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Blender NLA Midi Copier

Blender add-on for creating midi-driven animations from the Nonlinear Animation view. Adds a panel to the Nonlinear Animation view that allows for copying an action to each instance of a note in a midi file. For example, actions strips for a selected action could be generated to line up with all the C4 notes played by a piano. To access the panel, expand the right-side panel in the Nonlinear Action View and select the Midi tab.
This add-on also adds a panel in the Graph Editor to generate keyframes on existing F-Curves based on midi file data.

This add-on is written for Blender 4.1 and is compatible back to Blender 2.80. Add-on Version 0.19.1. Changelog here.

Midi Panel controls:

• Choose midi file:
  • Select a midi file.
• Midi File:
  • Displays the selected midi file.
• Track:
  • Choose a track from the midi file. (Tracks with no notes will not be shown.)
• Note:
  • Choose a note from the selected track. (Only notes played in the selected track will be shown.) A note can also be selected by typing a note name or midi note number in the box next to the drop-down.
• Type:
  • The type of object to animate. Select "Object" to animate objects in the scene. Change this value to animate something other than an object. For example, select "Light" to animate the brightness of a light.
• Object:
  • The object to animate. This field will change depending on the value of Type. If Type is Object, this field will allow selecting an object, if Type is Light, this field will allow selecting a Light, ect.
• Action:
  • The action to generate NLA Strips from. Only actions valid for the selected Type will be shown.
• Copy Action to Selected Objects:
  • If this option is selected, then the selected objects will be animated instead of the Object in the Object control. This option is only valid for Type Object, Type Material, or any type that can be object data (such as Mesh and Curve). If the type is Material, the action wll be copied to the active materials of the selected objects.
• Sync Length with Notes
  • If selected, the length of the copied action will be scaled to match the length of the note it is copied to multiplied by the scale factor.
  • Action Timing
    • Scale Action Length
      • Stretch or compress the action to fit the scaled NLA strip.
    • Repeat
      • Repeat the action to fill the scaled NLA strip. Truncates the action if the action is longer than the NLA strip.
  • Scale Factor
    • Affects the length of actions when "Sync Length with Notes" is selected. The copied action length will be equal to the length of the note multiplied by this scale factor. (Scale factor of 1 will match the note length exactly.)
• Copy to Note End
  • Copies the action to the end of the note instead of the beginning.
• Add filters:
  • Adds filters. If selected, any defined filters will be applied when copying actions. No filters will be applied if this option is not selected. See the Filters section for more information about filters.
• Overlap
  • Options for how to handle overlapping action strips.
  • Skip
    • Skip overlapping actions.
  • Blend
    • Place overlapping actions on a new track above the existing action.
  • Duplicate Object
    • Place overlapping action strips on new objects that are duplicates of the original object being animated. This option is only valid for Type Object or any type that can be object data (such as Mesh and Curve). If the type is not Object, then all objects using the data will be duplicated. For example if the action is defined on a Curve, all objects using the Curve will be duplicated.
• Blending
  • Sets blending type for action strips placed on additional nla tracks if the first nla track does not have room for the action. Only used when Overlap is set to Blend.
• Action Length (Frames):
  • The length of the action. Used to determine if the action overlaps another action when duplicating objects. Defaults to the true length of the action. As an example, if this is set to 50 frames, and two notes are only 30 frames apart, then the action for the second note will be considered to overlap the action. The second note's action will be copied to a duplicate object if Duplicate Object on Overlap is selected. If this value is set to less than the true length of the action, it will be replaced by the true length of the action. Only used when Overlap is set to Duplicate Object.
• Nla Track:
  • The name of the NLA track to place action strips on. If a track with this name exists, actions will be placed on it, otherwise a new track with this name will be created. A name wil be automatically generated if this field is blank.
• First Frame:
  • The frame that the midi file starts on.
• Frame Offset:
  • Offset in frames to use when generating action strips (can be negative). For example, if the frame offset is -5, then the generated action strips will be placed starting 5 frames before the instances of the selected note.
• Copy Action to Notes:
  • Generates action strips from the selected action that line up with all instances of the selected note.

An instrument can be defined as a collection of notes and actions. The instrument is independent of any specific midi file, allowing for defining a set of actions for each note and later syncing them up to a midi file. To define an instrument, expand the right-side panel in the Nonlinear Action View and select the Midi Instruments tab.

