Storing Animation in Action Sources
Storing animation in an action for a model creates a source that is added to the list of animation sources of both the model and the project. Once you have an action source, you can create one or more clips from it in the animation mixer— each clip is an instance of that action source. For information on what action sources and clips are, see About Action Sources and Clips.
You can create and store an action from a model’s existing animation or current values. The location of the original action is in the Sources > model folder for the scene with a copy of the action for the model in the model’s Mixer > Sources > Animation folder.
Before you store an action, you must know the kind of animation being used on the model (such as function curves, constraints, or expressions). This determines which commands you should use to store actions. For more information, see Choosing What to Store in an Action.
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• You cannot remove animation from an action source; for example, you cannot delete an fcurve that is stored in a source. • If you create action sources with different frame rates, there may be rounding errors when you instantiate clips based on the sources. |
Other Ways of Creating Action Sources
As well as storing animation, you can create action sources using these other methods:
• Plotting animation (see Plotting (Baking) Animation
[ Animation ])
• Freezing clips (see Baking Clips into New Action Sources).
• Merging clips (see Merging Clips into New Sources)
To create a new action source
1. Create a model that includes the objects you want to animate.
To create a model, select the objects you want to be part of the model and choose Create > Model from the Model toolbar. See Actions and Models for more information.
If you select an object that is not a model and store an action, it is stored in the parent model (if there is one) or in the Scene_Root’s model otherwise.
2. Animate the objects you want within the model. You can use any combination of function curves and expressions for animating the transformations and other parameters.
If the model is not animated, you can still store a “static action” (pose) that contains a snapshot of the current parameter values but no animation (see Storing Static Poses (Current Values)).
3. Select the model or objects in the model whose parameters you want to include in the action.
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• If you have multiple objects selected in different models (including submodels), only the objects in the same model as the first object you selected will have their animation stored in a source. This is because only one model can be evaluated at a time. • If you branch-select an object, animation will be stored for its children as well. This is unlike saving keys and plotting actions, which work only on the root of the selection. |
If you are not storing transformations, you should also mark the parameters whose animation or values are to be included in the action—see Storing Marked Parameters for more information.
4. From the Actions > Store menu of the Animate toolbar, choose the appropriate command.
See Choosing What to Store in an Action if you need information on which command to choose.
5. In the appropriate Store Action dialog box that opens, set the options as desired:
6. When you click OK, the original action source is added to the Sources > model folder for the scene.
As well, a Mixer folder is created under the model (if there isn’t one already) and the action is copied to the Mixer > Sources > Animation folder. In this folder, the name of the source is in italics to indicate that it’s shared, and the name of the model is appended to the source name.
To create the new action source
• Enter a name in the Action Name text box. Clips created from this source take on this name.
• To specify the frame range of animation to store, set the Default In (start frame) and Default Out (end frame) frame numbers.
• Number of Items refers to the number of parameters to be included in the action. This value is provided for information only.
Removing the Animation from the Objects
To remove animation from the objects after storing the action
• Select Remove Original Animation.
The animation is stored in the action, but all animation on the included parameters is removed from the model. You can later reapply the animation as described in Restoring (Applying) the Animation in Action Sources Back to an Object.
The advantage of removing the animation is that you can quickly create a library of actions for a model by “cleaning your model’s slate” of any previous animation. For example, you create a walk cycle and then store it as an action with the animation removed from the model. The model returns to its unanimated state and you can animate another type of action, such as a jumping motion.
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When you select Remove Original Animation, the entire animation is removed from the model’s parameters, not just the keys between the Default In and Default Out frames. |
Copying and Cutting from the Original Animation
To copy from the original animation
• If Remove Original Animation is off:
- Select Copy/Cut Entire Fcurves to copy entire fcurves from the animation and store them in the action source.
- Select Copy/Cut Keys to copy only the keys between the Default In/Out frames that you specify and store them in the action source.
To cut from the original animation
• If Remove Original Animation is on:
- Select Copy/Cut Entire Fcurves to cut entire fcurves from the animation and store them in the action source.
- Select Copy/Cut Keys to cut only the keys between the Default In/Out frames that you specify and store them in the action source.
- If you are cutting keys, you can select Ripple Keys to ripple the remaining animation on the object back in time.
Automatically Creating a Clip from the Source
To automatically instance the source as a clip in the mixer
• Select Add Source as a Clip in the Mixer. This immediately creates an instance of the source (an action clip) after you create it and places the clip on an animation track in the model’s animation mixer.
If you don’t select Add Source as a Clip in the Mixer, you can add the sources as clips in the mixer as described in Adding Action Clips to the Mixer.
• Set the Clip Offset value to the frame number on the track where you want the clip to start. By default, this is the same frame number as the Default In value.
You can rename an action source in the explorer as you would anything else in the explorer (such as by pressing F2 and entering a new name). If you have already created clips that reference the action source, they are automatically renamed to reflect the new source name.
You can easily duplicate an action source as you would anything else in Softimage. For example, you should make a backup copy of a source being modifying it (see Modifying Action Sources) since that destroys the stored animation.
You may also want to duplicate a source if you don’t want an action clip to share the same source (duplicate the source before instancing clips from it).
To duplicate an action source
1. In the explorer, go to either the Sources > model folder for the scene or the model’s Mixer > Sources > Animation folder.
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You can also use the Sources/Clips filter in the explorer (press o) to quickly access all sources for all models in the scene. |
2. Select the action source you want to duplicate and do one of the following:
- Press Ctrl+d.
or
- Choose Edit > Duplicate Single or Multiple from the main menu bar or the Edit panel in the main command panel.
or
- Press Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v to copy and paste sources.
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If you want to duplicate all your objects and animation under the model, branch-select the model and duplicate it: all the action clips will be brought into a new mixer. |
When you delete an action source, you delete the stored animation. Any action clips that referred to this source are also deleted from the mixer.
To delete an action source
1. In the explorer, go to either the Sources > model folder for the scene or the model’s Mixer > Sources > Animation folder.
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You can also use the Sources/Clips filter in the explorer (press o) to quickly access all sources for all models in the scene. |
2. Select the action source and press Delete.
You are notified of which clips will be deleted if you continue. If the source you’re deleting is the last one in the Sources folder, the folder is removed.
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5