Tasks for Any Type of Animation
This chapter covers a number of general issues and tasks that can apply to any animation technique or tool in Softimage.
• Marking parameters is a way of telling Softimage what you intend to animate so that it keeps just the right amount of information. You can mark parameters for many animation purposes, including setting keys, copying and removing animation, or storing animation in an action.
See Marking Parameters for Animation for more information.
• Animation ghosting, also known as onion-skinning, lets you display a series of snapshots of animated objects at different frames or keyframes. This lets you easily visualize the motion of an object, which can help you improve its timing and flow.
See Ghosting Animated Objects for more information.
• You can copy and paste animation from objects or parameters using different tools.
See Copying Animation for more information.
• Plotting animation “bakes” together any kind of animation information on a parameter into a single function curve. This is useful when you want to bring different types of animation together into one source or if you’re exporting animation.
See Plotting (Baking) Animation for more information.
• Muting animation helps you isolate parts of an animation so that you can focus on specific areas at a time, making sure that you get each part of the animation working properly before you bring it all together.
See Muting (Deactivating) Animation for more information.
• Building animation relationships involving constraints, expressions, and scripted operators can often lead to evaluation cycles. Softimage implements internal cycle checking to prevent cycles from occurring in a scene. As well, there are tools to help you run cycle checks to prevent problems.
See Checking for Animation Dependency Cycles for more information.
• If you have some animation you need to get rid of, you can remove different types of animation from objects or parameters using different tools.
See Removing Animation for more information.
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