> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://animotive.gitbook.io/animotive-kimodo/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://animotive.gitbook.io/animotive-kimodo/working-in-sequencer/assistant-panel.md). # Kimodo Assistant Panel The **Kimodo Assistant** is a guided, dockable panel that puts the whole Animotive Kimodo workflow in one place — meant for animators who don't live in Unreal day-to-day. Instead of hunting through the Sequencer details panel, the Constraints track, and Project Settings, you drive everything from this one window. ## Opening the panel There are two ways to open it: * The **Kimodo Assistant** button on the Sequencer toolbar, right next to **Generate with Kimodo**. Clicking it toggles the panel open and closed. * **Tools → Animotive Kimodo → Assistant**. Dock it wherever you like — floating beside the viewport, or tabbed next to the Monitor. The layout is remembered between editor sessions. ## Active target The top section always tells you **what the next generation will act on**. It resolves the same target the **Generate with Kimodo** button uses, so the two never disagree: * The **actor / binding name** and the **Animotive Kimodo** track it belongs to. * A status line describing the current state. The readout follows you automatically — select a different character binding in Sequencer, or open another sequence, and it updates within a moment. You can also press **Refresh** to re-resolve immediately. ### What the status line tells you * **No Level Sequence open** — open a sequence to begin. * **No Animotive Kimodo track in this sequence** — add an Animotive Kimodo track to a character binding first (see [Animotive Kimodo Track](/animotive-kimodo/working-in-sequencer/animotive-kimodo-track.md)). * **Generating for: *****name*** — a target is resolved and ready. * **No Control Rig found** (amber warning) — the track exists but no companion Control Rig was found, so generation would use the limited no-rig path. > The Assistant is read-only here — it never changes your sequence just by looking at the target. Resolving the target does not create or modify any bindings. ## The track strip The centre of the panel is a compact **mini-timeline** that mirrors your sequence, so you can navigate and read your constraints without leaving the Assistant: * The big number is the **current frame**; beside it is the sequence length (**/ N frames**). * **Diamonds** mark every frame that carries a constraint; the little **coloured bars** beneath each one show which channels are set there (each channel has its own colour — see the legend below the strip). * The blue line with the frame flag is the **playhead**. * **Click or drag** anywhere on the strip to scrub the playhead. **Scroll** to zoom about the cursor, or use the **−／＋／□** buttons to zoom out, zoom in, and frame the whole range. * The thin bar underneath is an **overview minimap** of the entire sequence with your current view window — drag it to pan when you're zoomed in. Below the strip are two **Keyframe Pose** buttons. Both snapshot the **entire** Control Rig pose at the current frame and set a constraint key there, in a single undo step — they differ only in which constraint they set: * **Keyframe Pose (Full Body) at *****N*** sets a **Full-Body** constraint key — the whole pose is held for Kimodo to solve around. * **Keyframe Pose (Position Only) at *****N*** sets a **2D Root** constraint key instead — only the character's root position is constrained, leaving Kimodo free to resolve the rest of the body. Use them after posing your character to lock that pose in. Re-clicking never removes the constraint key (it only re-keys), so either button is safe to press again after tweaking a pose. The two are independent: pressing one only ensure-adds its own constraint and never removes the other's. > Dragging that **Full-Body** key to a new frame in Sequencer **moves its paired Control Rig pose with it** (the pose is preserved, the old frame cleared) rather than leaving the pose stranded. See [Constraints Track → Authoring a constraint](/animotive-kimodo/working-in-sequencer/constraints-track.md#authoring-a-constraint) for the details. ## Constraints The **Constraints** section is the easy way to author Kimodo constraints — no more hopping to the Constraints track and adding markers by hand. Six toggle buttons, one per constraint type, each with its **channel colour** swatch: * **Full Body**, **2D Root**, **L Hand**, **R Hand**, **L Foot**, **R Foot** Each button toggles that constraint **at the current frame**: * Click once to **set** the constraint at this frame — the button turns **blue** to show it's active here. * Click again to **clear** it. (Blue off.) These toggle buttons only manage constraint markers — they never touch the Control Rig pose. The one exception is the **Full Body** toggle: setting a Full-Body key (here or on the track) also snapshots and keys the Control Rig pose at that frame, so a held whole-body pose always has a matching Control Rig key. To set a Full-Body constraint and lock the pose in one step, use **Keyframe Pose** (above). The companion **Kimodo Constraints** track is created automatically the first time you set a constraint. ### Constrained frames Below the buttons, the **Constrained frames** list shows every frame that carries a constraint as coloured **chips** for each channel, with a **{n} keyed** count in the header. Click a row to **jump the playhead** to that frame (the current frame's row is highlighted); hover a row and click the **✕** to **clear all constraints** at that frame. ## Retargeters The **Retargeters** and **Seed** sections are collapsible and start collapsed, so the panel stays compact for everyday work — expand a section only when you need to tweak it. The **Retargeters** section auto-expands whenever it detects a problem (amber status), so you don't miss it. The **Retargeters** section edits the two IK Retargeters the track uses, without opening the Sequencer details panel: * **Soma → Character (import)** — the *Forward* retargeter, applied when the solved animation comes back onto your character. * **Character → Soma (export)** — the *Reverse* retargeter, applied when your character's motion is baked onto the SOMA skeleton. Pick an asset in either slot to override it. Changing a slot marks the track as a **Manual override** so the auto-detector won't clobber your choice. Press **Re-detect** to scan the project for IK Retargeter assets that match this character's skeleton and the SOMA skeleton and refill both slots automatically. The status line shows the result: * **Auto-detected** / **Manual override** — you're good. * **Multiple matches** (amber) — more than one retargeter fits; pick the right ones by hand. * **No matching retargeter found** (amber) — none fit; pick or create one. ## Seed The **Seed** controls how Kimodo's randomness is sourced for the next generation: * **Fixed** — uses the seed value in the box. The same poses + same seed produce the same motion every time (reproducible). * **Random** — the plugin picks a fresh seed each time you generate. The resolved value is recorded on the Monitor entry, so you can copy it back into **Fixed** to re-run a result you liked. The number box is editable only in **Fixed** mode. ## Generate At the bottom is the **Generate** button. Its label reflects the backend you've selected in settings — **Generate with Animotive Kimodo**, **…(Docker)**, or **…(Remote)** — and clicking it runs the exact same pipeline as the **Generate with Kimodo** toolbar button. ### Pre-flight checks Just above the button, the Assistant shows amber warnings when something isn't ready, so you catch problems before generating: * Retargeters not fully set * Control Rig is muted (Generate will unmute it automatically — see below) * Constraints set but no usable pose source Constraints are optional, so having none is **not** flagged. When everything's good, the warnings disappear. ### Status & Monitor The status strip shows your most recent generation and its state (e.g. *Processing*, *Completed*). **Open Monitor** opens the full [Animotive Kimodo Monitor](/animotive-kimodo/working-in-sequencer/monitor-panel.md) for detailed history. When the active backend is **Animotive** and an API key is set, the footer also shows your available **credit balance** (e.g. `Credits: 0 credits`), so you know what you have before generating. It refreshes when the panel opens and after each generation. See [Credit balance display](/animotive-kimodo/setup/animotive-backend.md#credit-balance-display). > **Muted Control Rigs are unmuted automatically.** Whenever you generate — from the Assistant or the toolbar — any muted Control Rig on the target is unmuted first, so a muted rig no longer silently degrades the result.