The Motion Lab

One motion, reshaped in depth: given a style, seen on your own character, made into its eight directions, and exported. Here is what each part of the page does, in the order you see it.

These pictures have Advanced on, so every setting shows. With it off, the page shows only what makes a set; each table says which settings are Advanced's.

0The whole screen

The Motion Lab as it opens, the library's Walk as the source, paused. Click a number to go to its part.

	Area	What it is for
1	Top bar	Back to the main page, where you are, and Privacy.
2	Workspace bar	One clip in the view or all eight; what the eight are; Generate; Advanced; how the source moves; Save and Export.
3	Left column	Motion — the cycle's Style, Gait, Posture and Follow-through — or Eight directions: Directions, Polish, Strafe.
4	The view's rows	The source or its adjusted cycle, and which of the eight is shown; the pose tools, Root motion, Edit trails, Overlays.
5	The view	The character in 3D: drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.
6	Right column	Animate (Transform, Controls, Extra bones, Result, Layers), or the Library (Animations, Characters).
7	Curve editor	Play, undo and redo, and the cycle's curves: Procedural or Graph.

1Top bar

Across the top of the page: the site, where you are, and Privacy.

	Name	What it does
1	ActionForge	The site's name. Click it to go to the main page: the animations, the Character tool, export.
2	Motion Lab	Where you are: one motion, reshaped in depth — given a style, seen on your own character, made into its eight directions, and exported.
3	Privacy	What the site keeps about you, and why. The tools run on your computer: nothing you make is uploaded.

2Workspace bar

What is in the view and what the eight directions are, Generate, and getting your work out: Save and Export.

	Name	What it does
1	One · All directions	One: one clip in the view. All directions: the eight, side by side.
2	Aim forward · Face the travel	What the eight are. Aim forward: a strafe set — the body keeps looking ahead while the legs carry it to the side or backward, as a game that aims does it. Face the travel: each of the eight is the source turned whole to face the way it goes, nothing else of it changed — as a game that runs free does it.
3	Generate	Makes the other seven directions from the source, with the values in the panel. An animation that stays where it stands has none to make.
4	Advanced	Everything there is to set. Off: what makes a set, and no more — the rest is as it stands, and still used. Remembered in this browser.
5	The status line	How the source moves — its speed and its steps a minute (Walk Loop: 0.97 m/s, 90 steps a minute.) — and what the page has to tell you.
6	Save ▾	What is made here, kept as an animation of your own: in this browser, with the ones you imported. It is then on the main page, under Yours. Nothing is uploaded. Save, below.
7	Export ▾	A file, through the site's own exporter: the clip in the view by itself, or all eight at once — one file holding eight takes, or one file each in a zip, named after the source: `_F`, `_FL`, `_L`, `_BL`, `_B`, `_BR`, `_R`, `_FR`. Export, below.

2.1Save

	Name	What it does
1	Name	The name it is saved under. Left empty, the one shown is used: the animation's, and its style's. Saved again under the same name, it takes the earlier one's place.
2	Save this one	The clip in the view — the cycle as styled, or the one of its eight that is shown — saved as an animation of yours, with a picture of it. It needs no Generate.
3	Save all 8	All eight, once they are made, saved as eight animations of yours: the name, and F, FL, L, BL, B, BR, R, FR.
4	Send the 8 to the playground	The eight as a set, kept in this browser for the playground under that name: listed there under Walk, Run and Sprint, and walked on as they were made here. Several can be kept side by side; the same name takes the earlier one's place.
5	Saved · Remove	What was saved from here. Remove takes the one picked out of this browser. (An animation of yours can also be removed on the main page, in its Import pane.)
6	The note	What was just saved, or why it could not be.

2.2Export

	Name	What it does
1	Skeleton	Which bones the animation arrives on: ActionForge (ours), Mixamo, Unreal Engine 5 (Manny or Quinn), Unreal Engine 4 or Reallusion (CC, ActorCore). Another tool's skeleton is bones only — no character of theirs ships — so it is FBX, and the character is left out.
2	Format	FBX or GLB.
3	FBX for	FBX only: the program it is for — Blender, Unreal, Unity or Maya — its size and facing set as that program reads them.
4	Files	For all eight: One file, all takes inside, or a Zip, one file per clip.
5	Motion	Root motion: it travels, as it was made. In place: it stays where it stands. Both: each clip twice — 16 takes for the eight.
6	Include the character	The character in the file too, not only its bones. Greyed for another tool's skeleton.
7	Export this one	The clip in the view — the cycle as it is, as adjusted, or the one of its eight that is shown — as one file. It needs no Generate.
8	Export all 8	All eight, once they are made: Generate first.
9	Export the character (rest pose)	The character alone, standing in its rest pose with its skeleton — no animation in the file: the one picked in the Library's Characters, or our mannequin. Import it into your engine first, to make the character; then export the animations without the character and import them onto its skeleton. Greyed for another tool's skeleton.
10	The note	What can be exported now, how the packing is going, and what was saved — its name, how many clips, its size.

3Left column

The motion itself, and the eight directions made from it. Two tabs; each has its own row of icons under it.

