Animation Overview

Animations can bring life and movement to your Twinmotion scenes. You can import files that contain animated objects and create videos and sequences with them, or include them in images and panoramas and select which part of the animation you want to show.

This page provides a brief overview of animated files in Twinmotion. For information on how to import animated files, refer to Importing Animated Files.

The Animation feature in Twinmotion is in Early Access.

Skeletal Mesh Animations and Static Mesh Animations

Twinmotion supports the import of both skeletal mesh animations and static mesh animations.

Skeletal Mesh Animations

Skeletal mesh animations are composed of skeletal meshes that are deformed by bones and which are used to animate complex 3D objects. The video below shows a skeletal mesh animation in Twinmotion.

Imported skeletal mesh animations can contain one, or several, animation sequences. The number of sequences is defined in the source file when it is created. You can view the available sequences and select which one to play in the Properties panel below the Global animation properties.

Animation sequences in a skeletal mesh animation.

The skeletal meshes inside a skeletal mesh animation appear in the Scene graph, under the root of the animation.

Skeletal mesh animation in the Scene graph.

Static Mesh Animations

Static mesh animations are composed of static meshes that cannot be deformed but have animated transforms—such as translation, rotation, and scaling—that animate over a period of time. The video below shows a static mesh animation in Twinmotion.

Supported Animated File Formats

Twinmotion supports the following animated file formats:

Twinmotion does not currently support:

• Animations without meshes associated with them, such as certain motion capture files.
• Animated cameras or animated lights are not supported and cannot be imported.
• Any kind of point-level animation, including but not limited to morph targets and blend shapes.

Materials

The materials on objects in imported animated files are processed in one of two ways:

• Textures embedded in the file and materials are automatically applied to the objects.
• Textures that are not embedded in the file but provided in a separate folder function differently:
  • If the path to the folder is set correctly in the animated file, the materials are automatically applied to the objects.
  • If the path to the folder is not set correctly, you must apply the materials to the objects manually. To apply the materials, select the animated object with the Material picker, and in the Properties panel add the texture maps to the material.

The materials applied to the objects are displayed in the Materials dock.

Materials of animated objects in the Materials dock.

You can modify these materials as you would for any other object by selecting the materials and changing their properties in the Properties panel. You can also apply materials to animated objects by dragging materials from the Library onto the animated object.

Media

Videos and Sequences

You can preview animations in videos and sequences with the video controls (Previous, Play / stop , Next) or the scrubber or playhead.

Unlike animated files, Translators and Rotators (Library > Tools > Animators) play continuously in the Viewport and in videos; the video controls and scrubber do not have an effect on them.

However, when you export a video that contains Animators, they are reinitialized to the start of the animation, as are animated files.

Images and Panoramas

You can select which part of an animation you want to show in an image or panorama in the individual export settings for images and panoramas. In the Media dock, select the image or panorama, and in the Image or Pano tabs, use the Snapshot time slider.

Snapshot time slider.

Known Issues

The animation feature in Twinmotion is in Early Access and currently has the following limitations:

• Scene graph:
  • The hierarchy of imported animated objects cannot be modified in the Scene graph. However, you can parent an animated object to any Twinmotion object.
  • Animated objects or their subparts cannot be saved in the User library.

• Custom paths: Animated objects cannot be added to a Custom path.

• Paint and Scatter tools: The Paint and Scatter tools cannot be used on animated objects.

• Copy-paste / instancing: Imported animations, and any of their sub-components, cannot be copied, pasted, or instantiated.

• File management:
  • Animated objects are imported as referenced files:
  • They are reimported each time you open a Twinmotion file.
  • They cannot be gathered by the Resource collector.
  • They are not handled by the Missing files manager.
  • If the link with the local file is broken, a broken link icon appears on the animated file in the Import dock.
  • From the menu of the animated file in the Import dock, you can relink the local file to the scene.
  • Deleting an animated file from the Import dock also deletes the associated animated objects in the scene.
  • Deleting an animated object in the Scene graph also deletes the associated animated object in the scene. (You can reset the source file path in the menu of the imported animated file in the Import dock.)

• Sketchfab library: Animated objects dragged from the Sketchfab library are not animated in the scene. Only imported animated .fbx, .gltf, or .glb files are supported.

• Compatibility with the Render engine:
  • Skeletal meshes, such as Twinmotion characters, may appear black in Lumen reflections if they are not visible by the camera.
  • Skeletal meshes do not create Lumen mesh cards, and therefore are not taken into account by the Lumen global illumination solution.
  • Static meshes that are scaled after import, whether they are animated or not, can have issues with the Lumen global illumination rendering mode.