by Wayde Moss·Workflow
Images © Wayde Moss. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place in the superhive library as an editable motion trail built from standard Blender objects, keeping control selection, transformation and keying within familiar Blender workflows.
MotionTrail3D is an editable animation motion trail, also called an editable motion path, that appears in Blender's 3D viewport for character bone animation. The 3D controls are implemented as normal Blender objects, so you select and transform them through standard Blender means, and you add or delete keys the same way.
As you modify the local channels, the trail updates in real time, even while the animation is playing. Only changes to the trail target's local channels are seen in real time; changes to its parent hierarchy or constraint dependencies require refreshing the trail, though you can mark other trails as a hierarchy dependency so a trail updates with its parent. Selection sync keeps key and handle selection matched between the graph editor and the motion trail controls, and Co, handle and time controls can each be hidden individually.
Documentation is included. Trails are created from the 3D View UI panel under Animation, and the versions covering Blender 2.81 through 2.9 are listed here as free.
Motiontrail3D is best for character animators who want to edit bone motion trails directly in the Blender 3D viewport.
Motiontrail3D is completely free to download and use.
MotionTrail3D is offered here in the versions that work for Blender 2.81 up to Blender 2.9, and those are the ones made free. The developer notes that support for Blender 3.6 up to Blender 4 may be added in the future, and if it is, those versions would likely require a separate purchase even for people who already have the free 2.81 to 2.9 version. Check the developer's page for the current status before installing.
MotionTrail3D installs like a standard Blender addon. First unzip the downloaded folder, then in Blender open File, User Preferences and go to the Add-on tab. Press Install Add-on and select the appropriate Python (.py) addon file, then enable it with its checkbox. To keep it enabled every session, press Save As Default. Once it's active, you create a trail from the 3D View UI panel under Animation, using the Motion Trail 3D button.
MotionTrail3D is listed as free in this catalog. The versions that work for Blender 2.81 up to Blender 2.9 were made free by the developer, who described the addon as a financial failure that no longer supported ongoing updates. Because licensing can change, and because future Blender 3.6 to 4 support may require a separate purchase, check the developer's page for the current terms before you rely on it.
MotionTrail3D has two known bone-related bugs. If a bone has 'Use Local Location' disabled, the trail won't work correctly, and if a bone has 'Inherit Rotation' disabled, the trail also won't work correctly. If your trail behaves unexpectedly on a particular bone, check those two settings first. Also note that only changes to the trail target's local channels update in real time; changes to its parent hierarchy or constraint dependencies need a manual refresh of the trail.
MotionTrail3D's controls are Blender objects, but they are pooled and reused, so you should treat them as volatile. Animating, constraining, or reparenting them is undefined behavior, and the addon automatically deletes any animation placed on the controls to prevent problems. You should not delete a trail control during normal work. You can still add and delete keys through normal Blender means, and you don't need to turn off Auto Keying, since leaving it on has minimal performance impact.
Also in Workflow for Blender.
by javl
Embroidery Importer brings embroidery machine files into Blender as curves, with optional thickness via bevel or geometry nodes. It detects the thread colors used in the file and adds them through a generated material.
by Gonnetz
Forts Map Importer adds a Blender import button for loading Forts Maps (.fwe) files from the Steam game Forts. Developed by Gonnetz, it is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer and remains under development.
by Leonardo-Pike-Excell
Data-Block Utilities is a Blender add-on that runs from Properties ‣ Scene Overview. It shows data-block users in a filterable tree, merges duplicate node groups, materials, images, meshes and lights, and scores node trees by similarity.
by Community
Math Vis (Console) is a Blender add-on that draws mathutils variables defined in the console directly in the 3D view. Originally bundled with Blender 4.1, it is now offered as an extension with limited support.
by Alt Tab
Alt Tab Studio Pro is a workflow and productivity add-on for Blender that gathers lighting presets, a Lighting Manager, Material Manager, popup quick tools, camera recording, a camera settings panel, quick render preview, Asset Master and blend file diagnostics.
by Salt Media
BlenderAe2 by Salt Media transfers 3D data and objects between Blender and After Effects in both directions, covering vertices, 3D layer transforms, camera data and layer synchronization.
by MACHIN3
Machin3Tools is a continuously evolving collection of tools and pie menus for Blender, gathered in a single customizable package. It ships in two base variants, Prime and DeusEx, with the DeusEx variant adding more advanced tools.
by MikhailRachinskiy
3D Print Toolbox is a Blender add-on with utilities for 3D printing. It analyzes mesh volume and surface area, checks and fixes geometry, hollows shapes, aligns models to the print bed, and exports to STL, PLY, and OBJ.
by glukoz
UVPackmaster 4 is a UV packing engine for Blender that packs UV maps on the CPU and GPU, using the Cuda and Vulkan APIs, and can run on the CPU and all system GPUs at once.
by MMD
MMD Tools is a Blender add-on for editing MikuMikuDance (MMD) models. It handles importing and exporting model, motion and pose data, along with chopping and joining parts, plus rigid body, material and motion editing.
by HaughtyGrayAlien
SimpleBake brings PBR and traditional texture baking to Blender from a single panel. Select objects, choose maps, and bake — no special node groups or new workflow, working with whatever materials you've already built.
