blender 3d animation nodes how to animate attributes

# Animate Attributes in Blender 3D Using Animation Nodes: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this comprehensive article, we will explore how to animate attributes within Blender's powerful animation software, Blender 3D. Specifically, we'll focus on utilizing Animation Nodes, a versatile add-on that allows artists and designers to automate complex processes without writing any code.

## What Are Attributes in Blender?

Before diving into the tutorial proper, let's quickly define what attributes are within the context of computer graphics:

In short, an attribute is a property or characteristic of something. In 3D modeling software like Blender, these can range from simple values such as color to more complex data structures holding multiple pieces of information.

## Setting Up Your Scene

To follow along with this tutorial, you'll need:

1. A recent version of Blender installed on your computer (Blender 2.91 or higher is recommended).

2. The Animation Nodes add-on enabled in the Preferences > Addons panel.

3. Basic knowledge of working within Blender's interface and understanding basic concepts like materials, textures, and nodes.

## Step-by-Step Instructions

### Importing a Plane Object

1. Open up Blender by double-clicking on its icon or navigating to your Applications/Programs folder depending upon your operating system.

2. Press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + C (Mac) to bring up the 'Import' panel in the top menu bar.

3. Under 'Geometry', select 'Plane' and click 'Import Mesh (.obj)'.

### Setting Up Materials

1. With your newly imported plane object selected, switch over to the Properties window located on the right-hand side of Blender's main interface by pressing Alt + Enter (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + A then selecting 'Material' from the drop-down menu.

2. In this new material settings panel, click 'New' under 'Shader', and choose a simple Lambert Shading shader as our base for easier understanding.

### Adding an Animation Nodes Group

1. With your plane object still selected, switch back to Edit Mode by pressing Tab once more if necessary (you should see blue dots around its edges).

2. In the top toolbar above where you last had your regular 3D viewports click on 'Animation' > 'Keyframe' and then select 'Insert Single Frame' from this sub-menu.

3. This will insert a new frame at the current time of playback (which should be Frame 1).

4. Now, in Blender's main area right-click anywhere inside an empty space to bring up its context menu; navigate down through 'Animation' until you see 'Add > Group' - click on this option.

5. Name your newly created group something descriptive like 'Attribute Animation'.

### Connecting Nodes within the Group

1. Inside of our new animation node group, we need two main types of nodes:

* A Float node to output a random value between 0 and 1 which will be used later as input for other operations.

* An Add Curve Fcurve node that takes this float's output along with some additional parameters such as its start frame, end frame etc...to create an actual animation curve.

### Setting up the Animation

1. Inside your group panel under 'Nodes', right-click to bring up a context menu; navigate down until you see 'Math > Multiply' then drag-and-drop it onto an empty space within that same window.

2. Connect the output of our previous float node into this new multiply node's first input socket (labelled as such).

3. Now, under 'Group' in the left-hand side panel click on the small arrow next to 'Output', and select both 'output' ports from there - one going back outwards towards your plane object through a brand-new group output port; another connecting directly into whatever attribute you want animated inside this node itself (e.g., its color).

4. Finally, press Alt + P or Command + Shift + A to apply all changes made within our current scene context.

And that's it! With these simple steps and a basic understanding of how Blender works behind the scenes using Animation Nodes, you should now be able to animate any attribute in your 3D model by simply following along with this tutorial. Remember - practice makes perfect; experiment with different settings and node combinations to unlock even more complex animations.

If you found this article helpful or have questions about anything covered here (or want further tutorials on other topics), please feel free to leave a comment below!

Blender 3d animation nodes how to animate attributes