Posepal is a Godot add-on by AniMesuro that allows storing a collection of scene properties into Pose Libraries for use in 2D animation.
Posepal is still in development, so you can only install it from the github page.
There's no stable release yet, so either clone it or download as a zip file and paste it on res://addons/ of your project.
- On the Parameters tab, click on poselib and select the owner of a scene. A poselib resource is created, but it will only save after changes are made to it (unless you save it manually).
- Select a filter. The default one is "none", which tracks all nodes inside the edited pose root.
- Select a template. The default is "default", which stores collections.
- Select a collection. The default is "default", which stores poses.
- Clicking on New pose, you can key properties from different nodes into an Animation so that they're stored into the pose.
- Click save. A new pose is created at the tab "Palette".
- Select an AnimationPlayer from the scene. Choose a time and click on the pose preview. It will key it on the selected animation.
If you want to know more, there's a wiki.
Key template checkbox makes so you pose exactly as in the preview. Don't key on duplicates checkbox makes the keying more readable as it only keys on change. Queue key is a useful button to remove the need to fix the previous keys when keying a pose.
There's a page for more practices.
GodetteRig is an example scene that comes bounded to a PoseLib. She has a template for 8 directions: (Left, 3/4 Left, Front, 3/4 Right, Right, 3/4 Back Right, Back and 3/4 Back Left).
The PoseLib comes with default poses to demonstrate the add-on's basic capabilities.
Both the assets and the poselib is subject to change.
Her files are found on res://addons/posepal/_example_rig_godette/
A Pose Library is a Resource that stores pose templates and collections. Poselibs are bound to scenes by the meta variable "_plPoseLib_poseFile" in the scene root.
Although you can save poselibs separately, you shouldn't try to open a poselib for a different scene than the original without backup. Reusing poselibs isn't tested enough to make it a part of Posepal's workflow yet.
A poselib file will by default be saved at the scene directory and will have the ".poselib.tres" or ".poselib.res" extension, by the choice of the user.
Pose is a record of data that stores the state of a scene by storing selected properties. Usually used for character animation, but most kind of properties can be saved. (Unless tests are proven otherwise) Pose editing is done through the AnimationTimelineEditor in Godot, by keying desired properties at the current time.
Filter is a selection of nodes. This is used to filter poses to change only selected nodes from a filter. It can be edited by pressing 'Edit' on its options. In the popup you select which nodes the filter should select.
Templates are poses that are used as a base for all poses inside a collection. Therefore all poses created inside this template will copy the template's properties unless overwritten. A template can have duplicated template pose, but can't have a duplicated template name. A template also stores transition and update mode, but for a pose to inherit this data it's necessary to click the "Update from template" button. To key a template when pressing a pose you can select the 'key template' CheckBox.
Collections store poses directly. They're used to organize lots of poses.
These are thumbnail visualizations of the scene but overriden by the pose. The generation of thumbnails is expensive because they need to instance a ghost version of the scene with only visual data (transforms, texture, z_index, etc.)
Keying properties for the pose is time consuming, so there is a shortcut to batch key all properties that have a track in the scene.
When you press the button on the Pose Options tab, you can select which nodes will key a written property.
The code for finding the user selected AnimationPlayer is dumb, so it's advisable to check the window title if it matches the Animation name.
The Posepal addon supports skeleton posing. You shouldn't key the polygon data when editing a pose, Posepal does it automatically when you key the polygon 'texture' and save the pose.
The PosePreview's resizing method relies on transformed Rect2 boundaries and points, so a polygon deformed by a bone won't be detected, causing innacurate resizing.
- Posepal does not support 3D scenes.
- Changing the edited scene as you're editing a pose crashes Godot, so the Scene Tabs is invisible as you do so.
Making backups is always advisable, you can do so by clicking 'Save as' on Parameters > Poselib > More button.
Posepal doesn't hold any warranty for any issue and bug that may break your poselibs. It is always advisable that you backup your project. I don't assume any responsibility for any possible corruption or deletion of your animations.
If you like this project, I'd greatly appreciate a donation or an art commission.
