LogInProject Baklava, the new system's codename, will be based on Layers and Multi-ID animation.
In their most recent update on Animation 2025, an ongoing initiative kicked off in late 2022 that aims to gradually revamp and enhance Blender's rigging and animation toolset by the end of next year, the Blender Foundation officially announced that they are working on a new layered animation system, codenamed Project Baklava.
Much like baklava consists of "layers and deliciousness", the novel framework is also based on two main components, those being Layers and Multi-ID animation. According to the team, they plan to release an early version of Project Baklava in Blender's main branch as an experimental feature in Q2 2024, with the first iteration offering single-layer, multi-ID animation.
In addition, the team shared a roughly sketched mock-up, attached above, depicting what this new animation system could look like.
"Two characters, the monster and Bob, are animated from the same Animation data-block," commented the team. "This means that trying out alternative takes for the same animation no longer requires swapping out multiple Actions; instead it can just be done by (un)muting different layers in the animation."
To deliver the new framework as soon as possible, the developers plan to focus on the following:
- Make it possible to key things.
- Show the animation in the dopesheet and graph editor.
- Just Multi-ID with no layers. To keep the feedback loop as small as possible, we decided to focus on the biggest unknown first. And since we already have a decent idea about how layers should work, Multi-ID animation is prioritized.
As soon as the Multi-ID animation is solved, the Blender Foundation plans to pivot its efforts toward tooling and layered animation:
- Migration tools: for merging multiple Actions into a single Animation. Or to bake down an Animation data-block into an Action per animated object.
- A new editor for layered animation. At first, this will likely be a side-panel for the dopesheet. In the longer term, it should be an editor by itself that ideally can replace the entire dopesheet.
- Tools for merging and splitting: Animators should be able to "play" with layers. It should be easy to split up layers by object, merge them down, split selected F-Curves off into a separate layer, etc.
- Tools for baking: It should be possible to tweak an animation by adding one or more layers on top, then bake that layer down while keeping the same animation.
You can learn more about Project Baklava by checking out Blender's most recent update on the Animation 2025 project.
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