Midi Instrument Panel Controls

• Instrument
  • The selected instrument.

Properties Box

• Name
  • The name of the instrument.
• Instrument Frame Offset:
  • The frame offset used when animating the instrument. This is added to the frame offset for each action.
• Delete <instrument name>
  • Delete the instrument

Notes Box

• Note:
  • The selected note. If there are actions associated to the note, the number of actions will be displayed in parentheses. For example, C5 (2) indicates that there are two actions associated to the note C5. An astrix indicates than there are actions that may be copied to other notes due to pitch filters. An exclamation mark indicates there are actions that are missing an object or action, so they will not be copied.
• Add Action
  • Adds an action for the selected note.
• Action Boxes
  • Each action for the selected note is displayed in its own box. See the "Midi Panel Controls" section above for explanations of the controls in the action boxes.

Transpose Box

• Transpose: The transpose buttons transpose the instrument. Transpose buttons are disabled if the transposition would result in notes outside the 0-127 midi pitch range.
  • - octave: shift all actions down an octave
  • - step: shift all actions down a step
  • + step: shift all actions up a step
  • + octave: shift all actions up an octave
• Transpose filters: Sets how the pitch filters are transposed
  • Do not transpose: Does not transpose the pitch filters.
  • Transpose if possible except all-inclusive: Transposes all pitch filters except pitch filters that include every midi pitch (pitch >= 0 or pitch <= 127). Pitch filters that would be transposed to a pitch outside the 0-127 midi pitch range are not transposed.
  • Transpose if possible: Transposes pitch filters. Pitch filters that would be transposed to a pitch outside the 0-127 midi pitch range are not transposed.
  • Transpose all except all-inclusive: Transposes all pitch filters except pitch filters that include every midi pitch (pitch >= 0 or pitch <= 127). Transpose buttons are disabled if any pitch filters would be transposed to a range outside the 0-127 midi pitch range.
  • Transpose all: Transposes all pitch filters. Transpose buttons are disabled if any pitch filters would be transposed to a range outside the 0-127 midi pitch range.

Animate Box

The animate instrument box is not available if there is no selected midi file. Select a midi file in the Midi Panel.

• Track

  • The track from the midi file to use when animating the instrument.

• Copy to single track

  • If selected, all actions for the instrument will be copied to a single NLA track (this is overwritten for any actions within that define their own NLA track). If this is not selected, a new track will be created for each note.

• Nla Track:

  • The name of the NLA track to copy actions to if "Copy to single track" is selected. A name will be generated if this field is blank.

• Animate <instrument name>

  • Animate the instrument. The instrument's actions will be copied to notes from the selected track from the selected midi file. The midi file is selected in the Midi Panel, and the selected track is selected in the Track field directly above this button. The First Frame field in the Midi Panel will be used as the frame the midi file starts on.

• Create New Instrument

  • Creates a new instrument.

Filters

Filters can be used to filter notes when copying actions. Filters are defined within a filter group. Actions are copied to notes that match any of the filter groups. For a note to match a filter group, it must match all filters within the group. For example, if group 1 has filters A and B, and group 2 has filters C and D, actions will be copied to notes that match either both filters A and B, or both filters C and D (this includes actions matching all filters A, B, C, and D).

Filter Controls

Click "Add Filter Group" to add a new filter group. Click the x in the top right of the filter group to remove it.

Click "Add Filter" to add a filter within the group. Click the x next to the filter to remove it.

If more than one filter is defined in a group, the arrows can be used to move the filters up and down. The filters are applied from top to bottom.

If "All Pitches" is selected in a filter group, the group will act on all pitches (ignoring the note selected in the midi panel or ignoring the instrument note if part of an instrument). It is always selected if any of the filters in the list are a Pitch filter.