	Name	What it is
1	Motion	The motion: its style, its gait, the posture, the follow-through.
2	Eight directions	The eight made from it: their directions, the polish, a strafe of your own.
3	Style	Everything set here, as one named set: kept in this browser, saved to a file, loaded onto another cycle. Style, below.
4	Gait	A walk's or a run's: the source made slower or quicker, longer or shorter in the step, heavier, lower. Gait, below.
5	Posture	A set turn of the spine, held through the whole animation. Posture, below.
6	Follow	The follow-through: the body above the hips arrives late. Follow, below.

	Name	What it is
1	Directions	How each direction's hips, knees, feet and stride change, per angle away from forward. Directions, below.
2	Polish	One switch per stage of making the eight, each to judge on and off. Polish, below.
3	Strafe	A strafe made by hand, in place of the generated one. Advanced only. Strafe, below.

Some parts grey out when they have nothing to say: what only a walk or a run has (a style, the gait) on an animation that is not one; what makes the eight on an animation that stays where it stands; what only a strafe set has (how each direction's legs are turned, a strafe of your own) with Face the travel picked.

3.1Motion › Style

Everything set here — the gait, the posture, the follow-through, every curve and every control — as one named set. Kept in this browser, saved to a file, loaded onto another cycle: its keys go where they were in the step, counted from the left foot's landing. A style is a walk's or a run's.

	Name	What it does
1	Saved styles	The styles saved in this browser.
2	Load	The picked style, in place of everything set now.
3	Name	The name to save what is set now under.
4	Save	What is set now, saved in this browser under that name.
5	To file	What is set now, as a file.
6	From file	A style from a file, in place of everything set now.
7	Delete	The picked style, out of this browser.
8	Start over	Everything set on this animation — its gait, its posture, the follow-through, every curve, every control and pose — back to the source's own, and no longer kept for it. `Ctrl`+`Z` brings it back. What is set on an animation is kept in this browser, and is there again when it is picked.

1 to 7 grey out on an animation that is not a walk or a run.

3.2Motion › Gait

A walk's or a run's. The source made slower or quicker, longer or shorter in the step, heavier, lower. What it makes is a cycle like any other: it plays, Generate makes its eight, Export takes them. It uses the switches in Polish (foot lock, reach, arms). The numbers are times the source's own: 1 is the source as it is.

	Name	What it does
1	Preset	Values to start from: Stroll, Brisk, Heavy or Sneak.
2	Reset	Everything here back to the source's own.
3	Speed ×	One number for both: the speed times this (0.3 to 2.5), shared between longer steps and quicker ones — the slider, from stride to cadence, says how. In the middle each takes the square root of it: speed × 1.44 is stride × 1.2 and cadence × 1.2.
4	Stride ×	Each step longer or shorter (0.5 to 1.5), the steps a minute kept — the speed follows.
5	Cadence ×	The steps a minute (0.5 to 2), the stride kept — the speed follows.
6	Width cm	Centimetres added to each foot's lane (−6 to 12; less to narrow — never under what keeps the legs apart).
7	Lift ×	How high the feet go through the air (0.5 to 2).
8	Lower cm	Centimetres the hips sit lower (−3 to 20).
9	Bounce ×	The hips' up-and-down, about the cycle's own middle (0 to 2.5).
10	Sway ×	The hips' side-to-side, about the cycle's own middle (0 to 2.5).
11	Arms ×	The arms' swing, about its own middle (0 to 2).
12	Lean / speed	How much the body's lean follows the speed (0 to 2): 1, a walk twice as fast leans twice as far; 0, it leans as the source does whatever the speed.
13	On ground %	How much of the cycle each foot spends on the ground (30 to 90). More: a longer stance and a quicker swing — heavier. The landings stay where they are; the lift-off moves. It starts at the source's own.

The whole panel greys out on an animation that is not a walk or a run.

3.3Motion › Posture

A set turn of the spine, held through the whole animation: an adjustment on top of it. On any animation. Each is a slider and its number.

	Name	What it does
1	Head looks ahead	On: the head stays looking where it looked while the spine bends — a sneak looks ahead, not at the floor. Off: the head goes with the chest.
2	Spine forward °	The spine bent forward (−30 to 60; less than 0: back), held through the whole cycle and spread up it. With the hips lower (Gait's Lower cm): a sneak.
3	Spine side °	The spine bent to the character's left (−30 to 30; less than 0: right).
4	Spine twist °	The spine twisted to the character's left (−45 to 45; less than 0: right).

3.4Motion › Follow

Follow-through: the body above the hips arrives late. What you change on the hips — their curves, the bounce, the sway — the chest follows a moment after, overshoots a little, and settles; the head and the arms after the chest. Nothing changed on the hips: nothing added. On an animation that is not a walk it follows what the hips' curves change — or, with Loosen, the animation's own hips.

