How To Animate Object Visibility Over Time Maya

Basic Animation Exercise

Now that you have learned how to model, shade, and light objects in Maya, it is time for yous to learn how to make these objects move. Before standing this exercise, download and open ball.ma, a scene containing a simple ball. We generally animate in 30 frames per second, so click the Blitheness Preferences button (), go to the Settings category, and make certain Time is prepare to NTSC (30 fps).

Likewise, for the purpose of this practice, in Blitheness Preferences become to the Animation category then set Default in tangent to Clamped and Default out tangent to Stepped.

The Timeline

Placed directly below the viewport, the timeline is the most visible blitheness tool in Maya. Though relatively simple it is extremely useful. You can think of it equally a summary of your animation. The dark gray bar is called the time slider. Its position represents the scene'southward current animation frame, information besides indicated by the value on the correct. To alter the slider's position, but left click anywhere on the timeline. You can also "scrub" the slider across the timeline by left clicking and dragging the mouse left and right.

Below the timeline are the range values. The 2 outtermost numbers (1.00, lx.00) are the start and stop times of the entire blitheness, while the inner numbers (1.00, 30.00) designate the office of our animation that the timeline shows. Essentially, the timeline is just a window into the overall animation of the scene. To movement this window, you can dispense the gray bar inbetween the range values. Left click and drag the centre of the bar to movement it around, or elevate i of the 2 small boxes to resize it. You can too just edit the values manually.

To the right of the timeline are the playback controls. Click or to play the fourth dimension slider either backwards or frontward respectively. Y'all can alter the playback options by right clicking on the timeline and choosing Playback Speed → Real-time or Play Every Frame. For now make sure that the playback speed is set to Real-time, as information technology is the best approximation of your animation's timing, whereas the timing of Play Every Frame is variable.

Click or to send the time slider to the starting time or the end of the playback range, and or to step the time slider back or forward one frame.

Keyframes

Maya uses "keyframes" for animation (we also refer to them in short equally "keys"). A keyframe is basically a marking used to specify an object's position and attributes at a given indicate in time. To set a keyframe on the ball at the current frame, select the ball and become to Animate → Set up Primal (or just hit s). A red tick mark should appear on the timeline near the slider, indicating that you have "keyed" the brawl on the current frame. You may also notice that the attributes in the Channel Box have turned pinkish, an indication that the object has been keyed. The Channel Box'southward role in keyframing volition exist explained in further item a little subsequently.

Effort setting another keyframe. Move the fourth dimension slider to a different frame and use the translate tool to alter the brawl'due south position earlier keying. After you set the key, scrub the time slider back and along across the timeline. The ball should switch between its old and new positions. Note that the keyframes are probably prepare to "stepped" mode, which means that a keyframe will stay in effect until the next primal is reached. (Alternative modes of keyframe interpolation will exist discussed in the Graph Editor Exercise.)

For the sake of testing, create several more than keys randomly along the timeline:

Notation that the timeline will just display keyframes of the object you lot accept selected. If you deselect the ball, the keys will disappear from the timeline until you reselect it. Conversely, if you selected more than ane animated object, the keyframes of all the combined objects would be displayed on the timeline. This is something to keep in mind, as in that situation it may be difficult to tell which key belongs to which object and how many keyframes a single crimson tick may stand for.

If yous want to move quickly between the keyframes currently displayed, click or on the playback controls, or merely use your keyboard'southward "carrot" keys (comma and menses).

To change the brawl'due south position on an existing key, shift the time slider back to the advisable frame, motion the ball to the desired location, and set the key again - thus replacing the fundamental's previous values. E'er recollect that you must set the key again to save your object'due south new position. If you practise not, moving the time slider volition discard your changes. That is, unless yous enable autokey.

