PianoFlare – Cinematic MIDI Piano VFX for Blender

Documentation / User Guide

Overview

PianoFlare is a Blender add-on for creating cinematic piano MIDI visualizers. It generates a 3D piano keyboard, animated glowing MIDI note bars, key light-up effects, sparks, and camera-ready VFX scenes directly inside Blender.

PianoFlare is designed for musicians, motion designers, video creators, Blender artists, and music visualizer creators who want to create beautiful piano-based animations without building everything manually from scratch.

Main Features

• Generate a full 3D piano keyboard inside Blender

• Create glowing MIDI note bars

• Animate notes moving horizontally across the scene

• Keys light up when notes interact with them

• Optional key press animation

• Optional spark / particle hit effects

• Cinematic glow and bloom-ready materials

• Test note generation without requiring a MIDI file

• MIDI file import support

• Customizable colors, glow strength, note speed, and animation range

• Camera setup for cinematic renders

• Clean sidebar UI inside Blender

Requirements

Recommended Blender version:

Blender 3.6 or newer
Blender 4.x supported where possible

Optional Python dependency for MIDI import:

mido

If MIDI import does not work, make sure mido is installed into Blender’s Python environment.

Installation

1. Download the PianoFlare .zip add-on file.

2. Open Blender.

3. Go to:

Edit > Preferences > Add-ons

1. Click:

Install

1. Select the PianoFlare .zip file.

2. Enable the add-on by checking the checkbox.

3. Open the 3D Viewport.

4. Press N to open the sidebar.

5. Go to the PianoFlare tab.

Basic Workflow

Step 1: Generate the Piano Scene

Open the PianoFlare panel and click:

Generate Piano Scene

This creates the piano keyboard, materials, hit line, and scene collection.

Step 2: Generate Test Notes

Click:

Generate Test Notes

This creates a sample note animation so you can test the add-on without importing a MIDI file.

Step 3: Animate the Notes

Click:

Animate Notes

The note bars will animate across the scene, and the piano keys will light up when the notes reach them.

Step 4: Setup Camera

Click:

Setup Camera

This creates a cinematic camera angle for previewing or rendering the scene.

Step 5: Render

Go to Blender’s render settings and render your animation normally using:

Render > Render Animation

MIDI File Workflow

1. Prepare a .mid or .midi file.

2. In the PianoFlare panel, choose your MIDI file path.

3. Click:

Import MIDI

1. After import, click:

Animate Notes

The add-on will convert MIDI notes into visual note bars and key animations.

Important MIDI Notes

PianoFlare works best with clean piano MIDI files.

For best results:

• Use single-instrument piano MIDI files

• Avoid extremely complex orchestral MIDI files

• Keep the MIDI file organized

• Use quantized notes if possible

• Very dense MIDI files may create many objects and slow Blender down

Controls

Note Direction

Choose how notes move across the scene:

Left to Right
Right to Left

Note Speed

Controls how fast the glowing note bars travel.

Note Color

Controls the emission color of MIDI note bars.

Key Glow Color

Controls the color used when keys light up.

Glow Strength

Controls how strong the key and note emission appears.

Enable Sparks

Turns hit sparks on or off when notes reach keys.

Particle Amount

Controls how many sparks appear during note hits.

Frame Start / Frame End

Controls the animation frame range.

Recommended Render Settings

For best visuals, use:

Render Engine: Eevee / Eevee Next
Bloom: Enabled if available
World Background: Dark
Resolution: 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080
Motion Blur: Optional
Depth of Field: Optional

For cinematic music videos, use:

24 FPS or 30 FPS

For short social media videos, use:

1080 x 1920 vertical format

Known Limitations

• PianoFlare is a visualizer add-on, not a full music production tool.

• MIDI playback audio is not generated automatically.

• Audio must be added separately in Blender or video editing software.

• Very large MIDI files may slow down Blender.

• MIDI import requires the mido Python package.

• Live MIDI input may require extra setup depending on your operating system and MIDI device.

• The add-on focuses on visual piano-style animation, not perfect music notation.

Troubleshooting

The add-on does not appear in Blender

Make sure the .zip file contains the correct add-on folder and __init__.py file.

Try restarting Blender after installing.

MIDI import does not work

Make sure mido is installed in Blender Python.

The error may look like:

mido is not installed

Install mido into Blender’s Python environment and restart Blender.

The scene looks too dark

Check that:

• Bloom is enabled

• Emission strength is high enough

• Camera is facing the piano

• The world background is not fully black without lights

Blender becomes slow

Try:

• Using fewer notes

• Using a shorter MIDI file

• Disabling sparks

• Reducing particle amount

• Rendering in Eevee instead of Cycles

Support

For support, please contact the creator through the Superhive product page.

When reporting an issue, include:

• Blender version

• Operating system

• PianoFlare version

• Screenshot of the error

• Steps to reproduce the problem

• MIDI file details if the issue is MIDI-related

License

This product is intended for use according to the license selected on Superhive.

Do not redistribute, resell, or reupload the add-on files unless the license allows it.