Shape Keys

After reading this page you will know how to work with the shape key list, how to create a new key and edit an existing one, how to use the management tools such as mirror keys, importing keys, and merging applied values, and how Save as New Key differs from Save Mesh.

note

SkinnedMeshRenderer only

This tab cannot be used with a plain MeshRenderer target. A notice appears instead.

List

Each row has a name, a value slider, and a number field.

• Values run from 0 to 100, and the preview updates in real time.
• Drag the name or the value left and right to change the value. Hold Shift for fine adjustment.
• Reset All to 0 resets every key at once.

Use the search box above the list to filter by name.

Row buttons

Button	What it does
S	Solo preview. Shows only that key at 100. Press Esc to clear
L	Lock, to prevent accidental changes
M	Create a mirror key

Prefix groups

Turn on Group to fold the list by name prefix. eye_blink and eye_wide are grouped under eye. Prefixes such as vrc.v_ and mouth_ are detected automatically.

Extended range

Turn on Extended range to open the slider up to -100 to 200. This is extrapolation, so the shape can break. Use it to check how far a shape can be pushed, and do not save the extreme value.

Delta heatmap

Turn on Heatmap, then click a key name in the list. The vertices that key actually moves are shown in color. If no key is selected, the window shows a hint to select one.

Solo preview

Press S on a row to view that key alone at 100. The other keys are only set aside on screen for the moment. Press Esc to clear.

While solo is on, you cannot change several key values at once. Clear solo first.

Lock

Press L on a row to lock the key. Locked keys are left out of editing, value changes, batch operations, and key import. To change the key, press L again to unlock it. The lock state is stored per project.

Several keys at once

Click a name to select it. Hold Ctrl or Shift while you click to select several keys. Batch operations on the selected keys include:

• Set the same value, or set them to 0
• Lock and unlock
• Move up or down in the order
• Delete

A batch operation is one undo step in Unity. If you press the wrong button, Ctrl+Z undoes all of it. If every selected key is locked, nothing changes.

Create a new key

Press the new-key button on the Shape Keys tab, or press N in the Scene view. Sculpting starts from the absolute shape you see now, and a bar shows that a key is being created.

• Drag: grab
• Shift: Smooth
• F: radius, Shift+F: strength
• Enter: save the new key, Esc: cancel the stroke

Set the name in the key name field. A / or a line break in a key name is replaced with _ when it is saved.

Edit an existing key

Edit a key in the list, and the tool loads that key's shape at 100% on its last frame as a solo preview. The badge changes to EDITING KEY, and a bar pinned to the window appears.

You can move to Shape and Select & Move while the edit is open. When you finish, choose one of these in the pinned bar.

• Save: confirm the key edit in the session.
• Cancel Key Edit: discard the edit. If you have sculpted something, the tool asks once more.

Confirming here does not change the asset yet

A key edit that you save is confirmed only inside the session. It reaches the mesh asset when you press Save Mesh.

If you press Save Mesh or Save as New Key without confirming the key edit, the save is blocked, and the window asks you to finish the edit first. Operations that change the vertex count (delete and separate) cannot be saved while a key edit is open.

Esc cancels only the current stroke and keeps the key edit. After you save or cancel a key edit, the stroke steps from that edit are removed from the Ctrl+Z list, so no empty undo step is left behind.

Multi-frame keys

If a key has two or more frames, the window warns you when you edit it. Only the last frame (100%) is edited.

When you save, the middle frames are updated in proportion to the change in the last frame. There is no way to edit the middle frames one by one. → Limitations

When undo goes back before the edit started

If Ctrl+Z goes back earlier than the point where the key edit started, the edit loses its reference point. In that case the tool cancels the edit automatically and tells you. This prevents a wrong delta from being saved.

Base shape edited directly

If you change the mesh in Shape or Select & Move with no key selected, you have edited the base shape. The Shape Keys tab offers two choices.

• Commit as New Key: turns the change into a new key.
• Revert Base Edits: restores the base shape to its state before the edit.

If you press Save Mesh in this state, the window asks again whether to bake into the base shape or to confirm as a new key.

Management

Button	What it does
Name	Renames the key
Duplicate	Creates a copy of the key (_Copy)
Reverse	Creates a reversed key (_Revert). Use it to get back an original expression after the base shape changed
Delete	Deletes the key. Ctrl+Z brings it back
^ / v	Moves the key up or down

If several keys share the same name, only the one you clicked in the list is edited.

Merge applied values

Merge applied values combines the visible result of all keys that are not 0 into one new key at 100. The source keys are set back to 0. It also calculates the interpolation and extrapolation of keys that have several frames.

Mirror key

Press M on a row, choose the mirror axis (usually X), and run it. The tool creates the opposite-side key.

The name is made by flipping the left and right marker in the original name.

Original name	Mirror name
...Left...	...Right... (case-insensitive matching is also tried)
xxx_L	xxx_R
L_xxx	R_xxx
xxx.L	xxx.R
No left/right marker	xxx_Mirror

Vertex pairs are found with the same spatial matching as symmetry on Shape. A vertex with no partner is mirrored only if it lies on the symmetry plane. Other vertices do not move. Normal deltas are mirrored the same way, and when a key has several frames, every frame is mirrored.

If no pair is found, no mirror key is created. If the mesh is asymmetric from the start, you must sculpt the other side by hand.

Transfer keys from another mesh

Use this section to move the shape keys of a face mesh to another mesh, such as a new hair or prop. It uses proximity mapping to find matching points.

1. Choose Source mesh. Its key list appears.
2. Check the keys to import. Select all and Select none are available.
3. Set Max distance. Matching points are searched within this distance.
4. Press Transfer.

Vertices that find no match stay where they are. If many vertices are left out, increase the max distance. Locked keys are skipped. If a key with the same name already exists, the tool asks whether to replace it.

If the import fails, the tool restores every mesh to its state before the operation.

Quick capture and Save Mesh

Both are saves, but they do different things.

	Save as New Key	Save Mesh (Bake)
What is saved	Only the change added to the base shape, as a new key	The whole Work Mesh (vertices, weights, key structure)
Asset	Not changed yet	Creates <source name>_Edit.asset
Session	Continues	Ends
Base shape	Left as it is	Saved as it is now

Save as New Key does not mix the shape you see through the current blend shape values into the key. The saved key is turned on at 100, so the current look is kept. The capture baseline is updated, so the same change is not saved twice.

If there is no change to capture, nothing is saved.

Several meshes

When several meshes are edited together, every target must be a SkinnedMeshRenderer.

The list shows only the keys whose names match on every target. Indexes may differ. Values, editing, and management apply to all meshes at the same time. If there are no common keys, the list is empty, and a new key is added to every mesh under the same name. → Multiple meshes

MingToon face proxy

This link needs the latest MingToon. When MingToon opens a face proxy source, Easy Mesh Editor starts a session on that source mesh. While you edit, the face renderer is hidden, and only the Shape tab and the Select & Move tab (vertex moves) are available. Operations that change the mesh structure, such as delete, separate, merge, normal changes, and new keys, are locked. Save Mesh hands the result to MingToon, and Discard edits leaves the source as it was.