Sliders

(default keyboard shortcut Ctrl D)

Sliders (Modify > Tools > Sliders) are slider gadgets that are displayed over viewports. An individual slider is tied to a specific animation channel. A slider will indicate the current value of a channel and also let you interactively adjust that channel value. Sliders are useful for all kinds of animations, especially character animations. A good example can be an animated hand, with multiple bone movements for multiple fingers.

To use sliders in a scene:

Add the Sliders custom object (Object Properties Panel) to any object.

To display and interact with the sliders, choose Modify > Tools > Sliders. The sliders for the last current object (with the Sliders custom object) will be editable when the Sliders tool is active. Keep this in mind if you have more than one object with the Sliders custom object.

Remember, as with all Layout tools, you’ll need to select another tool (Move, Rotate, etc.) to deactivate the Slider tool.

To configure your sliders:

Open the Sliders Custom Object settings dialog from the Object Properties Panel.

The left window (Channels List) will list all of the channels in the scene. To attach a slider to a channel, simply select the channel in the left window and double click or click the Add Channel button. Selected channels in the right window can be removed with the Remove Channel button.

The Range Min and Range Max settings define the interactive range of the slider. The underlying channel can go beyond these values, but the slider’s range of control and feedback will be limited to this range. If the underlying channel goes outside the range, the slider value will turn red.

Clicking on the slider handle will immediately change the channel to the slider’s corresponding value.

The description Label will default to the channel name, but you may edit that if you desire. You can also set the color used for the slider with the Color preset pop-up menu or specific RGB values.Working with OpenGL Sliders:

There are three controls along the top. Drag the far-left one to move the slider group. The Envelope (E) button will display the Graph Editor with the associated channels in the curve bin. The right/left arrowhead (<>) button can be dragged to scale the size of the slider group. The arrowhead button on the right will minimise/maximise the slider display.

In the individual slider entries, the handle can be grabbed to slide to any value in the range set up and the arrows at the right end are to jump from keyframe to keyframe.

To simplify using sliders, use the Add Slider Bank generic plugin command (Not assigned to the interface by default). It will add a null object, apply the sliders custom object to it, and open the sliders interface, all in one step.