Data Structure
This chapter describes the metadata added to Blender’s standard object data blocks by this add-on in order to achieve its functionalities. The following sections are mainly for developers rather than general users.
Effect Shader Node Groups
Each type of visual effect is a shader node group predefined in a .blend file. Each group contains several nodes with certain names for the add-on to identify and operate on them. The node group also has some custom properties.
Necessary Nodes
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| TfxRoot | A pointer to the video/image media node group. |
| TfxNext | A pointer to the previous effect of the same media. Equal to TfxRoot if this is the first effect. For effects requiring multiple sets of UV, there are also TfxNext.001, TfxNext.002… |
| TfxParam | A pointer to another node group with a single output node defining the parameters of the effect, which is displayed in the UI panel for the user to modify. |
| TfxDriverObjLec | Indicates that this effect supports using the location of another object in the scene as a driver. |
Custom Properties
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| tfxName | Name of the effect shown in the UI panel |
| tfxPromoted | Lists pairs of node&attribute names. These attributes will be displayed in the UI panel. |
Video Playback Control
When adding a playback controller to a video/sequence, the add-on defines custom properties in the outermost effect node group, which are referred in the driver of the Image Texture Node’s frame offset value.
In case of the global manager mode, the add-on defines additional custom properties to the NLA track strip’s action data block.
Keyframe Setup
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| tfxPlaybackControl | Whether the video has a playback controller and its type. |
| tfxFrameDuration | The number of frames to be played. |
| tfxFirstFrame | The frame number of the original video to be played as the first frame. |
| tfxPlayhead | The playback slider shown in the UI panel for the user to adjust or add keyframes to. |
Global Manager
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| tfxStripStart | Caches the start frame of the NLA strip to measure the change after a user input. |
| tfxStripEnd | Caches the end frame of the NLA strip to measure the change after a user input. |
| tfxHideBefore | Whether to hide the video before it starts to play. |
| tfxHideAfter | Whether to hide the video after it finishes playing. |
| tfxInLength | The number of frames of fade-in transition effects. |
| tfxOutLength | The number of frames of fade-out transition effects. |