https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-midi-motion
Blender plugin to generate animation keyframes from MIDI files
https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-midi-motion
animation blender blender-addon blender-scripts midi
Last synced: 10 months ago
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Blender plugin to generate animation keyframes from MIDI files
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-midi-motion
- Owner: whoisryosuke
- Created: 2024-07-17T21:18:26.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-05-16T00:40:23.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-05-16T01:24:56.008Z (about 1 year ago)
- Topics: animation, blender, blender-addon, blender-scripts, midi
- Language: Python
- Homepage: https://whoisryosuke.github.io/blender-midi-motion/
- Size: 41.7 MB
- Stars: 16
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 2
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
[Example of plugin generating keyframes with 3D piano keys](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dc90301c-569a-493f-a6f9-35798aeb086b)
[](https://whoisryosuke.github.io/blender-midi-motion/)
# MIDI Motion Blender addon
This is a free Blender addon to import MIDI files and generate animations using keyframes or actions. It assigns the animations to objects you assign as piano keys.
You can animate "piano key" objects using rotation, buttons using movement, or get more creative using the scale.
**[📘 Documentation](https://whoisryosuke.github.io/blender-midi-motion/)** | **[📂 Download](#️-installation)**
# Features:
- 🎹 Assign objects as "piano keys"
- 📈 Generate animations keyframes when note is pressed
- ⚙️ Generate actions when note is pressed
- 🎼 Select MIDI track
- 🎵 Select octave (or condense all)
- 🐇 Change animation type (move, rotate, or scale)
- 📏 Change animation parameters (distance, axis)
- 🔎 Automatically assign piano keys using selected collection
**Coming Soon:**
- “Jumping between keys” animation
## ⬇️ Installation
1. [Download the plugin zip](https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-midi-keyframes/releases/download/latest/midi_motion-0.0.9.zip)
1. Open Blender
1. Go to Edit > Preferences and go to the Addons tab on left.
1. Click install button.
1. Select the zip you downloaded.
1. You can confirm it's installed by searching for **"MIDI Motion"** and seeing if it's checked off
> If you still have MIDI to Keyframes installed, you can remove it. MIDI Motion is the newer version of that plugin.
## 🎥 Tutorial
Here's [a video walkthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4wfblQWhtY) of the plugin and it's major features (up to `v0.0.5`):
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4wfblQWhtY)
## 🔰 How to use
Check out **[our documentation website](https://whoisryosuke.github.io/blender-midi-motion/docs/getting-started)** for guides, tips, and resources.
## ⚙️ How it works
I did [a full breakdown on my blog here](https://whoisryosuke.com/blog/2024/midi-powered-animations-in-blender) that covers the creation of the plugin and tips and tricks for working with MIDI in Python.
## Development
1. Install the addon normally.
1. Find the plugin folder (check Preferences > Add-ons for the path)
1. `git clone` inside that folder
> You have to install using the `.zip` because it installs dependencies in the background. If you clone and use "Add from disk" to add the `init.py` from the cloned repo, it won't install deps, which means add-on won't work at all.
## Publish
1. Bump version in `__init__.py`
1. Bump version in `blender_manifest.toml`
1. `blender --command extension build --output-dir dist`
1. Upload the new `.zip` file generated inside `/dist` folder to [GitHub Releases page](https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-midi-keyframes/releases/new).
1. Update the `README.md` Installation instructions with the new URL to the release ZIP.
> On Windows? You can add `blender` to your command line by going to Start annd searching for "Edit Environment Variables for your account". Find the Variable "PATH" and edit it. Add the full path to where your `blender.exe` is located (e.g. `C:/Program Files/Blender/4.2/`).
### Dependencies
We basically have Python PIP "wheel" files that contain dependencies we need for this addon. The manifest installs them for us. Running the build command just zips up the folder with the version name attached - nothing fancy.
If you want to update the dependencies, run these commands and then update the `blender_manifest.toml` with any new `.whl` filenames:
```shell
pip download mido --dest ./wheels --only-binary=:all: --python-version=3.11 --platform=macosx_11_0_arm64
pip download mido --dest ./wheels --only-binary=:all: --python-version=3.11 --platform=manylinux_2_28_x86_64
pip download mido --dest ./wheels --only-binary=:all: --python-version=3.11 --platform=win_amd64
```
> Read more about [the extension setup here](https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/advanced/extensions/getting_started.html) and [build process here](https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/advanced/command_line/extension_arguments.html#command-line-args-extension-build).
## 💪 Credits
- [mido](https://github.com/mido/mido)
- [Gamepad Input Blender addon](https://github.com/whoisryosuke/blender-gamepad)