	Name	What it does
1	On	The follow-through on or off. Holding a weapon (Polish) keeps the chest and the arms out of it.
2	Preset	A set of values to start from: Stiff, Loose or Heavy; (own) while they are your own.
3	Reset	The follow-through back as the page opens with it: on, and every value its own. `Ctrl`+`Z` brings it back.
4	Chest	How far the chest is let lag behind the hips (0 to 2): times what the spring gives. 0: it rides rigidly.
5	Head	How far the head is let lag behind the chest (0 to 2).
6	Arms	How far the arms are let swing behind the chest (0 to 2).
7	Lag	How late they arrive (0 to 1): 0 close behind the hips, 1 well behind.
8	Bounce	How much they overshoot before settling (0 to 1): 0 none, 1 a lot.
9	Loosen	How much of the source's own hip movement is followed too (0 to 2): 0 only what you changed; more loosens a stiff walk as it is.

3.5Eight directions › Directions

How the eight differ from the source, per angle away from forward. 135° and 180° start from the walk played backward (it lands toe first, knee bent, as backward walking does); the back diagonals turn it ±45° with the hips turned away from the travel side.

	Name	What it does
1	The angles	A row per angle — 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°. Hips°: how far the hips turn toward the travel (the chest turns back to stay on aim). Knees, Feet: how far they point along it, 0 the hips' way, 1 the travel's. Leg gap: the closest the legs may come, cm — the lanes widen until it holds, shins included. Swing out: how far the swinging foot goes out past the planted leg, cm. Stride: shorter and quicker at once, so the speed stays and the set still blends. Advanced only.
2	Preset	What a strafe changes, measured on reference packs against their own forward clip: each preset fills the values below. Auto (from how it stands): square, the unarmed walk's; turned, as with a rifle on aim, the rifle's — a walk's or a run's — with the away strafe on the side it is turned from. Unarmed walk, Rifle walk, Rifle run. Classic: the set as it was before — the chest held exactly on the aim, both strafes toward. (The rifle presets change a stance already turned: on a source that stands square, their small turns leave the legs no room.)
3	Chest	How much of the hips' turn the chest goes with: 0 none, the spine takes it all back; 1 all of it. The head stays on the aim either way. Advanced only.
4	Hips swing °	How many degrees further the hips turn while the legs are crossed, and less while the stance is open. Advanced only.
5	Played once: keep its first pose · last pose	For an animation played once (a roll, a strike, a stop): an end that is kept is the source's own pose in every direction — nothing is added there, however fast it is going. Read off the clip when it is picked — an end it stands still at is kept — and overruled here. A strike or a dash: both. A stop: its last. Greyed on a loop. Advanced only.
6	Each direction	Each direction's own values, a row each. Family (left and right 90°): toward — made from the walk, the hips turned toward the travel, the trailing foot crossing in front; away — made from the walk reversed, the hips turned away, the trailing foot crossing behind. Hips°: degrees they turn. Stride: times the source's. Toe lead°, Toe trail°, Knee lead°, Knee trail°: degrees toward the travel side (less than 0: away), the lead foot's — the travel side's — and the trailing foot's. Blank: the angle's row above. A diagonal takes half its strafe's turns: what a blend of the forward clip and the strafe was measured to come to. Advanced only.

The last table is wider than the column: scroll the panel sideways for the knees' columns.

The panel greys out with Face the travel picked, and on an animation that stays where it stands.

The eight, made

With a walk or a run as the source — here the library's Walk — press Generate (1): the other seven directions are made from it, with the values in Directions and Polish, in a second or two. The status line then says Made the eight from Walk Loop. Press All directions (2) to see them all at once, or pick one of the eight in the view's row (3) to see it alone.

In All directions the eight walk side by side, each on its own spot around the middle, seen from behind and above as a game's camera sees its character: forward is the farthest, left is to the left, back is nearest. The blue arrow on the floor is in front of Forward — the source itself — so it is told from the seven made from it.

The eight made from the Walk, with Aim forward: the body keeps looking ahead while the legs carry it.

	Direction	What it is
1	Forward (F)	The source itself, walking ahead. The blue arrow is in front of it.
2	Front left (FL)	45° to the left of forward: half the left strafe's turn, as the angles' 45° row says.
3	Left (L)	90°: the left strafe — its family, toward or away, as the table of each direction says.
4	Back left (BL)	135°: made from the walk played backward, turned 45°, the hips turned away from the travel side.
5	Back (B)	180°: the walk played backward — it lands toe first, knee bent, as backward walking does.
6	Back right (BR)	135° to the right, as Back left on the other side.
7	Right (R)	90° to the right: the right strafe.
8	Front right (FR)	45° to the right of forward.

Change a value in Directions or Polish, and press Generate again to see the eight with it. Export ▾'s Export all 8 and Save ▾'s Save all 8 take them as they are made.

3.6Eight directions › Polish

One switch per stage, each to judge on and off; the set is made again when one changes.