Filter Descriptions

• Every
  • Includes every nth note starting with a specified index. For example, "Every 2 notes, starting with note 1" will include every other note, starting with the first note.
• Note Length
  • Filters notes by length. For example, "Note Length < 10 frames" will include only notes that have a length less than 10 frames.
• Overlap
  • <details> <summary> Filters notes by overlaps. Overlaps are calculated by action length in the nla editor. Overlaps are calculated by note length in the graph editor and dope sheet. If "By frames" is selected, then overlaps are calculated based on a set number of frames instead of note or action length. </summary>

    

    </details>
• Pitch
  • Filters notes by pitch. For example, "Pitch > B3" will include all pitches above B3 (so C3 and higher). If the pitch is "Selected" it will match the selected pitch in the midi panel, or the pitch of the instrument note if the filter is part of an instrument.
• Relative Start Time
  • Filters notes by their start time (time is based on the beginning of the midi file). For example, "Relative Start Time > 5 Seconds" will include only notes that start after 5 seconds into the midi file.
• Start Time
  • Filters notes by their start time in the scene.
• Velocity
  • Filters notes by their midi velocity. For example, "Velocity = 127" will include only notes with a velocity of 127.

Filter Presets

Filters can be stored to presets. Saved presets can be access from the Nonlinear Animation view, Graph editor, or Dope Sheet.

• Preset: Select a preset. Preset will be loaded on selection.
• New: Create a new preset from the current filter.
• Name: Rename the preset here.
• Save: Save the preset. Presets are not saved automatically when changes are made.
• Delete: Delete the selected preset.

Quick Copy Tools

The Quick Copy Tools panel contains tools for copying to multiple notes at once when different objects are animated to different notes. The action defined in the NLA Midi panel can be copied to multiple objects, with a different note for each object, by ordering the selected objects along a path. The action can also be copied to an instrument (with or without copying along a path).

Copy by object name

The Copy by object name tool copies actions to objects based on the name of the object. It matches notes based on the Copy by option.

• Copy by
  • Copy by note name
    • Copy to objects with names that either start or end with the note. For example, if one of the selected objects is A3_Cube or Cube_A3, the action will be copied to that object for all A3 notes.
  • Copy by track and note name
    • Copy to objects with names that either start or end with the note and also contain the name of the track selected in the NLA midi panel.
• Copy to selected objects only
  • If selected, only copy actions to selected objects, otherwise copy to any matching objects in the scene.
• Copy to Instrument
  • If selected, copies the action selected instrument instead of generating action strips for the note.
• Instrument
  • The instrument to copy the action to.

Copy to Instrument

The copy to instrument tool copies the action in the NLA midi panel to the selected instrument and note.

• Note
  • The note to copy the action to. (This field is automatically updated when the note selected in the NLA midi panel is changed.) This property is not used when Copy along path is selected.
• Instrument
  • The instrument to copy the action to.

Copy Along Path

Copy along path is a tool that can be used to quickly copy actions to multiple objects, with a different note for each object, if every object uses the same action. This is useful for animating something like a piano without having to animate each key individually. The piano's keys can all be animated at once by creating a path to define the ordering of the keys (starting at the lowest pitch and ending at the highest), and using the Copy along path option.

• Copy along path
  • If selected, then all selected objects are animated, each to a different note. This option is only valid for Type Object, Type Material, or any type that can be object data (such as Mesh and Curve). If the type is Material, the action wll be copied to the active materials of the selected objects.
• Path
  • A path defining the ordering of the selected objects. Any Curve can be used as the path. The path itself will not be included as one of the animated objects, even if it is selected.
    Only the points along the path are used in the calculation for ordering the objects. This means that curved paths may produce unexpected results, since the calculation uses straight lines between each point on the path. Generally, for paths that are not straight, the more points on the path, the more accurate the result.
  • Starting Note
    • The note that the first object along the path will be animated to, if the note is not filtered out. If the note is filtered out, the first object will be animated to the first note that is not filtered out and has a pitch greater than this note.
  • Filter by scale
    • Options for filtering notes by a major scale.
    • No filter
      • Does not filter notes by a scale.
    • In scale
      • Only include notes in the selected scale.
    • Not in scale
      • Only include notes that are not in the selected scale.
  • Scale
    • The scale to filter by. This is a major scale, so for example a selection of "C" filters using notes in the C major scale.
  • Only Notes in Selected Track
    • Only include notes in the selected midi track in the NLA Midi panel.
• Copy to Instrument
  • If selected, copies the action selected instrument instead of generating action strips for the note.
• Instrument
  • The instrument to copy the action to.

