Time speed modifier
Edited: I would like to locate the time remapping to the animation tools, out from the render settings. Or to be one of the modifiers. You would be able to use the time remapping/time speed modifier with selected objects instead of how it works now as a global effect. It could be a nondestructive way to create slow-motion effects to your animations in selected areas of the timeline. It would support keyframing to change the time speed and then make it faster again.
It could be added to a single animation channel or as a global effect to selected objects or even to a group of objects to all of the channels in that object/group at the same time. That would be perfect replacement to the old "time remapping" tool from render settings.
7 Comments
You've described the problem, but I'm not seeing a proposed solution here. I don't think that the timeline (and dope sheet and graph editor) should simply rescale. The user needs feedback that time has been remapped. I figured there are two possible solutions:
There are trade-offs to either solution, but I think the most important thing is getting visual feedback to the user (especially since remapping time should really be a "last pass" kind of adjustment and we really shouldn't be encouraging animators to work in remapped time. If timing needs to be adjusted globally early on in the animation process, then it's better practice---though more tedious---to fix everything in the dope sheet).
@Jason van Gumster: I usually use the time remapping to for example particle simulations to achieve effects that cannot be done with any other way. If I do that, I would want to use the remapped time to animate my other animations in a "normal" way. So the time remapping could also be an animation tool per object. and I would use it to some objects and not to some other. I know this is little different. But I wanted to start a topic to tell that I think something feels odd at the time remapping.
In for example after effects, it's possible to animate the slow-motion effects. I think it would be a neat feature in Blender.
@Artturi Mäntysaari: I edited the topic.
That sounds like a perfect job for an f-curve modifier doesn't it ?
@Hadrien Brissaud: I'm not sure, because if you add keyframes to the modifier settings, you, in fact, create more f-curves. So I'm afraid that f-curve modifiers cannot handle this kind of situations. (tell me if I'm wrong)
@Artturi Mäntysaari: Other modifiers have settings for influence begin/end, it's not super flexible, but at least you can control where the effect is applied.
Another option would be to have those as strip options in the NLA !
@Hadrien Brissaud: For me the "influence settings" in for example noise modifier have always felt like a bubble gum fix for a bigger problem that we have with those tools. If you would wanna do cinematic effects by changing the time speed, you would need to be able to change the speed multiple times to some object groups. Basically, it means that you should be able to keyframe the values.