	Name	What it does
1	Foot lock	A planted foot held where it landed — the heel as it lands, the ball once that is down. Flat, the whole foot is carried back to its place; up on its toe it rolls about the ball instead, the heel a little higher. What that moved it by is given back over the swing, in step with the foot's own travel. The hold gives way before the leg would go straighter than the clip's legs ever are. Advanced only.
2	Grip	How long a foot still on the floor is held once it starts to move (0 to 1). 1: until it has left the floor — a toe dragged along the floor before it lifts is held still. 0: only while it is still — the drag stays as the source has it. Advanced only.
3	Lock the source's feet	The forward clip is the source, untouched. On: it goes through the same lock, and that is what All directions and the export use.
4	Lean and weight	The body's lean goes where it travels, and its sway is laid along the travel like the feet — each bone by its share. And the hips' place over the feet is laid like the feet's, growing with the lanes, so the weight still gets over the foot that is down (as far as the legs allow). Advanced only.
5	Toward travel	How much of the lean goes toward the travel, per angle away from forward (45°, 90°, 135°, 180°). 1: all of it turns to where the body is going. 0: none — backward stands upright (people don't lean back). Advanced only.
6	Share %	Each one's share of that turn — hips, chest, head — in percent: 100 its tilt goes where the travel goes, 0 it stays exactly the source's. The spine and the neck take what lies between. Advanced only.
7	Holding a weapon	The chest and the head keep exactly the source's tilt, whatever their share — so what the hands hold points exactly where the source pointed it.
8	Weight over the foot	Off: the hips sit over the root as before, turned with the hips' turn only. Advanced only.
9	Reach	No leg past its reach. Where a leg bearing weight would be, the hips move — the least that brings it back, eased over the frames either side. A foot in the air is drawn in instead. With it on, the foot lock may ask a little more of a leg: the hips give where before the foot had to slip. Advanced only.
10	Limit % · down · sideways	The furthest a hip may be from its ankle, as a share of the leg's length: under 100, so a knee never goes dead straight. And which ways the hips may move for it. Advanced only.
11	Arms kept clear	The arms are swung clear of the body. A clip turned to a new direction swings its legs toward the travel while its arms swing as the source's did — a thigh can pass through the hand on that side. Where an arm comes too close, it swings wider from the shoulder, as far as it takes; the elbow keeps its bend. Off when holding a weapon: two hands on one thing are left alone. Advanced only.
12	Arm gap cm · Shapes × · show	Arm gap: the least room between an arm and the body, skin to skin — or the source's own closest, where that is less. Shapes ×: the body and arm are round shapes sized off the mannequin's skin; thinner shapes ask less. show: draws the shapes on the character in the One view. Advanced only.
13	Arm swing ×	The arms' swing, bigger or smaller about its own middle, per angle away from forward (45°, 90°, 135°, 180°). 1: as the source. Advanced only.

The panel greys out on an animation that stays where it stands.

3.7Eight directions › Strafe

Authored strafe, Advanced only. Optional: a strafe made by hand in place of the generated one — a Mixamo FBX walking left or right. It is restarted where the set's left foot lands, so it blends; the other side is its mirror. Kept through Generate.

	Name	What it does
1	Mixamo FBX	The file: a Mixamo FBX walking left or right.
2	The note	The strafe in use: None. until one is read.
3	Use the generated strafes	Back to the generated strafes. Greyed while none of your own is in.

The panel greys out with Face the travel picked, and on an animation that stays where it stands.

4The view's rows

Two rows over the view: what is in it, and the tools that act on it.

What is in the view

The eight made from the Walk, Front left shown.

	Name	What it does
1	Source	The animation as it is.
2	Adjusted	The animation as you have set it — its gait, posture, follow-through, curves and controls. Greyed until something is changed on it.
3	F · FL · L · BL · B · BR · R · FR	One of the eight alone in the view: F forward (the source, or the adjusted cycle), FL +45°, L +90°, BL +135°, B 180°, BR −135°, R −90°, FR −45°. Greyed until Generate has made them; greyed on an animation that stays where it stands. To see all eight at once: All directions in the workspace bar.

The tools

	Name	What it does
1	Move	The gizmo moves the picked bone, off its joint.
2	Rotate	The gizmo turns the picked bone.
3	Axes	The gizmo's axes: the bone's own (as posing has it in an animation program), or the world's.
4	Whole cycle	What the gizmo does is the bone's set pose, the same in every frame (on an animation played once, the whole animation).
5	Key at the playhead	What the gizmo does becomes a key there on the bone's curves (made if there's none), easing in and out as keys do.
6	Bones	The shapes on the bones — the coloured dots on the character — shown or hidden. Shown: click one to pick its bone, then turn it (or move it) with the gizmo — that bone's set pose through the whole animation, which carries on around it; or, with Key at the playhead, a key there. Hidden: nothing on the body is clicked.
7	Root motion	Off: in place, the floor slides under the feet. On: travelling as the clip does, the camera following. Greyed in All directions.
8	Edit trails	Keys on the trails: a dot on the hips' path, the feet's and an aim's target at each of its keys. Drag one in the view and the motion goes there (`Shift`: up and down only) — the body follows as you drag, on that dot's frame. Click a dot to pick it: arrows on it move it sideways, forward or up only (`Esc` or a click away lets it go). Let go, the dot is where the part went; if that is not where you put it, a ring marks where you put it and the status line says what moved it. Double-click a trail for a new key. The trails are shaded by speed: bright where it is fast. The hips' and the feet's trails are drawn for it, and go again with it. Greyed on an animation that is not a walk or a run.
9	Overlays	What is drawn over the view. Off: none of them; on: each as ticked under ▾ (Blender's viewport Overlays). Edit trails still draws the trails it edits. Advanced only.
10	▾	Which overlays are drawn. Overlays, below. Advanced only.

