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I've been wondering how to render all animation frames at once for a full sprite sheet, instead of having to change the camera manually 8 times and render each direction (with the file manipulations that ensue).

I've learnt how to rotate easily the camera by parenting it to an empty objet at the center of the set (cf. How can I export a blender model as a sprite sheet?) and rotate that object with discrete steps of 45 or 90°.

But is there a way to tell Blender something like, for example : "render frames 30 to 52 of the animation, then rotate the camera 45°, then render frames 30 to 52 again, and so on until the camera has rotated 360°".

Maybe a Python script is necessary ? But I don't know Python at all and I've no idea where to start...

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  • $\begingroup$ Have a look at sprite render kit $\endgroup$
    – sambler
    Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 17:05
  • $\begingroup$ Python appears to be the least desirable solution. Repetition can be managed without explicit Python. If you wanted to learn about Python then that would be a separate question. If you want quick results you will not learn about Python for this particular task. Blender has so many features and addons it takes time to know about some of them. $\endgroup$
    – atomicbezierslinger
    Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 17:06

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enter image description here

Consider using the NLA editor window to combine repeating animations with other animations. It can hide unnecessary detail for some situations.

The NLA Editor allows the animation curves in the animation to be explicitly repeated with a timeline to show synchronization. Since you can specify the repeat range with frame numbers and not keyframes this control suits some users ideas better. More Control and a steeper learning curve. I am suggesting you search using the NLA Editor Window video tutorials.

In the image above the NLA Action Extents are explicitly specified with frame numbers. Repeat Value is specified and can be seen as vertical divisions along a track. So we see MarkerAction.001 and MarkerAction.002 are repeated 4 times and synchronized visually. The more repetitions you have, the more valuable the NLA Editor becomes.

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  • $\begingroup$ That's it! With a "repeat with offset" cycle on the camera rotation (thanks Mutant Bob), plus appropriate start frame, end frame and iterations in the NLA editor as said above, everything works perfectly, and I still don't know the first word of Python. Many thanks ! $\endgroup$
    – Ran
    Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 17:00
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Perhaps putting a Cycles modifier on the animation fcurves so that the animation repeats for each of the different camera angles ( for 23 * 8 frames) would accomplish your mission:

enter image description here

The biggest stumbling block is making sure you have the right span of keyframes to control how many frames the cycle has. You will probably find yourself adding keyframes at the beginning and ending of the loop (frame 30 and 53=52+1) to ensure that it loops correctly.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, that was really helpful to set the camera rotation! I just didn't know what to do with it next, but now that I know what the NLA editor is, everything works fine :) $\endgroup$
    – Ran
    Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 17:06

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