by Jean-Basset·Motion Graphics
Images © Jean-Basset. Used for product review; image policy.
SMEAR stands out in the blender_extensions library because it brings a research method presented at Siggraph 2024 into a practical Blender add-on, with panel-based controls for each smear effect.
SMEAR is a Blender add-on for stylizing 3D animation through smear frames. It generates and lets you customize three effects: elongated in-betweens, where the object is stretched along its trajectory; motion lines, where lines are drawn along the trajectory of randomly selected vertices; and multiple in-betweens.
The workflow begins in the Smear Frame Generation panel, which pre-processes animated objects when you press Bake Smears. Parameters cover articulated characters through the Ignore Skeleton and Prune Skeleton options, a Temporal Smoothing Window that defaults to N=2, and a Camera POV mode for simple objects without a skeleton. After the pre-process, a Geometry Node modifier is applied to the object, and its parameters control the style of the smear frames, adjustable from the modifier tab or the SMEAR panels.
SMEAR was developed as part of the MoStyle ANR Project by Jean Basset, Pierre Bénard and Pascal Barla, and is described in the Siggraph 2024 Conference paper "SMEAR: Stylized Motion Exaggeration with ARt-direction." The add-on is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.
SMEAR is best for blender artists stylizing 3D animation with smear frames such as elongated in-betweens, multiple in-betweens, and motion lines.
SMEAR is completely free to download and use.
SMEAR is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer, so current LTS builds and later releases can run the add-on. The listed version is 1.1.8, last updated in September 2024. Once installed, its control panels appear in Blender's custom UI panels, in a section labelled SMEAR, where you can reach smear frame generation and the style controls for each effect. The developer notes that default parameters are appropriate in most use cases, so you can start baking smears without changing much.
SMEAR is listed as free here and released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. For current licensing terms and any conditions attached to the GPL, check the developer's page. The add-on comes from the MoStyle ANR Project, and its GitHub repository is where you can review the license, report bugs, or send feature requests by opening an issue. You can also contact the developers by mail for feedback or support.
SMEAR places its control panels in Blender's custom UI panels, in a section labelled SMEAR. The Smear Frame Generation panel pre-processes animated objects and runs the pre-process through the Bake Smears button. After the pre-process finishes, a Geometry Node modifier is applied to the selected object, and its parameters control the style of the smear frames. You can adjust those parameters either through the object's modifier tab or through the panels provided with SMEAR.
SMEAR creates smear frames by pre-processing animated objects: select an object and press the Bake Smears button to run the pre-process with your chosen parameters, which the developer notes suit most cases by default. Options include Ignore Skeleton and Prune Skeleton for articulated characters, a Temporal Smoothing Window that defaults to N=2, and a Camera POV mode for simple objects without a skeleton. The resulting effects, elongated in-betweens, multiple in-betweens, and motion lines, are then tuned through their own panels.
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