4.1Overlays

What the floor and the body can show of the motion. Each is drawn while Overlays is on and it is ticked; the left side in cyan, the right in orange. In place the floor slides under the feet, so a planted foot should sit still on its print. Esc closes the drop-down.

	Name	What it draws
1	Footprints	A print on the floor where each foot plants, step by step.
2	Foot lanes	Each foot's lane: the line it walks along, beside the hips.
3	Swing trails	Each foot's path through the air between its steps.
4	Hip trail	The hips' path, drawn like the feet's: its wave seen from the side, its sway from above.
5	Bones	The skeleton, drawn over the character.

Every overlay on: the footprints and lanes on the floor, the feet's swing trails, the hips' trail (white) and the bones.

5The view

The character in 3D: the source, the adjusted cycle or one of the eight — or, with All directions, the eight side by side (The eight, made).

The Walk with Edit trails on: a dot at each key on the hips' trail (white) and the feet's.

Do this	And
Drag	Orbit round the character.
Right-drag	Pan.
Scroll	Zoom.
`Space`	Play or pause — not while you type in a box, or a button has the focus.
Click a bone's shape	With Bones on: pick its bone. The gizmo then turns it or moves it, as the tools say; its numbers are in Animate › Transform.
Drag a trail's dot	With Edit trails on: the motion goes there. `Shift`: up and down only.
Click a trail's dot	With Edit trails on: picked — its arrows move it one way only. `Esc` lets it go.
Double-click a trail	With Edit trails on: a new key there.

With Root motion on, the camera follows the character as it travels.

6Right column

A bone's pose and the controls on the body — or the Library, where the source and the character are picked. Two tabs.

	Name	What it is
1	Animate	A bone's pose, the controls, the extra bones — and Layers, at its foot.
2	Library	Every animation, and the character worn. Animations and Characters, below.

Animate has Transform pinned at its top and Layers at its foot; between them, three icons:

	Name	What it is
1	Controls	Temporary controls on the body. Controls, below.
2	Extra bones	The character's own bones beyond the body's — hair, a skirt, a cape, a bag. Extra bones, below.
3	Result	What the last change made. Advanced only. Result, below.

6.1Animate › Transform

A bone's set pose: turned once about its own axes, moved once, the same through the whole animation — which carries on around it. On any animation. Turn on Bones over the view, click a bone's dot, and turn it with the gizmo; or type the numbers here. The other side of a pair takes its mirror image.

	Name	What it does
1	What is picked	The bone picked — here the hips (Pelvis), by a click on their box. Nothing picked until one is.
2	↺	Reset pose: this bone's set pose back to none.
3	Location cm	X: moved to the character's left (less than 0: right). Y: moved ahead (less than 0: back). Z: moved up (less than 0: down). Centimetres.
4	Rotation °	Turned about the bone's own X, Y (along it) and Z axes, degrees.
5	Reset all poses	Every bone's set pose back to none.

6.2Animate › Controls

Temporary controls, as the Weapon Lab's: pick a bone (turn on Bones over the view, click its shape), then + Temp control or + Aim; click a control's cube to move it. Its keys are real keys, in the Graph (the Procedural | Graph switch in the curve editor). Bake writes it into the animation and takes it away. A bone's own procedural curves are added in the Procedural editor, under Bones.

	Name	What it does
1	Picked	What is picked in the view — here the hips. A control is added on it.
2	+ Temp control	A control on the bone picked: move or turn it in the view, and key it.
3	+ Aim	An aim for it: a target out from the bone, which the bone points at — you move the target.
4	Only the one picked, in the view	On: only the gizmo of the control being edited shows in the view — the others are out of the way until one of them is picked.
5	A control	The Outliner's row of each control, every one there is: ● its cube in the view, shown or hidden; ◎ its cube alone in the view (again: all of them back); its name picks it — its curves in the graph, and the gizmo on its bone; the tick on or off — off, it does nothing, the part as the animation has it; × takes it away, and its curves.
6	Gizmo	What the gizmo of the control picked by its cube does: Move its bone with arrows (`W`), Rotate it with rings (`E`), Scale it with handles, along its own axes.
7	Settings	The picked control's own. A temporary control's Space: World — the bone's turn and place in the world, as the animation has them, a control on the bone above not carrying it; Parent — against the bone it hangs from, from where it stands (0 there), whatever is done to that bone carrying it. Changed after its curves are, what it plays is keyed again in the new space. An aim's: Distance (cm — near, a centimetre on the target turns the bone a lot; far, a little), Axis (which of the bone's own axes points at the target), Roll (none, a curve of its own, or an up target), Up axis, Up distance (cm), and what the target Rides — the world, the hips, the chest, the head or a hand.
8	Bake back into bones	What you see is kept: every layer as it plays — a muted one left out, each at its weight — and every temporary control written into the bones' own curves in the Procedural editor (a bone not listed there is added), keyed as Keys says, the cycle made again with them until it is what you saw. The controls and the layers are gone after, the Graph empty; delete a layer you don't want first. `Ctrl`+`Z` brings them back.
9	Keys	How a bake writes its keys. Every frame: a key on each. Your key frames: only on the frames where the part, or the control, had keys, the curve between them shaped to the motion. Key poses: the page picks the poses itself, every bone of the bake keyed on the same frames, the feet's landings and lift-offs always among them — for mocap, and a key on every frame; then How many, a share of the animation's frames.
10	Mirror to the other side	The control picked made again on the other side — the left hand's on the right hand — reading that side's own motion, its changes mirrored; on a walk, half a cycle later, on the other step. A control the other side already has is left alone. Greyed for a part with no other side — the hips (as here), the spine, the head.

