Pre-hide Object in Animation

[caleb.inman]

I've been doing many animations recently and hiding/unhiding objects is quite a useful feature.

I am wondering if there could be a method when creating animations that allows you to hide a model before the animation even begins, so later it can be returned from 0% opacity to 100%.  Right now I am hiding all necessary parts at the beginning of an animation so they disappear in a single frame and then starting my animation from the 2nd frame.  It's a decent work-around, but I can imagine a couple ways to implement a better feature.

1: Cause hidden models in a scene tree to be "hidden" in an animation but still accessible.  Currently a hidden model in the scene tree will not appear even if called to 100% opacity in an animation.

2: Make an option for an instantaneous hide that takes zero frames, similar to a camera switch event.  That could be by default set to the 0th frame, thus allowing the whole render space to be used.

Thanks!
-Caleb

[INNEO_MWo]

You can already use this. Just define a fade animation from 0% to 0% within any time. Then jump one frame forward and back. Et voila - it stays hidden waiting till a fade from 0% to 100%.

Cheers
Marco