by Inlet·Workflow
Images © Inlet. Used for product review; image policy.
Master Shape Keys is offered as a bundle with the developer's Driver-Rig addon, and a demo video is available.
Master Shape Keys extends Blender's native shape key handling with tools for generating, grouping and organizing shape keys. Group shape keys let you generate sets of vertex groups of your choosing: from a single 'smile' shape key plus 'Left Face' and 'Right Face' vertex groups, you can automatically generate separate 'smile for Left Face' and 'smile for Right Face' shape keys. Change the original and generate again to update the results.
The addon can combine shape keys so more than one is activated at the same time. With Additive Off, each shape key activates and closes consecutively, the next one starting as the prior begins to close. With Additive On, each prior shape key stays open once fully extended instead of reverting. Sync Object lets you select another object with shape keys and sync to a specific one so it affects your chosen object.
Shape Key Collections add a folder structure for renaming and organizing which shape keys go in which folder, including subfolders. Bake Merged Keys lets you bake merge-key-driven shape key animation for export to engines such as Unreal and Unity, for use in Blender without the addon, or on render farms, while preserving animation data.
Master Shape Keys is best for blender artists building and organizing large sets of shape keys for character faces and mesh forms.
Master Shape Keys is completely free to download and use.
Master Shape Keys offers two modes when combining shape keys. With Additive Off, each shape key is activated and closed consecutively, with each next shape key activating as the prior one starts to close. With Additive On, the process is similar, but each prior shape key remains open after reaching full extension rather than reverting to its original value. This lets you control how multiple shape keys interact when activated at the same time across a character's face or a mesh's form.
Master Shape Keys includes a Bake Merged Keys feature that bakes the animation of shape keys driven by merge keys to preserve animation data. This lets you export the model to other engines such as Unreal and Unity, hand the project to people who do not have the addon, or use the keys within Blender without it. The baked keys can also be utilized on render farms. Before this feature was added, shape key animation data dependent on the addon would be lost on export.
Master Shape Keys adds a management system called Shape Key Collections, which brings a folder structure to shape keys that Blender lacks natively. You can rename and organize which shape keys go in which folder collection, and it supports subfolders for detailing many shape keys. This gives control over the structure of your shape keys, which is otherwise difficult to arrange. The Duplicate button in the drop-down menu also lets you duplicate a folder together with its entire shape key contents.
Master Shape Keys is listed as free in this catalog. It is also offered as a bundle with the developer's Driver-Rig addon at a lower combined price, according to the developer's pages. For current licensing terms, bundle options and any purchase details, check the developer's page directly, since offerings can change over time. Driver-Rig itself sets up shape keys to be driven by bones through an automated process using drivers on a 3D UI, and works on facial shape keys of any character.
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