Interface Overview¶
In Harmony and Maya, OTS is a single window built from the same code — only the vocabulary changes: Harmony says PEG, Maya says Joint. In Blender the same features live in a sidebar panel that follows Blender's own conventions; that layout is covered in In Blender.
The window is a grid of four pages: two formats across the top, two directions below them.
| # | Region | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Format tabs | Pivot Files (.pvt) and Animation Files (.anm) — which of the two file types you're working with |
| 2 | Direction tabs | Import and Export — which way the data flows |
| 3 | Help | Documentation, licence management, and About |
| 4 | List toolbar | Find, add, and remove rows (export pages only) |
| 5 | The list | The pegs / joints in play, indented into their hierarchy, with a Rig column |
| 6 | Options | Frame range on .anm, Scale on .pvt |
| 7 | Output path | Where the file gets written (export) or read from (import) |
| 8 | Action | The blue primary button — the only thing that touches your scene |
1 — Format tabs¶
The two top tabs are the two file types, and they are genuinely independent workflows.
- Pivot Files (.pvt) — the rest skeleton. Rig setup and recovery.
- Animation Files (.anm) — the animation plus a folded-in rest pose plus the cameras. The everyday transfer.
If you're unsure which you want, you want .anm. See Pivot Files (.pvt) and Animation Files (.anm).
2 — Direction tabs¶
Import is always the first sub-tab, because it's the more common errand: you usually receive a file before you send one.
The two directions never share state. An export list you built stays built while you go and import something else.
3 — Help¶
The ? button in the tab-bar corner opens a small menu:
| Item | Does |
|---|---|
| Documentation | Opens this site |
| Manage License… | The activation dialog — enter a key, check your trial, or open the store |
| About Octo Transform Sync | Version and credits |
4 — List toolbar¶
Three buttons, on export pages only:
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| Find — selects the rows' nodes back in your scene, so you can see what you're about to send | |
| + | Add — scans whatever is currently selected in the scene into the list |
| − | Remove — drops the highlighted rows |
+ is additive and de-duplicates: scan a second selection and it merges in, rather than replacing what you had. That's how you assemble an export set from several passes through a big scene.
Removing a row that has children promotes the children — they stay in the list, re-parented to the nearest surviving ancestor, and the exported file reflects that. Removing a root makes its children new roots.
5 — The list¶
Hierarchy is shown by indentation, not by a Parent column — the indentation is the parenting that will be rebuilt. Fold arrows appear on root rows only; a chain's interior always stays visible.
The columns differ slightly by page:
| Page | Columns |
|---|---|
.anm Export / .pvt Export |
Name · Path · Rig |
.anm Import |
Name · Target path · Rig |
.pvt Import |
Name · Pivot · Rig |
On the .anm import page every row carries a checkbox — untick anything you don't want applied. Export pages have no checkboxes: what's in the list is what gets exported.
Camera rows carry a camera icon, filled when that camera is the scene's default. On .anm import, a row painted amber did not resolve to anything in the current scene. Both are covered in The Match Tree.
The Rig column is an editable dropdown on root rows and dimmed text on children (a child always inherits its root's rig). See Rigs & Multi-Rig.
6 — Options¶
Start and End bound the export. Only frames inside the range are sampled, and the range is written into the file so the target application knows what it received.
Scene range fills both fields from the scene's own playback range.
Scale multiplies every pivot on the way out, and is divided back out on the way in. It exists for rigs authored at a different working size; leave it at 1.000 unless you know you need it.
In Blender there is also a Pivot Space choice — see In Blender.
7 — Output path¶
On export, Save As… picks the destination; the field itself is read-only, so a path can't be half-typed into a broken state.
On import, Browse… loads a file and immediately runs the match — the summary line and the list fill in before you commit to anything.
8 — The action buttons¶
The blue button is the only control that writes to your scene, and each one is a single undo step.
| Page | Buttons |
|---|---|
.anm Export |
Export Animation |
.anm Import |
Apply to PEGs / Apply to Joints · Create Rig · Create Cameras |
.pvt Export |
Export Pivots |
.pvt Import |
Build Skeleton · Create Cameras |
The secondary buttons stay disabled until they'd do something: Create Cameras only lights up if the loaded file actually contains a camera.
Nothing happens until you press one
Browsing, scanning, re-ordering, re-typing a rig name, ticking and unticking — none of it touches your scene. The window is a staging area right up to the button press.
The status bar¶
The strip at the bottom of the window does two jobs.
Feedback. After every action, a one-line result: Exported 12 PEGs, 60 frames, Applied animation to 10 joint(s), Created 2 camera(s), or an error if something went wrong. Messages clear themselves after a few seconds.
Trial banner. During the trial the same strip carries the countdown — amber for most of it, red in the final three days — with Activate and Dismiss buttons. See Licensing & Activation.