Editing the animation of clips
You can modify the animation of a clip using the Graph Editor in the same way that you would modify
any other type of animation. Because you are working with the clip, and not the original animation, you
won't change the original source clip animation.
In this section, you use the Graph Editor to modify the animation for each clip so the aircraft's motion
accelerates and decelerates at the beginning and end of each clip.
To use the Graph Editor to modify a clip in Trax
1. Click on the Aircraft_Rise clip to select it.
The selected clip highlights in yellow.
2. From the Trax menu, select View > Graph Anim Curves.
The Graph Editor appears.
3. In the Graph Editor, shift-select the two keys on the animation curve as shown below.
4. In the Graph Editor, select Tangents > Flat.
The shape of the animation curve updates to a gentle S-shape. Setting the tangents for the
animation curve in this manner modifies the clip's animation to cause the aircraft to accelerate
when it first rises, and decelerate when it nears the end of its vertical travel.
Reusing clips within Trax
You can save and reuse clips for future use. You can key specific types of motion or attribute effects,
save them as clips, and reuse the clips for other characters.
When you reuse a clip created for one character and apply it to another, the clip attributes must be
mapped to correspond between the two characters. For more information see What is Character
Mapping? in the Maya Help.
In this lesson, you work with clips created for this aircraft animation. The clips contain animation to
make the aircraft shift to the left and right and bank left and right.
To load a clip from disk
1. From the Trax menu, select File > Import Clip.
The File Browser appears. When importing a clip, the File Browser defaults to the clip directory of
your current project.
You can open the clip Bank_Left.ma from the Maya Documentation, Lessons, and Extras CD or
from the drive where you copied the Getting Started files. The file will be found in the clip
sub-directory.
2. Select the file named Bank_Left.ma and click the Import button.
The clip is imported and appears in the Outliner named as Bank_LeftSource to indicate it is a
source clip.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to import the clips Bank_Right, Shift_Left and Shift_Right.
When you have finished, four new clips appear in the Outliner as source clips. In the steps that
follow, you place and position the clips on tracks in the Trax Editor.
Note
When you import clips they also appear in, and can be accessed from, the Visor (Window > General
Editors > Visor). The Visor is a graphical interface that allows you to import items that reside on disk or
in your current file (files, textures, clips poses, etc.). Clips that are assigned to a character in Trax will
appear listed under the Character Clips tab in the Visor. Clips that have not yet been placed on a track
will appear listed in the Visor under the Unused Clips tab.
To place clips into a track from the Outliner
1. In the Outliner, drag the clip named Bank_LeftSource into the same track as the Rise and Lower
clips using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track that the clip
will fit into.
2. Position the Bank_Left clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number on
the Aircraft_Rise clip, as shown below.
3. Drag the clip named Bank_RightSource from the Outliner into the same track as the Rise and Lower
clips using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track that the clip
will fit into.
4. Position the Bank_Right clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number
on the Bank_Left clip, as shown below.
You can also drag clips from the Outliner or Visor into the Trax Editor and create a new track for them to
be placed in.
5. Drag the clip named Shift_Left1Source from the Outliner using the middle mouse button, but this
time, drag to the narrow blue area above the tracks before releasing your middle mouse button.
A new track appears in the Trax Editor and the clip is placed on the new track.
The narrow blue box is the summary track for the character set (in this case the Aircraft) The
summary track represents all of the clips under a character, subcharacter, or group. When you
import a clip onto the summary area by dragging it from the Outliner or Visor, the Trax Editor
creates a new track for the clip.
6. Click-drag the Shift_Left clip so it lies directly below the Bank_Left clip on the track above it.
Because the Shift_Left clip is positioned directly below the Bank_Left clip, the actions will occur
simultaneously when the animation is played back.
7. Drag the clip named Shift_Right1Source from the Outliner into the same track as the Shift_Left
clip using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track.
8. Position the Shift_Right clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number
on the Shift_Left clip, as shown below.
9. In the front view menu, select Panels > Perspective > persp.
The view updates to display the aircraft from a perspective view.
10. Dolly and track the view so you can fully see the area the aircraft will travel within.
11.Click play on the Time Slider's playback control to play back the animation.
After the aircraft rises, it travels forwards as before but now it shifts sideways to the left while
one wing tips downwards, and then shifts sideways to the right, while the opposite wing tips
downwards.