Midi Settings

• Middle C
  • Sets the note that corresponds to middle C (midi pitch 60). This changes the displayed value of middle C and updates the display for instrument notes and the note in the midi panel. This does not change the midi note pitches.
• File Tempo
  • If selected, the tempo from the midi file is used to calculate note times. If not selected, the bpm setting is used. Tempo changes in the midi file are ignored if this is not selected.
• Bpm
  • The beats per minute. If "File Tempo" is selected, this shows the midi file's bpm.
• File Ticks per Beat
  • If this or "File Tempo" is selected, the ticks per beat from the midi file is used to calculate note times. If not selected, the Ticks per beat setting is used. For most tempo changes, leaving this option selected should be sufficient.
• Ticks per beat
  • The ticks per beat. If "File Ticks per Beat" is selected, this shows the midi file's ticks per beat. (Midi files count time in ticks. Most midi files divide minutes into beats, and beats into ticks. Some midi files may be in frames per second (and ticks per frame) instead of beats per minute. For these files, the file bpm will be shown as 60, and the file ticks per beat will show the number of ticks per second.)
• Midi Tracks
  • Lists the tracks in the midi file. The name displayed for a track in track selection drop-downs can be changed using the Displayed Name field.

Graph Editor Keyframe Generation

Keyframes can be generated based on pitch in the graph editor. Select an F-Curve in the graph editor, choose a low and high pitch, choose a min and max keyframe value, and generate keyframes with values based on the pitch.

• Midi File:
  • Displays the selected midi file.
• Track:
  • Choose a track from the midi file. (Tracks with no notes will not be shown.)
• Notes in Track:
  • Drop-down that displays the notes in the selected track. This property does not affect keyframe generation if Note Property is set to Pitch. If the Note Property is not Pitch, then keyframes will only be copied to the selected Note (unless there are pitch filters).
• Selected F-Curve
  • Displays the data path of the selected F-Curve in the graph editor. This is the F-Curve keyframes will be generated on.
• Note Property / CC Data
  • Generate keyframes based on either note properties or continuous controller data
• Note Property:
  • The note property to use for keyframe generation.
  • Pitch
    • Generate keyframes based on note pitch
  • Length (frames)
    • Generate keyframes based on note length in frames
  • Velocity
    • Generate keyframes based on note velocity
• CC Type:
  • The CC Controller to generate keyframes from
• Load min and max keyframe values:
  • Sets the Min and Max notes or Map to min and Map to max values to the minimum and maximum values found in the selected midi track. (This is the button next to note property.)
• Min note:
  • The lowest note (inclusive) that will be used for keyframe generation. Only used if Note Property is set to Pitch.
• Max note:
  • The highest note (inclusive) that will be used for keyframe generation. If this is lower than the min note, keyframes will be generated starting at the min note down to this note. Only used if Note Property is set to Pitch.
• Map to min:
  • Note property or CC value to map to the Min value. For example if note Property is Length (frames) and Map to min is set to 2, then keyframes for a note with a length of 2 frames will be generated with the Min value. Only used if Note Property is not set to Pitch.
• Map to max:
  • Note property or CC value to map to the Max value. For example if note Property is Length (frames) and Map to max is set to 10, then keyframes for a note with a length of 10 frames will be generated with the Max value. Only used if Note Property is not set to Pitch.
• Filter by Scale:
  • If filtering by scale, keyframes will only be generated for notes in or not in the scale (depending on the selected filter type). In addition, only filtered pitches will be used for keyframe calculation.
• Scale:
  • The major scale to filter by.
• Only notes in Selected Track:
  • If selected, only notes in the selected track will be used for keyframe calculation.
• Min:
  • The keyframe value that corresponds to the min note.
• Max:
  • The keyframe value that corresponds to the max note. If this is less than min, then values will be calculated starting at min down to this value.
• Unit Type:
  • The unit type of the min and max values. Blender does not use scene units as keyframe values (for example rotation keyframe values are in radians.) The selected unit type is converted to keyframe units. (For example, if the scene units are degrees, setting the unit type to Angle will change the min and max inputs to degrees. The values will be converted to keyframe units, in this case radians.)
• Keyframe placement:
  • Note Start: Place keyframes at note start
  • Note End: Place keyframes at note end
  • On CC change: Place keyframes at every midi CC controller event
• Limit transition length:
  • If selected, generate additional keyframes to limit the transition time between generated keyframes.
  • Transition length:
    • Maximum length of transition between generated keyframes
  • Transition offset:
    • Space between the transition and either the keyframe before or keyframe after, depending on Placement
  • Placement:
    • Start: Place the transition directly after the leading keyframe
    • End: Place the transition directly before the trailing keyframe
• Add filters:
  • Adds filters. If selected, any defined filters will be applied when generating keyframes. No filters will be applied if this option is not selected. See the Filters section for more information about filters.
• Keyframe Overlap:
  • Options for handling overlaps with existing keyframes.
  • Replace
    • Replace the existing keyframe.
  • Skip
    • Skip the generated keyframe (keep the existing keyframe).
  • Previous frame
    • Place the generated keyframe on the frame before the existing keyframe. If that frame also has an existing keyframe, the generated keyframe will be skipped.
  • Next frame
    • Place the generated keyframe on the frame after the existing keyframe. If that frame also has an existing keyframe, the generated keyframe will be skipped.
• Note Overlap:
  • Options for handling overlapping notes:
    • Include
      • Include overlapping notes
    • Skip
      • Skip overlapping notes
• First Frame:
  • The frame that the midi file starts on.
• Frame Offset:
  • Offset in frames to use when generating keyframes (can be negative).
• Generate Keyframes:
  • Generates keyframes on the select F-Curve in the graph editor based on the select min and max notes and values. ( Add a keyframe to a property to create an F-Curve for it if one does not already exist.)