Autokey automatically saves the changes you lot brand to an object's keyframes. If the current frame already has a cardinal, autokey will immediately update the key with your changes. If the electric current frame does not accept a central, autokey will automatically create a keyframe based on your adjustments (this only works on objects with existing keys). However, be aware that with autokey it is easy to accidently create devious keys on the timeline or make changes you did not intend. Though it is recommended you lot do not utilise autokey before fully familiarizing yourself with the animation workflow, you can enable it by clicking the icon below the playback settings. Information technology will announced every bit in one case turned on.

To delete a key, move the slider to the offending frame, right click on the timeline and select Delete. Sometimes you will want to delete or movement a group of keys all at once. To accomplish this, y'all kickoff need to select a portion of the timeline. Hold downwards shift then left click elevate over the keys you lot desire to piece of work with. The selection should look something like this:

To move this grouping of keys simply left click the centre arrows and drag. You tin besides scale the group, a quick way to speed upward or tedious down an blitheness, by moving the selection's outter arrows. Be conscientious when scaling keys, though; equally you will end upwardly with keys on that are on fractions of frames:

In full general yous never want keys on fractions of frames as they tend to get in the style and are more than difficult to work with. The easiest fashion ready to this trouble is to select the keys, phone call up the right click menu, and cull Snap. This volition snap each key to the closest whole frame number.

Aqueduct Box

As pointed out earlier, keying the ball will cause all of its attributes in the Aqueduct Box to turn pink. However, it is important to note that the ball itself is not being keyed. Its attributes are. When y'all hitting southward to set a keyframe on an object, you are actually setting a key for each private attribute (unremarkably each aspect visible in the Channel Box).

One implication of this is that you lot can key a single attribute. Go alee and delete all of the ball'south keyframes. You tin can either practise this through the timeline, or yous tin can select all of the attributes in the Channel Box (left click Translate X and elevate down to Visibility), call up the right click menu, and choose Delete Selected. The attributes should plough night gray, signifying they no longer take keyframes on them. Right click on whatever attribute and choose Key Selected. Just similar the Set Key operation information technology will create a key on the electric current frame, but now only for the selected aspect:

You tin can also make a particular aspect "Non-keyable", which prevents information technology from being afflicted by Fix Cardinal. For example, this is particularly useful for the Visibility aspect, as almost of the time yous do not want to worry about accidently animating it on and off. To make an attribute Non-keyable right click it and choose Make Selected Nonkeyable. Its value should plough the aforementioned colour as the surrounding channel box every bit shown beneath. If the attribute had existing keyframes they will notwithstanding be at that place, nonetheless you will not be able to edit them. If the attribute had no keys, yous can edit it as a constant value but it cannot be keyed. You tin make the aspect keyable again at whatever time by choosing Make Selected Keyable.

Playblasting

Once y'all have a number of keyframes yous will desire to review your motility. Playblasts are Maya's way of creating a preview of your animation that runs in existent time and is much faster to create than a render. Go to Window → Playblast options. Change the Display size to "Custom" and enter 640 and 480 for the ii values. Change the calibration to "1.00", and cheque "Relieve to File" and proper noun it appropriately. If you do not specify a relieve path, Maya will output information technology to your electric current project directory.

When playblasting character move that somebody else is going to review (for both turn-in and production), you will want to have extra care to make a "make clean" playblast. In the playblast options uncheck Testify ornaments. Make sure the photographic camera is a reasonable distance from your blithe object/character. It shouldn't be and then far away that you can barely see the movement, simply it also shouldn't exist so close-up that part of it gets cut off. Also, if there are any animation controls, lights, locators, etc. cluttering the scene you will want to hide those. An like shooting fish in a barrel way to do this temporarily is to go the viewport yous are going to playblast from, then select Bear witness → None. Afterward that, select Show → Polygons (as animated characters are commonly polygonal).

Now that you accept learned virtually keyframing, how to use the timeline, and how to preview your animation with playblasts y'all will need to review the Graph Editor Practise to learn about "splining" your keyframes.

Dorsum to Exercises

Source: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse458/11au/content/exercises/basic_animation_exercise.html

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