by Joel's Blender Addons Store·Workflow
Images © Joel's Blender Addons Store. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place for bringing a staple 2D animation feature, onion skinning, into Blender's 3D viewport as object onion skinning.
Onion skinning is a traditional animation technique that lets an animator see previous or later frames while working on the current one, common in 2D packages but often absent from 3D applications. Onion Skin Tools brings object onion skinning to Blender's viewport and is described as the first functional addon to do so. It can generate onion skinning for any mesh-able objects, including entire multiple-object characters or creatures, on arbitrary frames or over a user-defined range, and works for characters, creatures, vehicles, text, and motion graphics.
Onion skinning renders through both EEVEE and Cycles in the viewport. Character Sets let you skin objects together using a scene-wide list, or individually and in user-defined groups, with independent control over each set's generation, removal, and viewport settings. Linked rigs are supported, assuming the linked rig has not been duplicated in the scene. Auto Updating watches an Updater object, such as a character rig armature, and updates the onion skinning as changes occur.
Transparency Range control limits display to frames within a set range around the current frame, using Absolute or Relative modes. Optional toggles cover Current Frame Only and On Keyframes Only, and Frame Display draws frame numbers above onion-skinned frames.
Onion Skin Tools is best for blender animators who want a visual reference of previous and later poses while posing characters, creatures, vehicles, text, or motion graphics on the current frame.
Onion Skin Tools is completely free to download and use.
Onion Skin Tools renders onion skinning through both EEVEE and Cycles in Blender's viewport, so you can keep working in either engine while your onion-skinned frames stay visible. The addon generates onion skinning for any mesh-able objects, including entire multiple-object characters or creatures, on arbitrary frames or across a user-defined frame range. This lets you compare poses on previous and later frames side by side and see the arcs of your action without changing the current frame.
Onion Skin Tools can generate onion skinning for any mesh-able objects, including entire multiple-object characters or creatures. Its Character Sets feature lets you skin objects together using a scene-wide list, or handle objects individually or in user-defined groups. Each set's generation, removal, and viewport settings can be controlled independently, so you can manage several characters or object groups separately within the same scene.
Onion Skin Tools includes support for linked rigs. At present this support assumes the linked rig has not been duplicated in the scene, so a single linked instance works as expected. This makes it possible to onion skin characters or creatures built from linked rigs while animating in Blender's viewport, alongside the addon's other options for mesh-able objects and multiple-object setups.
Onion Skin Tools offers Auto Updating, which when enabled watches for changes to an Updater object, such as a character rig armature, and automatically updates the onion skinning according to those changes. It also provides Transparency Range control to display onion skinning only within a set range around the current frame, with Absolute and Relative Range modes, plus Current Frame Only and On Keyframes Only toggles for more targeted reference.
Onion Skin Tools is listed as free in this catalog. Licensing terms can change, so check the developer's page for the current details before you rely on them. Once installed, the addon focuses on object onion skinning in Blender's viewport, letting you visualize an animation's action, compare previous and later poses, and see the arcs of your motion without scrubbing through the timeline.
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