Tools

Tools, or instruments, are used for editing scenes. Each tool is designed for a specific task, with some of them intended for editing character poses and creating animatons, while other are for improving complete animations, creating physically accurate movements or working with character rigs.

This page lists every tool available in Cascadeur. For convenience, tools are separated into categories depending on their functionality.

Animation Tools

Manipulators
Instruments for moving scene objects, including characters and their body parts.

Hiding Tool
Allows hiding parts of the characters, making editing poses more convenient

Fixing Tool
Allows pinning selecting objects to their positions for more precise control

Ghosts
Simplify creating additional poses and can be used for fixing animation errors

Silhouette
This mode is useful when you need to make sure that character poses are expressive and easy to read

Trajectories
Show paths travelled by objects and can be used for editing them

Rotation Trajectories
Show how objects rotate as they move, and can be used for adjusting these rotations

Filters
Used for enhancing object movement by adding inertia, making trajectories more smooth etc.

Mirror Tools
Provide means for reflecting character poses, simplifying animation process

Copy Tools
Used for exchanging positions and spatial orientations of objects between frames

AutoPosing
Generates character poses based on user-applied transformations

Interval Edit Mode
Used for adjusting multiple frames simultaneously

Scene Linking Tool
Provides means for combining several scenes into one without increasing their compexity.

Graph Editor
Used for editing animation curves.

Composition
Provides guiding lines for working with scene composition.

Spline IK
This tool uses curves to work with joint chains.

Root Constraint
Used for creating animation that involve root motion.

Mocap (Alpha) 
Used to recognize poses of images or frames, and apply these poses to the character in the scene.

Control Picker
An instrument for creating custom buttons to quickly select parts of the character rig.

Timeline Tools

A set of instruments for setting character poses, creating transitions between them and otherwise building character movements

Keyframes define character poses and positions

Interpolation is used to create transitions between key poses

Animatiuon Tracks separate the scene into parts for convenience of the animation process

Track Stretching Mode is used for adjusting interpolation intervals

Playback Tools is set of controls for playing back animations

Animation Cycles are used for easily producing looping animations

Physics Tools

Physics tools are used to improve character animation by making it physically accurate, or for creating physics-based movements such as jumps.

Center of Mass - a centerpiece part of a character rig, necessary for creating physically accurate movements

Angular Momentum helps to determine if character's rotation is physically possible and how it can be improved

Ballistic Trajectory is used for creating physically accurate jumps

Ballistic Ghosts are used for correcting rotation of a character in the state of free flight

Fulcrum Points is an instrument for making character interaction with fulcrums (such as landing spots) look more lifelike

AutoPhysics analyzes the animation you’ve created and suggests a physically accurate version of it.

Secondary Motion improves animation generated by AutoPhysics by making it more smooth and accentuated

Spring Secondary Motion improves animation using a different approach; can be used in conjunction with the regular Secondary Motion.

Camera Tools

A set of controls for adjusting camera behavior.

Rigging Tools

Rigging Tool
A set of instruments for creating character rigs.

Quick Rigging Tool
A simplified option for quickly creating humanoid rigs.

See Also

Interface Guide