Update 16th Aug 2023: Version 1.2 is now released. Changes include:
1) Enhancements: Now you can choose a location for the placement of the flag (Above, Left, Right, Front), and you have an option to hide the flag pole.
2) Bug Fixes: There is a limitation in Blender's cloth physics that restricts the flag from waving at times. To resolve this, we have implemented a patch in this version.

Update 26th Jul 2023: Version 1.1 is now released. Changes include:
1) Enhancements: The flag is now hooked to the flag pole. You can move or animate the flag pole, the flag will remain attached to it and follow the pole while waving.
2) Bug Fixes: The flag was occasionally penetrating the flag pole, now it is fixed.

With this Add-on, you can quickly create flags for a number of data columns or any group of objects. It can be very useful for 3D data visualization or world data comparison videos etc.

You can customize everything from the operator box - like the length & width of the flags, the height and the direction, wind strength, flag pictures etc.

When you install this add-on, you will get a new menu item called Add Auto Flag under the Object menu - as shown below.

You need to prepare a composition like below for your data comparison video. The data columns or the pillars must be grouped under a separate collection. And they must be named in an alphabetical or alphanumerical order.

Now, select one of these objects (important step) and invoke Add Auto Flag from the menu. Please note: If you do not select an object or if you select a wrong object, the add-on won't work.

When you run the add-on, it will show several options as shown below. To know more about these options, please refer to the How-To-Use document which is included in the download section.

The most important step is to select a folder where you have the flag pictures named as 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. The pictures must follow this sequential order or naming, otherwise the add-on won't work.

You can either enable the bake option, or skip it. It is possible to use manual baking later for the cloth physics. Baking will wave your flags. If you enable baking, the add-on will bake all the physics for your scene for the entire length of your composition. This can take a good amount of time and the screen will freeze during this baking. If you are worried about the freeze, please go for manual baking.

You are not limited to only rectangular columns or pillars, you can use any object as shown below. If you use non-rectangular shapes, you may want to disable the Offset option on the add-on so that the flag poles are positioned right at the center of your object.

We hope that you find this add-on useful in your project. For any assistance, or for any bug reporting, please feel free to send a mail to [email protected] or connect to us via our YouTube channel. We are always there to help you!

Watch our video tutorial and product demo here!