Engineering Dynamics Company

Recon Toolkit™

Accident Reconstruction Tools for Blender

Recon Toolkit — User Guide

Data-driven animation and analysis for accident reconstruction in Blender.

This guide walks through installing the add-on, finding its panels, and completing the common tasks step by step.

Contents

1. What this add-on does
2. Install and find the panels
3. CSV import basics
4. Task guides
   • Animate from EDR data
   • Animate from a motion table (X, Y, Z, roll, pitch, yaw)
   • Place survey points
   • Scale a scene to a known distance
   • Motion paths and timed markers
   • Bake speed and acceleration
5. Units and scale
6. Example files
7. Troubleshooting
8. License & support

What this add-on does

Recon Toolkit turns recorded crash data — EDR reports, motion tables, survey points — into animated Blender scenes, and adds the measurement and visualization tools reconstructionists need to present motion clearly.

The add-on targets Blender 4.x and uses only Blender's bundled Python modules — no extra installation.

Install and find the panels

1. In Blender, open Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Install… and select the ReconToolkit-<version>.zip file.
2. Enable Recon Toolkit in the add-ons list.
3. Open the 3D View sidebar with <kbd>N</kbd> and select the EDC Toolkits tab.

The add-on's preferences let you rename the sidebar tab — set it to an existing tab's name to share a tab with other add-ons.

On Blender 4.2+ the same zip also installs as an extension (Preferences → Get Extensions → Install from Disk), and updates automatically when added from the EDC Software repository.

CSV import basics

Every importer reads CSV files the same forgiving way:

• Columns are auto-matched by header name — case-, spacing-, and unit-insensitive, with common abbreviations understood (e.g. t, time; spd, speed; yaw rate, yawrate).
• Header-less files map by column position instead.
• Every mapping can be overridden with the dropdowns in the panel, so reordered or extra columns are fine.

Load a file first, then confirm or adjust the column mapping before importing.

Task guides

Animate from EDR data

Use EDR Data Importer / Entry to drive a vehicle from event-data-recorder output. You can import a CSV or hand-enter rows.

1. Select the target object to animate and set the frame rate in the panel.
2. Choose an input mode:
   • Yaw Rate — from Time, Speed, Yaw Rate rows.
   • Steering Wheel Angle — from Time, Speed, Steering Wheel Angle; set the wheelbase and steering-gear ratio so the bicycle model can derive yaw.
   • Path Follow — follow an existing curve or polyline using a Time, Speed profile.
3. *(Optional)* Enable the slip-angle estimate and tune its gain and clamp.
4. Import (or enter) the rows to key the object's motion.

Speeds are read as mph in Imperial scenes and m/s in Metric scenes (see Units and scale). Imported rows are stored on the animated object.

Animate from a motion table

Use Motion Data Importer when you already have a full pose per timestamp (Time, X, Y, Z, Roll, Pitch, Yaw).

1. Select the target object and load the CSV.
2. Only Time is required — any missing field defaults to 0.
3. Choose linear or constant extrapolation for times outside the data range.

Imported rows are stored on the animated object.

Place survey points

Use Point Importer to bring a survey coordinate list into the scene.

1. Load a CSV of points (number, description, X, Y, Z).
2. The tool creates circle markers with point-number and description labels in an Imported Points collection, using a configurable scale factor.
3. Points that share a description are connected into a polyline.

Scale a scene to a known distance

Use Scale Objects to bring imported geometry to real-world scale.

1. In Edit Mode, select two vertices a known distance apart.
2. Enter the known real-world distance.
3. Apply — the object is scaled so the two vertices match that distance.

Motion paths and timed markers

• Motion Path Tools — generate, remove, and toggle Blender motion paths for an animated object, and convert a motion path to an editable 3D curve (handy as a Path Follow target for the EDR importer).
• Timed Location Markers — drop triangle markers along an animated object's motion at a fixed time interval, with configurable size, forward axis, yaw offset, and optional time-label text.

Bake speed and acceleration

Use Speed + Acceleration to read motion off an animated object for HUD-style readouts or analysis.

1. Select the animated object.
2. Set the averaging window (centered), forward axis, and yaw offset; optionally restrict to XY-only.
3. Bake — results are written as animated custom properties (average/forward speed, and forward/lateral/vertical acceleration) on a helper empty named SpeedData_<object>.

Units are chosen automatically from the scene, or can be forced.

Units and scale

Recon Toolkit respects the scene's Unit System (Scene Properties → Units):

• In Imperial scenes, speeds are mph.
• In Metric scenes, speeds are m/s.

Set your unit system before importing so speeds and distances are interpreted correctly. Use Scale Objects to match imported geometry to real-world dimensions.

Example files

Bundled in examples/ for trying each importer:

Troubleshooting

• Speeds look 2–3× off? Check the scene's Unit System — mph vs m/s is chosen from it. Set Imperial or Metric to match your data.
• Columns mapped to the wrong fields? Override any column with the panel's mapping dropdowns; header-less files map by position and can be remapped.
• Steering-mode yaw looks wrong? Confirm the wheelbase and steering-gear ratio — the bicycle model derives yaw from them.
• Object won't follow the path? In Path Follow mode the target must be a curve or polyline; convert a motion path to a curve first with Motion Path Tools.
• Nothing animates after import? Confirm the correct target object and frame rate were set in the panel before importing.

License & support

Recon Toolkit™ is a trademark of Engineering Dynamics Company (Anthony Cornetto). The source code is GPL v2 or later. Recon Toolkit is a reconstruction and visualization aid, not a substitute for professional engineering judgment — independently validate every result. See the bundled LICENSE file for licensing and the full disclaimer.

Official builds, updates, and support are provided by Engineering Dynamics Company; visit edccorp.com or contact EDC support.