh' and Source to 'Base')
• Sequences can't be duplicated
  • Sequences can now be duplicated, but they share a material. For a duplicate sequence with a different material, you have to re-import the sequence.

Installing Stop motion OBJ

• Find the latest release and download the release .zip file (NOT the source code .zip file)
• Open Blender and open the Add-ons preferences (Edit > Preferences... > Add-ons)
• Click Install..., find the .zip file you downloaded, and click Install Add-on
• In the search bar, type 'OBJ' and look for the Stop motion OBJ addon in the list
• Check the box to enable it
• RESTART BLENDER BEFORE USING THE ADDON

Using Stop motion OBJ

• (make sure you've installed the addon and restarted Blender before using)
• In the 3D view, click Add > Mesh > Mesh Sequence
  • The object will initially be empty. We need to load a mesh sequence into it.
• Make sure the object is selected.
• In the properties panel, click on the Object Properties tab (the little orange cube icon). In the settings panel, scroll down to find the Mesh Sequence subpanel and open it.
• Enter the Root Folder by clicking on the folder button and navigating to the folder where the mesh files are stored. Make sure to UNCHECK ‘Relative Path’
• In the File Name box, enter a common prefix of the files.
  • ex: If you have frame001, frame002, frame003, you could enter ‘frame’, 'fram', or even 'f'
• If your sequence has a different material for each frame, check the "Material per Frame" checkbox. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.
• Click ‘Load Mesh Sequence’ to load.
  • Depending on the number of frames, this could take a while.
• Step through a few frames to see the animation.
• You can adjust which frame the animation starts on as well as its playback speed.
• You can also decide what happens before and after the mesh sequence:
  • 'Blank' will simply make the object disappear after the end of the sequence
  • 'Extend' will freeze the first and last frames before and after the mesh sequence, respectively
  • 'Repeat' will repeat the animation
  • 'Bounce' will play the animation in reverse once the sequence has finished
• Once your sequence is loaded, you can change the shading (smooth or flat) of the entire sequence:
  • The shading buttons are found in the Mesh Sequence Settings for the object
  • Note: The normal shading buttons (in the 3D View "Tools" panel) will only affect the current frame, not the entire sequence
• If you change your mesh sequence and want to reload it without creating a new sequence object, click 'Reload From Disk'
  • This will use the original Root Folder and File Name that you initially specified
  • If your updated sequence has more or fewer frames than the original one, the updated sequence object will reflect this change