Maya 4.5 Fundamentals

The most complex task in animation is the animation itself. Animation requires thinking about motion, timing, and smoothness of action. It's probably where Maya excels most as a 3D tool, and unfortunately, this book has only enough space to introduce you to the fundamental aspects of animation.

Displaying several still images in sequence is what gives the illusion of motion. Just as you have been able to render still images in past chapters, you can render multiple images in sequence with the computer set to change one or more values as each image in the sequence is rendered.

In animation, there's more to animate than simple movement. Almost anything in Maya with a number attached to it can be animated. Oceans can turn into wood, gravity can be inverted, and objects can tie themselves into knots. There are a lot of possibilities and, therefore, a lot of complexities. This chapter breaks down the basics of setting up, evaluating, and editing an animation, including the following:

  • The animation interface You'll learn where to find animation tools in the Maya interface and how to work with them efficiently.

  • Understanding the different types of animation See what your options are for the different animation types and decide which one is best for your scene.

  • Setting up for animations Learn what steps you need to take before animating a scene.

  • Working with animation keys and curves You'll learn how to work with the Graph Editor to modify settings for animation keys and adjust animation curves.

  • Continue working with the lobby scene Continuing from previous chapters, you animate portions of the lobby you created.

  • Using Playblast Learn how to use this tool to quickly judge the results of your animation efforts.

Key Terms

key A marker that designates an attribute's value for an object at a specific point in time.

keyframe An animation frame containing a key that has been set for a feature or variable of an object that can be animated.

keyframe-based animation Using keys to schedule when and where events take place in the animation; these events are typically an object's "extreme" points, such as a fully extended arm and a fully flexed arm, and the computer takes care of smoothly animating the position during the time between those two extremes.

key tangent The acceleration or deceleration of a value as you approach or leave a keyframe. Animating objects involves not only how they move, but also how the motion changes with time.

animation curve The visual representation of the connections between keys for the same attribute; modified by adjusting tangents for the curve in the Graph Editor.

auto keyframe A feature that tells Maya to set a key each time an attribute's value changes, after you have manually set an initial key.

path animation Attaching an object translation to a curved path to control that object's movement.

nonlinear animation An advanced animation method that uses "clips" of animation keys on a timeline to layer and blend animation sequences independently of time. For example, a walking clip could be added over a drinking clip to get a character that drinks and walks.

Graph Editor A tool for modifying keys and animation curves in Maya.

frame rate Defines how many frames are played in a period of 1 second; measured in frames per second (fps).

playback range Tells Maya to play the animation from a specified starting frame to a specified ending frame.

Hotkeys to Memorize

Esc Stop playback of animation.

Alt+. (period) Go to next frame.

Alt+, (comma) Go to previous frame.

. (period) Go to next keyframe.

, (comma) Go to previous keyframe.

Shift+R Set key for Scale attribute.

Shift+W Set key for Translate attribute.

Shift+E Set key for Rotate attribute.

s Set key for all keyable attributes of selected object.

Shift+A Frame all curves in the Graph view.

Alt+g Open the Graph Editor.

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