The hips picked with a click on their box in the view, and a temporary control put on them.

6.3Animate › Extra bones

The character's own bones beyond the body's — hair, a skirt, a cape, a bag — in chains, as found on who is worn. Controls and Pose move them; a chain picked can be given a spring. One picked is lit on the character in the One view.

	Name	What it does
1	The chains	The chains found on the character worn, each with its bones. Our mannequin has none — it says so, and the rest stays greyed.
2	Reset chains	Every split, join and name taken off: the chains as they were found on the character. (`Ctrl`+`Z` undoes a split, a join or a name too.)
3	The chain picked	Its bones; Split: the chain cut at the bone clicked — from it on, a chain of its own; Join with…: another chain made part of this one, set as one; Rename: a name of its own. Then its Spring — the chain follows the body a moment late, swings past and settles; made after the body, baked into what is made, and round the loop so a cycle still comes round; kept with the character, so every animation made while it is worn has it: Look (None, Hair, Skirt, Cape, Heavy — it sets the four settings below) and Reset to the look; Stiffness (0 trails well behind what it hangs from, 1 stays close); Bounce (how far it swings past and how long it takes to settle); Hang (how strongly gravity pulls it down — a cape or a ponytail swings under it); Swing limit ° (the most a bone turns from where the body puts it); Keep out of the body (its thighs, shins, hips, trunk and head, as capsules measured on its own skin, drawn faintly while this is open); Tip stiffness and Tip swing limit ° (the last bone's own, the bones between going evenly from root to tip — Advanced only).

The mannequin worn: it has no extra bones, so all of it is greyed.

6.4Animate › Result

What the last change made: the adjusted cycle's figures, and what each stage had to do for it. Advanced only.

	Name	What it says
1	The last change	The adjusted cycle's figures after a change in Motion — Nothing changed yet. until there is one.
2	The eight	What Generate made: a line for each direction — made, or a warning and what it is about — and, with Advanced on, what each stage did under it: the hips' and legs' turn, the foot lanes and stride, how close the legs came, how far a planted foot drifts, the lean, an arm swung clear, where the feet cross, when it lands. The whole of a line also on hover. Made again when they are next looked at, exported, or generated, after a change makes them out of date (it says so).

After Generate on the Walk: Forward, the source, and Front left with what each stage did.

6.5Animate › Layers

The main page's Layers panel, pinned at Animate's foot: here Base is the cycle as the Motion Lab makes it, and keys go into Base until a layer is added over it. Drag the line above it to make it taller (double-click: as it began). The same panel, in detail: the main page's Layers.

	Name	What it does
1	+ Layer	A new layer above the selected one: what is keyed next goes into it.
2	▲ ▼	The selected layer one place up or down the stack.
3	A layer	Its name — click to select it — and A (Additive; Base always is), M mute (kept, plays nothing), S solo (the other layers go silent), L lock (it takes no key, and still plays). Base is under every other layer, always there: keys go into it.
4	The animation · locked	The animation itself: under every layer, and no layer edits it.
5	Weight	How much of the selected layer plays (Base: always 100%); ◆ keys the weight here — it then follows its keys over the clip.
6	The layer tools	Merge Down, Flatten (every layer folded into Base), Reset to base, Reset layer key, Duplicate, Delete — each greyed where it has nothing to do (Base cannot be merged down or deleted).

6.6Library › Animations

The animations a motion can be made from — click one, and it is the source.

	Name	What it does
1	Animations · Characters	The animations, or the characters to wear. Characters, below.
2	Search	By name or tag.
3	How many	How many animations are listed.
4	Add a Mixamo FBX	A Mixamo FBX from this computer — an animation that loops: a walk, a run, an idle — retargeted onto our skeleton as the main page's Import does. Read here, never uploaded.
5	An animation	Click it: it is the source — the cycle is made from it from now on, and its eight on the next Generate. Hover it: its length, frames, frames a second, whether it loops, how far it travels, its tags and who made it. Grouped by kind (Aim, and the rest).

6.7Library › Characters

Who wears the motion. A character is added, rigged and matched to our bones in the Character tool on the main page; it is then listed here.

