Introduction to Keyframing Maya 2012

Transcription

1 Michael O'Rourke Introduction to Keyframing Maya 2012 Concept CG keyframing mimics the keyframe approach of traditional animation originally perfected by the Walt Disney Studios in 1920s Procedure is simple: User goes to desired frame User positions model User saves a keyframe for that model at that frame The software creates frames in between the keyframes, by interpolating data for each model between keyframed positions Interpolate = calculate new values between other values Define Settings Before starting, you need to define several critical settings WARNING: The default is not what you want for some of these so it is important for you to set them correctly >Windows >Settings/Preferences >Preferences >Interface >UI Elements Check on Time Slider and Range Slider >Settings >Working Units >Time = NTSC (30 fps) For NTSC video, as used in the United States NOTE: this is not Maya s default

2 >Animation >Tangents Default In/Out Tangents = Clamped This is the default interpolation type >Time Slider >Time Slider Animation Start/End = 1, 300 = the length of your animation Playback Start/End = 1, 300 = the range you will be working with >Playback >Update View = All so all windows will play the animation >Playback Speed = Real-time (30 fps) to force playback at true video rate >Save Create a Simple Scene >Polygons >Create >Polygon Primitives >Cube >Lights >Directional Light position the light In the Persp window, >Shading >Smooth Shade All >Lighting >Use All Lights Define some keyframes >Animation In the Timeline (bottom of screen), go to frame 1

3 Two methods: Left-mouse button click and drag your time slider marker to frame Click in Current Frame box (to right of timeline), type in 1 Select the cube Hit the w (lower-case w) key for translation mode Translate your cube to the left side of the Persp window With the cube selected and the frame marker at frame 1, >Animate >Set Key [] >Edit >Reset Settings, to get the default settings >Set Key In the Channel Box, notice that the parameters are now colored, indicating that they are keyframed >Window >Hypergraph:Hierarchy Notice that the cube node is now a slanted parallelogram, to indicate it is keyframed Left-mouse click/drag the time slider marker Notice that there is a little red line at frame 1, to indicate that it is now a keyframe for the cube Click/drag the time slider marker to frame that is, two seconds of time (60 frames / 30 frames per second = 2 seconds) Translate your cube to the right side of the Persp window Also, rotate and scale it >Animate >Set Key A red marker appears at frame 60, indicating it is now a keyframe for the cube Drag the time slider back and forth in the Timeline The cube now animates from frame 1 to frame 60

4 Hit the Play button (right triangle) on the playback console (lower right corner of screen) The animation plays It plays at true video rate because you set Playback Speed = Real-time (30 fps) in >Windows >Settings/Preferences >Preferences Define more keyframes Make sure the cube is selected Click/drag the time slider marker to frame 90 That is, to 3 seconds Move, rotate or scale your cube again Hit the s (lower-case s) key This is a shortcut for saving a keyframe It uses the settings you chose in >Animate >Set Key[] A red keyframe marker appears at frame 90 Make several more keyframes for the cube, using the same technique Automatic Keyframing Click on the tiny key icon (far lower right of screen), called Auto Keyframe Toggle It turns red o indicate automatic keyframing is now on Every time you transform an object (translate, rotate,or scale it), a keyframe will automatically be written at your current frame TIP: Make sure you drag the time slider to the new frame before you transform the object Make sure the cube is still selected Drag the timeslider to a frame that is not a keyframe Move, rotate or scale your cube A keyframe is automatically written at that frame Notice the little red marker in the timeline

5 Drag to another frame Transform your cube Another keyframe is automatically written WARNING: automatic keyframing remains active until you click off the key icon If you forget it is on, you will accidentally save a keyframe every time you try to move your object So. Click the little key icon (Auto Keyframe Toggle) to turn off automatic keyframing The Playback Range For a long animation, you may want to focus on only a smaller range of frames The playback range slider is below the timeline slider Your current animation is 300 frames long Your playback range is also 300 frames long That is, the entire animation Click and drag the icon on the left end of the playback range slider The timeline is scaled accordingly Move the right end of the playback range Click in the center of the range slider and drag left/right Adjust the range slider to show all 300 frames again Deleting animation To delete one keyframe: Make sure the cube is still selected Advance the time slider to the keyframe you want to delete Several techniques for this: Hit the Next Keyframe button on the play console (right triangle plus vertical red line) or Type in the current frame number (small white window to right of timeline)

6 or Left-mouse drag the time slider to the frame Now, with the time slider at the desired keyframe In the timeslider bar, Right mouse, >Delete To delete all the animation for the object, select the object >Edit >Delete by Type >Channels (A channel is a set of animated parameters) All the red keyframe markers disappear from the Timeline