In This Chapter

The most complex task in animation is the animation itself. Adding the fourth dimension of time takes the art form to a state where it's hard to make a single sketch or form a single thought to plan your animated idea. Animation requires a new kind of thinking ”about motion, timing, and smoothness for a given action. It's probably where Maya most excels as a 3D tool, and in this book, unfortunately we have space to introduce you to only the fundamental aspects of animation.

Displaying several still images in sequence is what gives the illusion of motion. And 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.

When we speak of animation, there's more to animate than simple movement. Virtually anything in Maya with a number attached can be animated. Oceans can turn to wood, gravity can be inverted, and objects can tie themselves into knots. A lot of possibilities ”and, therefore, a lot of complexity. We'll break down the basics of setting up, evaluating, and editing an animation, including:

• 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 how the different animation types work to 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 your house Continuing from previous chapters, you are going to animate portions of the house you have created.

• Using the 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 an object.

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 in between.

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 the 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 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 will be played in a period of one 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.

Playblast Maya's quick-shaded animation previewer.

Hotkeys to Memorize

Alt+v play or stop the animation

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 a key at the current frame

Shift+A frame all curves in the Graph view