keyframe animation tutorials

# 1 01-02-2007 , 12:01 PM

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Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: australia

Posts: 62

hey guys.

its taken me ages, but if finally managed to finish my model, rig, and painted the inflouences to an acceptable standard.

one problem. i've tried everything and can't seem to animate it! i set one keyframe, move to another, make my changes then set another, but then the first keyframe is in the same pose.

i was wondering if you could either A- tell me what im doing wrong, or B- point me into some helpful tutorials.

thanx guys-

-JAZZA

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# 2 01-02-2007 , 07:25 PM

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Join Date: May 2005

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outliner

you have to go into your outliner and selest all the joints and set a key for them first.you cannot select them all in a viewport it doesent work that way.so on your first frame open your outliner select all your joints(make sure all the dropdowns + are open)set a key then from there theyll all work. even for individual keys.even if you use autokey.if this helps let me know.

SWEET!

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# 3 01-02-2007 , 07:55 PM

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hangon, i have to set an individual key for each joint, every keyframe? theres over 100 joints!

whats auto key? is there an easier/quicker way?

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# 4 01-02-2007 , 11:26 PM

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Nope, not at all. You've got to set a key for everything that moves, at the first frame. Then, if you've got parts that stay stationary for a while, you set a key at the start and end of that still section - no need to worry about the inbetween bits when moving, maya automatically calculates that based on the amount of movement and the number of keys it is performed in. Mocap uses a key at every frame, but generally, you'll be setting keys far, far less frequently.

If there are nevery any parts that are stationary, you just set one at the end of each movement.

As for autokey, F1 - search for "auto key" - the help's pretty good. To turn auto key on and off, just click on the key icon in the bottom right of the screen.

Nah, don't know that it really can get any easier than this, to be honest.

Just save a copy of your file and then have a play around for a little bit, you'll have the hang of it in no-time.

Simon.

Last edited by enhzflep; 01-02-2007 at 11:28 PM.

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# 5 02-02-2007 , 12:18 AM

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I would never recommend keyframing everything ever. This just creates a lot of info builds up info on the time line and animation graphs. Only keyframe what you need to.

If you keyframe everything you will have a lot ot tiding up to do in the end. AutoKey is the system that automatically sets or updates changes to movement in ik handles or joints or geometry. Click the Key button to the right of the timeline and it will turn red. Autokeying is on.

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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# 6 02-02-2007 , 12:40 AM

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Yeah, autokey is an awesome tool, though does have tendencies to play up occassionally.

If you believe in telekinesis, raise my right hand.

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# 7 02-02-2007 , 02:19 AM

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If you've set up your rig using a hierarchy then you can just select that and key that instead if you wanted!

Auto key might be the best bet as these guys have said, but I aint an animation expert, just getting my feet wet so to speak.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 8 02-02-2007 , 09:36 AM

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not each

you dont have to set a key per each joint.select them all at once and set one key for all the joints together so you only have one key not hundereds.auto key is cool you just have to learn how to use it.its real picky.anyway after you set your first key as mentioned then just set keys for what you move.you only have to key all joints once.

SWEET!

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keyframe animation tutorials

outliner

not each

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