Saturday, 4 February 2012

Animating in Maya - Quick Notes

Time stretch feature (re-time an animation)

Shift + click and drag on the timeline. ( highlights it in Red)
Grab the yellow arrow in the middle to shift the whole animation across the frames.
Grab the yellow arrows on the ends to stretch the animation's duration over the frames.

Graph Editor

To delay an animation: select the curve and use both mouse buttons + shift and select the middle of the curve to move the animation across the timing of the frames.
Make sure to select; Curves > Infinite loop so that the player will know what to do.
F key - This will automatically 'Fit' your graphs into the screens size - thus giving you a better perspective of your animation curves.

Creating a Motion Trail

Select Animate Menu > Create Editable > Motion Trail.

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Robin Silcock

I am a Second Year Games Art and Design student at Norwich University of the Arts. After exploration of a number of roles in my first year, I am now looking to graduate as a 3D Artist with applicable skills in Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush and Photoshop. I understand that my skills in this field are not there yet - but I aim to achieve this goal through consistently working through the programs in my University and Personal Projects. I love to be busy - I have always had a lot of things on my plate since the age of 7 where I successfully balanced school with Ballet, Tap, Horse-Riding, French, Piano and Singing Lessons! In the same fashion, my university schedule is just as hectic and varied; I am a Peer Mentor to first year students, Student Rep for Second Year, and President of the Enterprise Society. Like I said, I love to be busy! I am a Games Hippie - so to speak - I believe that Games if designed and harnessed in the right way, will be able to help solve many of the global issues we have today - even if it starts off in a small way. Just look at the positive effects that Facebook and Twitter have already had... When navigating my blog;
  • Works in Progress - This section is a constantly running account of all my current projects - personal and for university. It will contain reference images and website links and sometimes less than coherent posts, so be prepared!
  • Finished Pieces - This is where you will find my more polished artwork. Looking for help with Maya? Check out the posts tagged "Maya How-To's"