YSDecaff Quick Tutorials, Vol. I, No.

1, 2016

Duplicating Animated Components

Decaff 42
Abstract
Often when animating a complex structure, such as a wing-bend, or high-detail landing gear, it can be tempting to
try to save time by simply duplicating the animated components. However for asymmetrical meshes or animations
this will often result in confusion as attempts to correct the animations of the newly made components result in
unexpected changes. This can often make it appear that completely re-doing the animations on the other side of
the model is the only method that will work.
YSDecaff
YSFlight HeadQuarters

Contents
Introduction

Linked Objects

Welcome to Blenders IPO Curve Editor Window

Duplicated Animations

3.1 Un-Linking Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Create Single-User Animation Deleting Animation

Application

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Every time we try to create something complex in Blender
for YSFlight, we have to remember that Blender is a very
powerful program. We use so little of it for YSFlight modding,
that there are a lot of useful features that we overlook. This
tutorial is largely about these features and understanding why
they are useful. I cannot count the number of times that I have
spent bashing my head into the proverbial brick wall, only
to realize that there is a simple or automatic solution to my
problem already in Blender.
In the case of duplicating animations, we first need to learn
about linked objects in Blender, because the problems we see
with duplicated animations are related to linked objects. Once
we understand the problem, we can begin to look at potential
solutions to the problem at hand.

1. Linked Objects
One clever way that Patrick from YSFHQ reduces the file size
of his DNM models is to take advantage of Blenders linked
object duplication. The modelers goal is to take one mesh
object and create another exact copy of it. Blender can do this
in two ways:
1. Create an entirely new mesh object that has the exact
same everything as the original mesh object, but is
handled as a completely unique object.

2. Say to itself Object # 2 is the exact same as Object # 1.

Therefore just refer back to Object # 1 whenever you
want to know what Object # 2 looks like.
With the second option, Blender (and a DNM model) does
not have to have unique mesh objects for each duplicated
feature. Instead, there simply has to be one source for the
vertex and face information and a bunch of links throughout
the model that refer back to the original mesh object.
One really great advantage of linked objects for YSFlight
modeling beyond reducing DNM file size, is the ability to
change one mesh object and have the changes be applied to all
the linked objects. In my F-20 Tigershark model, the 12-petal
engine nozzle used linked objects for each of the petals and
associated afterburner components. When I wanted to make
a color change to the afterburner, I simply had to change the
color on one of the petals and the update would be applied to
all the others. This saved a lot of time and tedious work with
my many edits.

2. Welcome to Blenders IPO Curve

Editor Window
When working on animations I always have the IPO Curve
Editor window open. In fact I have made it a default window in
my Blender User Interface because it is so useful. In order to
edit an animation on the fly without re-defining the STAs, you
can selectively edit a single animation, for example what layer
the object is moving between, or by how much it will rotate.
Each x-y-z component of rotations, translations, scaling, layer
changes and more is shown in the IPO Curve Editor window.
When you select an animated object in Object Mode, you will
see the multi-color lines in this window, as shown in Figure #1.
For everything that you could possibly want to know about
the interface of this window, please refer to the Blender 2.4
Manual (Click for Link).

3. Duplicated Animations
This is where we can talk about the heart of the matter concerning duplicating animations. Unlike linked objects in Blender

Duplicating Animated Components 2/2

Figure 1. The IPO Curve Editor Window in Blender, showing a Location and Rotation animation applied to an object.

where the user has to specify a linked duplication, a duplicated animation is automatically linked to the original objects
animation. This is why when you try to edit the animation of
the duplicate, the original animation will change.
3.1 Un-Linking Animations
There are two simple ways to un-link the duplicates animation
from the original. Depending on the situation, one method
may be preferred over the other.

Figure 2. Make the animation for the selected object unique

and unlinked from any other animation.

1. Delete the animation from the second object.

2. Stop the link by telling Blender that the current objects
animation is not being used by any other object.
Most of the time, when you are trying to duplicate an
animated component or family tree, you want to keep the
animation and make some adjustments. For this case you will
want to choose option #2 from the above list.
3.1.1 Create Single-User Animation

This process literally takes two clicks of your mouse. In

Figure #1, the red arrow and circle highlight two buttons next
to the animation name. The 2 represents the number of objects
this particular animation is linked to. The hover text explains
it well: Displays number of users of this data. Click to make
a single-user copy.
If you click the 2 button1 and then click Single User in
the popup window seen in Figure #2, then the animation will
become unique for that object and you can edit it.
3.1.2 Deleting Animation

If instead of pressing the 2 button from Figure #1, you press

the X button, the animation will no longer be linked to
1 Remember:

If the animation is referenced for more than one object the 2

will change to a 3, or 4, or however many objects use the same animation.

that object, however it will still be applied to the original

object. This will allow you the freedom to completely recreate the animation from scratch if you wish to make some
major changes. The one thing to remember with this option is
that it DOES NOT delete parent-child relationships between
objects, so you may have to edit the parent objects animation
before the child objects new animation looks correct.

4. Application
It is important to remember that this process of unlinking an
animation needs to be applied to each duplicated object that
has an animation. For the best results, this can be applied to
animations that are slightly asymmetric, but for complicated
animations, such as wing bending, it will be a challenge to
mirror everything correctly while maintaining the animation.

Acknowledgments
Thanks to Patrick for investigating the usefulness of linked
objects and all the contributors to the Blender 2.4 Manual.