Whippet documentation includes instructional text and descriptions to navigate the add-on. Refer to the YouTube tutorial for working examples (coming with the release of the add-on).
There is a Table of Contents list on the left and if you hover over the dashed lines on the right hand side of the page a Table of Contents menu will pop-up.
Common abbreviations used in the documentation:
Grease Pencil (GP)
Video Sequence Editor (VSE)
See the YouTube tutorial for a full overview and features Whippet offers.
Whippet comes with UI N-panels located in the 3D Viewport, Dopesheet and the Video Sequencer View Type > Sequence.
Whippet Shots Panel contains Scene, Camera and Playblast tools.
Whippet GP Tools contains GP Layer Keyframe operators, GP Constraint and Modifiers as well as all GP Menus (Layers, Brushes, Materials).
Whippet GP Tools menus continued.
The Whippet GP operators and Keyframe Flipping Options as well as the Whippet Shots Camera List can be accessed via the N-panel in the Dopesheet.
The Dopesheet view contains additional buttons to remove the need for having the Timeline view up too. Whippet Operators are also located on the Header for accessibility.
The side panel in the Sequencer contains a few a operators to help with trimming video strips.
Preferences can be set for certain features and Lens Kits can be added allowing for quick access to set lenses on per project basis.
The Default Settings will overwrite their respective values in the Whippet UI Panels after Blender restarts.
Currently, the Gizmo Size does not update live inside of Blender so a restart is required in order to see the new Gizmo size. Size 10 is very small so try values between 15-25 depending on your monitor resolution.
Multiple Lens Kits can be added using the + button. Rename the Lens Kit by double clicking on the newly created lens kit. Set a Focal Length mm using the slider on the right then press the + icon to add that focal length to the kit.
There is a dropdown to select the Lens Kits in the Whippet 3D Viewport N-Panel before creating a new camera. After choosing a Lens Kit, the respective focal lengths set in the Preferences window will appear in a dropdown. If a custom focal length that is not in the lens kit is preferred, select Custom in the dropdown and use the Focal Length slider to set the custom focal length.
Whippet GP contains operators and menus to help insert new Grease Pencil (GP) keyframes, manage GP Object transformations and all the Blender GP related UI panels for easy access. Operators can be mapped to keyboard shortcuts to (see suggested keymapping below). Right click on a button and click ‘Add to Quick Favorites’ if you prefer to use the Quick Favorites Menu.
Whippet GP comes with buttons that help manage keyframes on the timeline without having to scrub the timeline. Similar to how Storyboard Pro, you can insert a new drawing (or panel) with shortcuts. All buttons respect unlocked/locked layers, if a layer is locked, it will not create a keyframe for that layer when using the operators.
Button definitions:
Retain Timing - toggle on to insert GP keyframes in between existing keyframes while keeping the timing between the previous two keyframes. All keyframes of all objects within the camera frame range are moved to retain timing.
Frame Hold - slider or text input to set how many frames ahead your playhead jumps to create a keyframe.
New - insert a blank GP keyframe at the current frame if no GP keyframe exists. If a GP keyframe exists then the playhead moves forward x number of frames based on the Frame Hold amount set
Duplicate - duplicates the current GP keyframe or the previous GP keyframe if no keyframe exists on the current frame.
Number of Frames - select/type in the number of keyframes you want to add in bulk.
Clear Layers - clears all Grease Pencil strokes/fills from the current keyframe
Delete Frame - removes the current keyframe (for all unlocked layers)
Add Multiple - adds the # of Frames in keyframes to the timeline. If you type in 10 into the box, it will add 10 keyframes every x number of frames.
The flipping options provide you ways to jump between drawings quickly and effectively. You can map the prev/next key frame buttons to ‘A’ and ‘F’ on your keyboard (see key mapping below) for fast flipping between keyframes. Note, locked layers are ignored in all circumstances.
GP Keys Only - allows you to move between GP keyframes only and ignore object transform keys.
Active Layer - lets you jump between keyframes only for the active layer. It will also ignore object transform keys.
Loop Frames - will let you cycle back to the start of the frame range set on your timeline. This is helpful if you want to just loop through a specific action and you have not timed out the drawings yet.
Prev Key - jumps to the previous keyframe
Next Key - jumps to the next keyframe
Keyframe Flipping operators are also located with the custom Dopesheet Header Buttons
These operators help manage GP objects’ transformation keyframes.
Add GP Cam / Cursor - adds a new GP object either in front of camera or at the 3D Cursor. Note: if you are in Draw mode, adding a new GP object will auto insert new GP layer keyframes for you.
Set Location - (requires active camera) inserts object keys and saves the transformation in relation to an active camera. This is used when using 2D Storyboard Mode and the Reposition operator. Set Location can be done across multiple selected GP objects.
Reposition - moves the active or multi-selected GP objects back to the default Set Location position in relation to the active camera.
Add X Keys - the X stands for Transform (Xform). Highlighting GP Keyframes in the dopesheet and then pressing this button (also located with the custom Dopesheet Header Buttons) will add object keyframes at each frame where there is a GP Keyframe. This feature can be used for quickly adding object keys to render stepped key animatics. See the Render Stepped toggle in Whippet Shots.
Pin Materials - toggle on to set remember materials on a per layer basis so every time you switch to that layer of a certain GP object, it will reselect the last material you had on that layer
Show in Front - displays the object in front of all others making it easier to draw to scale if a GP object is behind geometry
Sync Layers - toggle on to activate the same layer while cycling between GP objects.
Cycle GP Prev/Next - quickly selects the next or previous GP objects inside the Whippet Collection folders.
Interpolation - select the default interpolation mode. After creating a new camera with 2D Storyboard Mode on, adding object animation keyframes will use your interpolation setting. This can also switches the setting in preferences.
This menu allows users to add and remove camera constraints for GP objects on a per camera basis. The constraint’s visibility is set by Drivers that turn the constraints functionality on and off depending on the camera that is active. This allows for more flexibility while relying on less GP objects. Users can always add one off GP objects to a Shot Layer for certain use cases if desired.
Parent to Camera - adds a child of constraint to the active camera.
Aim Constraint - adds a child of constraint to the active camera but removes the location X, Y, Z constraints so the GP object remains in place but faces the camera as the camera moves.
This menu provides the ability to add a GP Blur Effect on a per camera basis just like the GP Camera Constraints.
Add Blur Effect - adds a GP blur effect for the active camera
DoF - stands for Depth of Field. Toggle this on to enable blur based on the camera’s depth of field. Note this is only applicable when blocking GP objects in 3D space.
Size X/Y - set the blur size values along the X and Y axis
Delete - deletes the selected Blur
There is a custom popup call menu that can be accessed while in Draw Mode to quickly change multiple settings and access the Outliner. See image to the right for all options.
To setup a shortcut, go to Keymap in Preferences and add (or update the ‘Draw’ keymap) following keymap under Grease Pencil Paint Mode:
Whippet Shots contains camera management tools along with playblast rendering and sequencer editing tools that speed up the workflow from shooting a scene to quickly editing it in a VSE scene.
If your playback is lagging in the sequencer, lower your proxy render size in the Preview area:
sidebar > View tab > View Settings
Set it to 25% or 50%. This will lower the resolution of your preview window but improve performance.
3D View > 3D View (Global)