	Name	What it does
1	A character	Click it to wear it — here our mannequin, the only one until you add your own on the main page. Its search and its count work as the animations'.

7Curve editor

Two editors share the bottom of the page: Procedural — the curves the page makes, the hips', the feet's, a bone's own — and Graph — the main page's Graph, for the temporary controls' keys. Drag the line along its top to make it taller or shorter.

The bar

In Procedural, every button in order. The first six (play to Procedural | Graph) are the page's own: they move into the Graph's bar while the Graph is up.

	Name	What it does
1	Play · Pause	Plays or pauses the cycle (`Space` too).
2	Speed	How fast it plays: 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 or 1.
3	The clock	Where in the cycle, in seconds.
4	Undo	The last change taken back (`Ctrl`+`Z`, anywhere on the page but a box you type in).
5	Redo	Put back again (`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Z`, or `Ctrl`+`Y`).
6	Procedural · Graph	Procedural: the curves the page makes — the hips', the feet's, the cycle's own. Graph: the main page's Graph, the temporary controls' keys. The Graph, below.
7	Channel ▾	Show and hide curves (`H`, `Shift`+`H`, `Alt`+`H`) — as the main page's Channel menu.
8	Key ▾	Copy and paste, handles, interpolation and easing, duplicate and delete, snap — the right-click menu.
9	The curve	The curve being edited: picked in the list, or by a click on its line or one of its keys.
10	Both steps the same	A walk is two steps. On: a key moved in one step (or on one foot) moves the same in the other. Off: each is its own.
11	Foot	Which foot's curve is shown and edited: on the Feet's curves, with both the same off. The hips' and the controls' curves have no left and right foot.
12	Reset curve	Every key of this curve back where the source has it (a foot's lift-off and landing stay as they are).
13	Reset all	Every curve, and the foot plant, back to the source's.
14	Frame	The picked key's frame. Typed, the key goes there (with the others picked, by as much).
15	Value	The curve's value at the picked key. Typed, the key is lifted to it (the others picked, by as much).
16	Handles	The picked keys' handles. Clamped: the curve chooses its slope, never past either key (`1`). Auto: a smooth slope, which may swing past a key (`6`). Aligned: your handles, the two sides in one line (`2`). Free: your handles, each side its own (`3`). Vector: each side pointed toward the key next to it — a corner (`4`). Flat: the handles level — the curve comes in and goes out flat (`5`). Greyed until a key is picked.
17	?	Hover it: everything the mouse and keys do in the graph — in full in Shortcuts, below.

Its second row:

	Name	What it does
1	Several curves	The graph as an animation program has it: every curve of the hips or the feet together, each in its colour (side to side red, forward green, up blue), a list to show, hide and pick them. Click any curve's key to edit that curve.
2	Only Show Selected	Only the curves of what is selected — the part being edited — drawn; the rest out of the way.
3	Show Hidden	The curves hidden (`H`, or unticked in the list) drawn again.
4	Filters ▾	Search by name, and filter by type: which curves are listed.
5	Normalize	Every curve drawn to fill the graph's height — −1 at its lowest, 1 at its highest, the animation's own under it counted too — so curves of any size read together. The keys keep their values.
6	One cycle only	The cycle shown once, from its first frame to its last — nothing drawn again either side, and the view stays on it — so it is plain where the animation begins and ends. It still comes round: a key near its end still shapes its start. Off: the graph carries on round the loop. An animation played once is always shown so.
7	Fit	The whole cycle and every value back in view (`Home`).

7.1Procedural

The cycle's own curves, made by the page from the source: change one, and the cycle changes. On the left the list of curves; along the top the foot plant; below it the graph.

	Name	What it does
1	Hips	The hips' curves: Loc Z (height), Loc X (side), Loc Y (forward).
2	A curve	Its tick shows or hides it; click its name to edit it.
3	Feet	The feet's curves: Loc Z (lift), Loc X (side), Loc Y (forward).
4	Bones · + Bone	A bone's own procedural curves: turn on Bones over the view, click a bone's shape, then + Bone.

	Name	What it does
1	Foot plant	When each foot is down — the left above (cyan), the right below (orange); ▲ where it lands. Drag in it to move through the cycle.
2	Unlock foot plant	A foot's square keys are its lift-off and landing: moving one moves when the foot is planted — the foot plant itself. Off: they can't be dragged. On: they slide.
3	Reset foot plant	Each foot's lift-off and landing back where this animation has them: its own foot plant.

The graph: the Walk's hips' height, a key at each high and low.

As the main page's graph: a key dragged sideways makes that part of the curve come earlier or later; up or down, more or less there — the cycle follows as you drag. Click a key to pick it (its handles show); double-click the curve for a new key; right-click for the menu. A foot's square keys are its lift-off and landing — locked until unlock foot plant is ticked; a key on a foot's lift while it is planted raises its heel, the toe staying down. Every key and mouse move: Shortcuts.

An animation whose feet are never read on the floor has no hips' or feet's curves to hold to: the graph says so, and a control's curves are edited in the Graph instead.

