Skip to content

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OmniStep a Game Engine?

OmniStep has some game engine-like features, but it's primarily an interactive animation and prototyping tool. It offers optional scripting support for more complex interactions and includes a built-in game loop. You can program a small game with it, but everything stays within Blender's environment.

Do I need to know scripting to use OmniStep?

No! You don’t need to know scripting to use OmniStep. It provides many options to explore and animate your scenes, including complex setups like camera rigs that interact with physics. While scripts can extend OmniStep's functionality, even if you can't script, you can still use existing scripts in your own scenes. They come with their own UI, making it easy to adjust and reuse them without writing any code.

How to deal with microstutters?

OmniStep uses frame-rate-independent calculations internally, which can compensate for stutters caused by Blender or the operating system to some extent. However, they may still appear in recordings.
To eliminate stutters, you have two options:

  1. Enable the 'Use Fixed Timestep' option in the 'Animation' section. Be aware that this can make stutters more noticeable in the viewport during recording. Additionally, ensure that your OmniStep scene framerate matches the Blender scene framerate.

  2. Don't enable 'Use Fixed Timestep', instead set a custom frame-rate that is higher than your monitors refresh rate. e.g.: set it to 80 fps for a 60 Hz display. This can sometimes help with stutter in animations and normal usage.

Should I use Quaternion or Euler Rotation for my Camera?

Quaternions are recommended for camera animations in OmniStep, particularly for smooth sequences like walk-throughs or fly-throughs. They prevent issues like motion blur and wrapping rotation values, ensuring clean transitions between keyframes. Quaternions are also ideal for fly modes, especially when using trackball rotation.

Use Euler when working with UserScripts that insert single keyframes, or with Auto-Key insert when ending the Operator, as they interpolate correctly with sparse keyframes.

Why is my geometry ignored by the collision system?

If your geometry is generated by Geometry Nodes, you often need to add a 'Realize Instances' node at the end of your node tree for the geometry to be recognized by OmniStep. Additionally, collection instances are not included by default, but you can enable them in the 'Collision' section.

Why is my Gamepad not recognized?

First, ensure that gamepad support is enabled in the add-on preferences. OmniStep currently supports only the XInput scheme for Windows. While this works with most modern gamepads, some older models may not support it.

How do I set new defaults for Speed, Gravity etc.?

The best way is to configure it into Blenders startup file. Create a new scene, set your desired OmniStep defaults, and then go to 'File > Defaults > Save Startup File'. This works for all other Blender settings as well, such as render resolution or workspace layouts.