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# 1 01-06-2005 , 08:33 AM
scopa's Avatar
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Location: San Francisco, CA
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fixing timing in character animations

ok, so Im working on a breakdance animation on a character, and looking at my playblast, it is clear that I need to work on the timing for some of the moves (its too fast at the moment)

Since I am working with a character, I have about 10 controllers involved that need adjusting, and each one of them has a bunch of keyframes after the section I need slowing down.

How do I go about fixing this timing issue? Is there an easy way to slow it down? I know the dopesheet lets you view the keyframes, but im a bit of an idiot when it comes to the dopesheet.


"On the other hand... the early worm gets eaten."
# 2 01-06-2005 , 08:50 AM
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To slow down motion, you want to add most frames between keys. The easiest way to do this is to either move groups of keys further down the timeline or scale the keys.

Some tips while working in the dopesheet:

- LMB selects, MMB manipulates.

- Alt-MMB pans the window, Alt-RMB zooms.

- You can use Move and Scale transformations, same as the normal hotkeys.

- You can select and manipulate all keys, object transforms, or individual channels. Expand the hierarchies like you would in Outliner or Graph Editor.

- You can manipulate keys while the animation is playing.

- You can display multiple objects' keyframes. Just select them all in the scene. Make sure to select them in an order that makes sense to you, because the dopesheet lists items in the order that they are selected.

There really isn't a formula for adjusting timing. It's just a matter of moving keys around until the animation looks right.

One thing that I find helpful when adjusting timing is to hide the mesh and just look at the rig. Maya can play back animation at much higher framerates without geometry showing, so you don't have to do as many playblasts.

Also, restart Maya periodically. After using Maya for extended periods of time, the framerates tend to drop, making it difficult to time out motions.


Danny Ngan
Animator | Amaze Entertainment
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# 3 01-06-2005 , 09:54 AM
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ahh thanks danny, its looking much better now


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