Reply To: Pose mode vs Object mode

[Dwayne Savage]

If it has an armature then you animate in pose mode. Simple object transforms can be animated directly. Since Blender 2.80 you have the ability to select multiple armatures and switch to pose mode. This is only important if you have Lock Object Modes checked(It is by default). So, if you want to add an armature for all animated objects you can. Now the question on to Root bone or not to Root bone. If it’s something that wouldn’t have an offset  then you don’t need a root bone. Some riggers always add a root. 

I only animate in blender and I prefer to work with armatures so I always use an armature. Even if it’s only 1 bone. Take a chair. Is it part of a dining set? then you can combine the chairs and table into a single control armature for animating. I like this because you can easly reset the table and chairs to a default starting point(Reset positon in blender terms). If you animated each object separately then you have to go thru and move them manually back to default positon. Note: I know you can use Delta Transforms and an empty to set a default position, but I still prefer an armature. 

Note: For those who don’t know what I mean by a control armature. A control armature is the armature with the controls that the animator uses. The controls can control other armatures and/or objects. The Dinning table and chairs example. You can have an armature for each chair and the table with a single child of constraint. Set the constraint to the desired control armature. The control armature would have a bone for each chair and the table in starting location. This way you put all  reusable animations on the control armature. With this setup you can switch out chairs and table easily and can use the reusable animations.