12. Click stop on the Time Slider's playback control.
You can modify the animation of a clip using the Graph Editor in the same way that you would modify
any other type of animation. Because you are working with the clip, and not the original animation, you
won't change the original source clip animation.
In this section, you use the Graph Editor to modify the animation for each clip so the aircraft's motion
accelerates and decelerates at the beginning and end of each clip.
To use the Graph Editor to modify a clip in Trax
1. Click on the Aircraft_Rise clip to select it.
The selected clip highlights in yellow.
2. From the Trax menu, select View > Graph Anim Curves.
The Graph Editor appears.
3. In the Graph Editor, shift-select the two keys on the animation curve as shown below.
4. In the Graph Editor, select Tangents > Flat.
The shape of the animation curve updates to a gentle S-shape. Setting the tangents for the
animation curve in this manner modifies the clip's animation to cause the aircraft to accelerate
when it first rises, and decelerate when it nears the end of its vertical travel.
Reusing clips within Trax
You can save and reuse clips for future use. You can key specific types of motion or attribute effects,
save them as clips, and reuse the clips for other characters.
When you reuse a clip created for one character and apply it to another, the clip attributes must be
mapped to correspond between the two characters. For more information see What is Character
Mapping? in the Maya Help.
In this lesson, you work with clips created for this aircraft animation. The clips contain animation to
make the aircraft shift to the left and right and bank left and right.
To load a clip from disk
1. From the Trax menu, select File > Import Clip.
The File Browser appears. When importing a clip, the File Browser defaults to the clip directory of
your current project.
You can open the clip Bank_Left.ma from the Maya Documentation, Lessons, and Extras CD or
from the drive where you copied the Getting Started files. The file will be found in the clip
sub-directory.
2. Select the file named Bank_Left.ma and click the Import button.
The clip is imported and appears in the Outliner named as Bank_LeftSource to indicate it is a
source clip.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to import the clips Bank_Right, Shift_Left and Shift_Right.
When you have finished, four new clips appear in the Outliner as source clips. In the steps that
follow, you place and position the clips on tracks in the Trax Editor.
Note
When you import clips they also appear in, and can be accessed from, the Visor (Window > General
Editors > Visor). The Visor is a graphical interface that allows you to import items that reside on disk or
in your current file (files, textures, clips poses, etc.). Clips that are assigned to a character in Trax will
appear listed under the Character Clips tab in the Visor. Clips that have not yet been placed on a track
will appear listed in the Visor under the Unused Clips tab.
To place clips into a track from the Outliner
1. In the Outliner, drag the clip named Bank_LeftSource into the same track as the Rise and Lower
clips using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track that the clip
will fit into.
2. Position the Bank_Left clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number on
the Aircraft_Rise clip, as shown below.
3. Drag the clip named Bank_RightSource from the Outliner into the same track as the Rise and Lower
clips using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track that the clip
will fit into.
4. Position the Bank_Right clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number
on the Bank_Left clip, as shown below.
You can also drag clips from the Outliner or Visor into the Trax Editor and create a new track for them to
be placed in.
5. Drag the clip named Shift_Left1Source from the Outliner using the middle mouse button, but this
time, drag to the narrow blue area above the tracks before releasing your middle mouse button.
A new track appears in the Trax Editor and the clip is placed on the new track.
The narrow blue box is the summary track for the character set (in this case the Aircraft) The
summary track represents all of the clips under a character, subcharacter, or group. When you
import a clip onto the summary area by dragging it from the Outliner or Visor, the Trax Editor
creates a new track for the clip.
6. Click-drag the Shift_Left clip so it lies directly below the Bank_Left clip on the track above it.
Because the Shift_Left clip is positioned directly below the Bank_Left clip, the actions will occur
simultaneously when the animation is played back.
7. Drag the clip named Shift_Right1Source from the Outliner into the same track as the Shift_Left
clip using the middle mouse button. Ensure you drag into an open area on the track.
8. Position the Shift_Right clip on the track so its Frame In number matches the Frame Out number
on the Shift_Left clip, as shown below.
9. In the front view menu, select Panels > Perspective > persp.
The view updates to display the aircraft from a perspective view.
10. Dolly and track the view so you can fully see the area the aircraft will travel within.
11.Click play on the Time Slider's playback control to play back the animation.
After the aircraft rises, it travels forwards as before but now it shifts sideways to the left while
one wing tips downwards, and then shifts sideways to the right, while the opposite wing tips
downwards.
12. Click stop on the Time Slider's playback control.
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