Random Animation

Random Animation creates basic animation for selected meshes for movement, scaling and rotation. You can stack these animations to create interesting effects.

Figure 1

Here are the redo properties and what they do:

Type

This has two options: Axis and Path. Axis animates the objects in the xyz axis while Path animates them on a curve.

Path is beta and will undergo some major rework so lets focus on axis for now.

Animation

This determines what transform to use for animating the object and has 3 options: Rotate, Move and Scale.

Figure 2

Mode

This only shows up when the Use Cycles Modifier toggle is on. This determines how the animation will loop and has 3 options: Repetitive, Continuous and Mirrored.

Repetitive will repeat the animation from the starting frame once the end frame is reached.

Figure 3

Continuous will continue the animation until the literal end frame is reached.

Figure 4

Mirrored will reverse the animation once the end frame is reached.

Figure 5

The start/end frame here refers to the starting or last frame of the object/local animation while the literal end frame refers to the total frame of the movie/animation.

Pivot

This has 3 options: Origin, Geometry and Cursor. This determines the pivot point for the animation which is particularly useful for scaling and rotation. Origin will use the object's origin point, Geometry will use the average location of the vertices of the object and Cursor will use the 3D cursor as the pivot point.

Figure 6

Axis

This has 3 options: X, Y and Z. You can select multiple entries by pressing the Shift hotkey and clicking on the axis. Regular clicks will only select one while using the Shift + Click combination again on a selected option will deselect them.

Figure 7

This determines the axis to use to animate the selected object(s) using Rotation, Move or Scale.

Frames

This has 2 properties: Start and End. This determines the starting and frames for the animation.

Seed

Randomizes the end frame for the animation using the values between the Start and End properties. Randomization will only start when using seed number 2 and above allowing you to assign a controlled value using seed number 1.

Figure 8

Rotation

This only shows up when you have Animation: Rotate selected. This allows you to set the min and max degrees of rotation.

Figure 9

Move

This only shows up when you have Animation: Move selected. This allows you to set the min and max movement distance values.

Figure 10

Scale

This only shows up when you have Animation: Scale selected. This allows you to set the min and max scale values.

Figure 11

Seed

Randomizes the Rotation, Move and Scale properties using their min/max values with a seed number.

Figure 12

Empty Type

Only shows up when Add Parent Empty is enabled. This allows you to choose which type or appearance of the empty to use.

Figure 13

Location

Only shows up when Add Parent Empty is enabled. This has 3 options: Active, Cursor and Average. Active will place the empty on the position of the active object, Cursor will place the empty on the position of the 3D cursor and Average will place the empty on the average location of the selected objects.

Size

Only shows up when Add Parent Empty is enabled. This determines the size of the empty object

Figure 14

Use Cycles Modifier

This allows you to use the Mode properties to determine the type of animation loop to use.

Clear Animation

Clears the animation of the selected object(s) for every use of the operator. Disabling will allow for animation stacking.

Add Parent Empty

Adds a parent empty to the selected object(s) and exposes 3 new properties: Empty Type, Location and Size. You can use this to parent multiple objects then animate the parent empty for more effects.

Figure 15

Align To Picked Normal

Aligns the parent empty to the direction stored using the Normal Picker operator.

Figure 16

Reset Transform

Resets the transform of the selected object(s).

Even Frames

Randomize the frames using only the even divisors of the literal max or end frame of the movie making it easier to create videos with seamless looping animation.

Remove Initial Parent

Removes the parent of the selected object(s) so they can animate independently without being affected by the animation of the parent object. This is to offset the parenting feature of the add-on using the Parent To Source toggle in the add-on Settings.