Grease Pencil

This add-on also allows for copying selected grease pencil frames to sync with notes in a midi file. The grease pencil midi panel is available in the Grease Pencil Dope Sheet when "Only Show Selected" is selected in the Dope Sheet bar. The grease pencil panel midi is independent of the Nonlinear Animation midi panel (the selected midi file, frame offsets, and midi settings are not tied to the Nonlinear Animation midi panel).

For the most part, controls are the same as in the Nonlinear Animation midi panel.

• Delete Source Keyframes
  • If this option is selected, the selected keyframes will be deleting when copied.
• Skip overlaps
  • If selected, keyframes will not be copied to notes that overlap the previous note (notes where the first copied frame would be at or before the last copied frame of the previous note are skipped).
• Sync length with notes
  • Syncs the length of the copied keyframes to the length of the note. The spacing of the copied keyframes is adjusted so that the time between the first and last keyframes is equal to the length of the note multiplied by the scale factor.
• Copy keyframes to notes
  • Copies the selected keyframes to times that line up with instances of the selected note.

See the midi panel section for more information about the other controls.

Other Tools Panel

This panel contains tools that are not necessarily related to Midi. It can be hidden in the add-ons preferences.

Allows for renaming an action directly from the Nonlinear Animation view.

• Action source:
  • Midi Panel
    • Rename the action selected in the NLA Midi panel.
  • Selected NLA Strip
    • Rename the selected NLA strip's action.
  • Select the action to rename.
• Action
  • The action to rename. This field is only visible if the Action source is "Select Action"
• Action name
  • The action's name. Type a name here to rename the action.

Generates NLA strips that act as transitions. Transitions strips are placed between selected actions on the active NLA track.

• Interpolation
  • The interpolation for the first keyframe of the transition strip's action.
• Limit transition length
  • If selected, limit the length of generated transition strips.
  • Transition Length (frames)
    • The maximum transition length to generate.
  • Transition offset
    • Transition will be offset from either previous or next strip (depending on the Placement) by up to this many frames.
  • Placement
    • Start
      • Place transitions directly after the leading action strip.
    • End
      • Place transitions immediately before the trailing action strip.
• Replace Transitions
  • If selected, replaces existing transition strips with generated transitions. Otherwise, keeps the existing transitions.

Deletes transitions between selected NLA strips on the active NLA track.

Installation:

• Installation is the normal installation process for multi-file add-ons.
  • Option 1: Download as a zip file. In Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons, and click Install. Select the zip file and click Install Add-on from File.
  • Option 2: Clone into the <version>/scripts/addons directory in the Blender installation.
• To enable the add-on, in Blender, go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons, and select Animation in the drop-down. Select Community at the top if it isn't already selected. Check the box next to the add-on to enable it.