7.2Graph

The main page's Graph, for the temporary controls' keys: each control's curves — its turn, place and size — keyed as on the main page. Here the hips picked and a temporary control put on them (Controls). The same Graph, every tool in detail: the main page's Graph.

The Graph with a temporary control on the hips: its turn, place and size, a key on every frame.

	Name	What it does
1	The curves	Each control's curves, by name — Search to find some, All to show every one; each has its tick (shown or hidden), M (muted) and L (locked).
2	The page's own	Play, Speed, the clock, Undo, Redo, Procedural \| Graph — as in the bar.
3	Only Show Selected · Filters ▾	Only the curves of what is selected; Filters: Only Show Selected, Show Hidden.
4	Channel · Key	Channel: lock, mute, hide and show curves; the Euler filter. Key: snap, mirror, insert, copy and paste; handles and interpolation.
5	Frame · Value	The picked key's frame and value, typed.
6	Handles	Free, Vector, Aligned, Auto, Clamped — the picked keys' handles.
7	To the next	Bezier: a curve to the next key, shaped by the handles. Linear: a straight line. Step: it holds until the next key, then jumps.
8	Pivot	What a turn or a scale of keys is about: the bounding box's centre, the 2D cursor, or each key itself.
9	Proportional editing	A move, turn or scale of keys carries the keys near them too, less the further they are (`O`); Smooth ▾: how the share falls off.
10	Cursor	The 2D cursor's value — `Shift`+right-click in the graph puts it there.
11	Normalize	Every curve shown between −1 and 1, each by its own range.
12	Fit · Fit keys	Every key in view, with its handles (`Home`); the picked keys in view (`F`).
13	The graph	The curves and their keys. The line over it says the main moves: right-click the menu, `G` move, `R` rotate, `S` scale, `Shift`+`D` duplicate, `Shift`+right-click the 2D cursor, middle-drag moves the view, the wheel zooms.

8Shortcuts

Every key on the page, by where it works. None works while you type in a box.

Anywhere

Keys	What they do
`Space`	Play or pause (not while a button or a tick has the focus — it presses that).
`Ctrl`+`Z`	Undo.
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Z` · `Ctrl`+`Y`	Redo.
`Esc`	Closes Overlays ▾.

The view

Keys and mouse	What they do
Drag · right-drag · scroll	Orbit · pan · zoom.
Click a bone's shape	With Bones on: pick its bone.
`W` · `E`	A temporary control's gizmo: move with arrows · turn with rings.
Drag a trail's dot · `Shift`+drag	With Edit trails on: the motion goes there · up and down only.
Click a trail's dot · `Esc`	With Edit trails on: picked, with arrows that move it one way only · let go of.
Double-click a trail	With Edit trails on: a new key there.

Procedural — the pointer over the graph

Keys and mouse	What they do
Click a key · `Shift`+click	Pick it (its handles show) · add it to the pick.
Drag a box · `Shift` · `Ctrl`	Pick the keys in it (on every curve shown, with several curves) · add them · take them out.
`Alt`+click · `Ctrl`+`Alt`+click	Every key on that frame · every key of that curve.
Drag a key	Sideways: that part of the curve earlier or later. Up or down: more or less there.
Drag a handle's end · `Alt`	Its slope · each side its own.
Double-click the curve	A new key.
Right-click	The menu (as Key ▾).
`G` · `R` · `S`	Move, turn, scale the picked keys from where the pointer is: `X` or `Y` for time or value only, a number typed, `Ctrl` snaps; a click or `Enter` keeps, `Esc` cancels.
`Shift`+`D`	Copies of the picked keys, moved.
`Ctrl`+`C` · `Ctrl`+`V`	Copy the picked keys · paste them at the playhead.
`T` · `Ctrl`+`E` · `V` · `Shift`+`S`	Interpolation · easing · handles · snap — each a menu at the pointer.
`1` to `6`	The picked keys' handles: Clamped, Aligned, Free, Vector, Flat, Auto.
`A` · `Alt`+`A` · `Ctrl`+`I`	Pick all · none · the others.
`[` · `]` · `L`	Every key before · after the playhead · every key of the curves with one picked.
`H` · `Shift`+`H` · `Alt`+`H`	Hide the picked keys' curves · hide the others · show all again.
`Delete` · `X`	The picked keys away.
`F` · `Home`	The picked keys in view · everything in view.
`Esc`	A handle drag cancelled; else the pick let go.
Wheel · `Ctrl` · `Shift`	Zoom about the pointer · time only · values only.
Middle-drag · `Ctrl`+middle-drag	Pan · zoom (sideways in time, up and down in value).

Graph — the pointer over it

Keys	What they do
The main page's Graph keys	`G`, `R`, `S`, `O`, `Shift`+`E`, `T`, `V`, `I`, `X`, `A`, `H`, `Ctrl`+`C` and the rest — Blender's Graph Editor's, as on the main page.
`←` · `→` (`Shift`: ten)	The playhead a frame back · on.
`↑` · `↓`	The playhead to the key before · after (of the curves with a key picked, or of all).
`End`	The playhead on the last frame.
`K`	A key on the playhead's frame, on the curves with a key picked or the one last touched — nothing moves.