Create lottie files without After Effects (blender)

[giftlift]

Just found this last night https://gitlab.com/mattia.basaglia/tgs/
It has a addon for blender that lets you export lottie files :) I have exported some basic animations but haven't had time to try them in hise yet.

~This is how to set it up~
I'm on a Windows 10 box
Add the "tgs_io" folder found here
https://gitlab.com/mattia.basaglia/tgs/tree/master/addons/blender
to your blender addons folder.
(Running import addon_utils; print(addon_utils.paths()) in the blender python console will locate your addon folder)
Mine is C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.81\2.81\scripts\addons

Next open the cmd as admin and cd to the blender python exe.
Mine is C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.81\2.81\python\bin
Then run python.exe -m pip install tgs

Open blender
go to edit>preferences>addons and check the box next to
Import-Export: Lottie/TGS Export

That's it, let me know if any of y'all figure out anything cool!

[Brian]

@giftlift that looks absolutely amazing! Fingers crossed that it can work within the right specs of the rLottie framework that HISE has, if you have any test animations I would love to see the results :)

[ustk]

@giftlift Thanks!

I have figured out how to install it for Blender on macOS after errors due to an alias folder:

• Copy the tgs_io folder (from tgs_master/addons/blender) to /Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/Blender/2.81/scripts/addons
• the tgs alias folder didn't work on my end, so I replaced it with a real folder, inside of which I placed the content like below:
  (This way I can delete the gitlab download)

• In Blender, go to Edit/Preferences/Add-ons, look for tgs and activate it:

Now, I still have to figure out how it works :)

[ustk]

To myself: File -> Export -> Lottie(.json) :man_facepalming_light_skin_tone:

[ustk]

After some tests, this tool seems a bit limited in Blender.
The colour doesn't export with the Lottie (the shape keeps its grey colour, but maybe the colour can be integrated later),
and if you use shape transform (Shape Keys), the exporter throws an error...

[Dan Korneff]

Gonna tinker with this soon and see what's up

[ustk]

There's another tool that can create Lottie (probably easier than AE), but it's still 15-18/month subscription...
https://www.haikuforteams.com/animator/

[Christoph Hart]

Yeah I‘ve checked that at the beginning. Export works fine (actually even better than AE), but I couldn‘t justify the subscription cost for my „once every two years“ usage.

[giftlift]

Hello all!
It indeed seems limited in blender. The only way I could make a decent animation was in edit mode in 2d animation, and I had to record frame by frame.
I'm completely new to blender so I was just trying everything.
I also installed the optional dependencies, so that might have helped.
There are some cool scripts included, if your good with python.
There is also a plug-in for inkscape.

But none of that matters because this all is a fork of the new lottie export plug-in for synfig, and if you don't feel like building synfig (me)?
https://www.synfig.org/2019/12/27/whats-coming-to-synfig-1-4-0-part-2/
This post says they will release a dev version this week with lottie export functionality! They are also creating a documentation of the lottie format :)
Just thought I'd pass along the info.
Thanks and Happy New Year!!

[ustk]

@giftlift Wow, I can't wait for the release! This should definitely fill the gap...

[ulrik]

@giftlift great news!

[Brian]

For OSx peeps, here is a cheaper app that I just found for 30$

Keyshape - Create animated 2D vector graphics

(www.keyshapeapp.com)

Still gotta put it through the paces, but the interesting one is that it claims it can even edit already existing animations in Lottie format.

[ustk]

@briandoliveira Will try it ASAP!
Synfig promises to be cool at first, but some functions appear to be tedious to use (like handling a simple rectangle), and it's full of bug on OSX (not big ones but...)
Anyway it's free and will probably be ameliorated later so finger crossed!

[Christoph Hart]

Nice one Brian, I've downloaded the demo and the first test exported perfectly and loads in HISE... Might be the goto solution on macOS (plus the UI resembles Affinity Designer which is much more intuitive than After Effects).

[ulrik]

@briandoliveira Great find!

[Brian]

@ulrik @Christoph-Hart Yeah I just got into it now and its sweeet! Its drop-dead simple to animate and export, and for simple design work its also not too shaby. The bonus is that it also does PNG image sequences that work with HISE knobs, so you can just pick your flavour of poison if you need flex both ;)

[mattbas]

Hi all, I'm the author of the Blender addon mentioned above.
I've also been working on a proper animation program for Lottie, I just released a first version of it: https://gitlab.com/mattia.basaglia/glaxnimate/-/releases/0.1.0
(It's free and open source)

Since it's the first release it doesn't have all the features that Lottie supports but I have to start from somewhere :P It should be more than enough to create simple animations.