🚀 YA Tools: The Ultimate Animation & Organization Toolkit for Blender

YA Tools is a powerful multi-functional add-on designed for professional animators and motion designers. It combines advanced keyframe manipulation, smart object arrangement, material management, and Rigid Body physics tools into a single workflow.

Version 5.5.0 is fully optimized for Blender 5.0, featuring dedicated support for the new Layered Actions system and the Channelbag API.

🛠 Core Modules & Features

1. 🎬 Animation Offset

Control the timing of entire object groups with a single click.

• Offset Methods: Shift animation based on distance to the 3D Cursor, Active Object, Reference Object, or hierarchy (Chain). It also supports offsetting by alphabetical name suffixes.
• Flexibility: Customize frame steps, work within a specific range, randomize offsets, and enable frame snapping.
• Preset System: Save your favorite configuration combinations for instant recall.

2. 🏗 Object Arrangement

Tools for rapid scene organization and hierarchy management.

• Smart Parenting: Quickly create Empties as parents for a whole selection or individually for each object.
• Distribution: Evenly space objects linearly (between two extremes) or in a Grid across X-Y, X-Z, or Y-Z planes.
• Alignment: Align objects by their bounding boxes (Min, Max, Center) or Origins relative to the active object or selection center.

3. 📋 Key Tools (Copy/Paste Keys)

Available in the Dope Sheet Editor sidebar.

• Advanced Buffer: Copy selected keys from one object and paste them onto multiple objects while maintaining relative timing.
• Modifier Support: F-Curve modifiers (such as Noise or Cycles) are copied along with the keyframes.
• Filters: Choose exactly what to copy: Location, Rotation, and/or Scale.

4. 🧲 Rigid Body Tools

Specialized tools for animating dynamic states.

• Keyframe Dynamic: Quickly set keyframes for the "Dynamic" property to toggle physics simulation on or off.
• Keyframe Animated: Manage the transition between manual animation and physics (Kinematic property) for Active Rigid Bodies.

5. 🖼 Video Planes

Automation for artists working with numerous video textures.

• Sequential Offset: Automatically shifts the video start frame for each selected object based on proximity.
• Uniqueness: The add-on automatically generates unique material copies so each plane can have its own individual timing.

6. 🔧 Utilities

• Selection Tools: Find objects with similar names or select objects with a scale near zero.
• Rename Tools: Generate unique or shared random suffixes, or perform bulk renaming with sequential numbering.
• Material Tools: Select objects by material or instantly make shared materials unique (single-user) for the selection.

💎 Why Choose YA Tools?

1. Future-Proof: One of the few add-ons already compatible with the Blender 5.0 layered animation system.
2. Clean Interface: All tools are organized into a logical "YA Panel" within the 3D Viewport and Dope Sheet.
3. Efficiency: Tasks that previously required dozens of manual clicks (like cascading object appearances) now take seconds.