Animation in Alias

00:00

Let me use set keyframe, and by default, channels are created for all of the transform parameters, but not for the visibility.

00:09

And this is because the keyframe tools refer to what is set up in the parameter control window.

00:15

So, I can use this to, for example, limit the keyframes to only the X translate, and the Y rotate.

00:22

So, if I now delete these static actions and set the keyframe again, it only sets those two channels.

00:30

Let's do the second keyframe and set that.

00:38

So, it means we're not having to use Delete Static Actions all the time.

00:43

So, let's say I have another keyframe I want to set and roll this ball down the slope.

00:50

That's now going to involve a Z parameter.

00:53

But I'd be slightly cautious before doing that move, and I'm going to go back to my keyframes and I'm going to overwrite them

00:59

to include that Z parameter.

01:02

Otherwise, when I set my third keyframe, then this Z value will get baked in the only value, and my ball will stay at this level.

01:16

So, let's have a look at animating visibility.

01:20

And I'll do that on this slope part.

01:24

So, if I go back to the beginning and set that keyframe, I've only got the visibility set there,

01:30

and then if I go to keyframe 10, I can set the keyframe again.

01:35

And the only way to change the visibility is to do it on the keyframe value.

01:42

So, anything below .5 is invisible, and anything above .5 is visible.

01:48

So, if I play that back, my slope is appearing too soon, and that's because these keyframes are being evaluated from 0 to 1,

01:55

so halfway along, it becomes greater than 0.5.

01:59

So when I'm animating visibility, I'll typically use tangent type, which is Step.

02:05

And what Step will do is, it will hold that value constantly until you hit the next keyframe, and then it will suddenly change to the next value.

02:14

and we get our slope appearing when we want it to.

02:17

So, the Parameter Control settings are referred to in the Set Keyframe and also in the Delete Channels tool.

02:24

And it's optionally referred to in the Channels Filter,

02:28

where I can choose to filter what I can see on the screen using that parameter control settings.

02:33

Or alternatively, do it independently by changing the settings in this window.

00:00

A camera is simply an object, but by default, it's not displayed on the screen.

00:07

Once we can work with a camera in this way, then we simply animate it in the same way as we do other objects.

00:15

But there are a few specific things that apply to camera animation.

00:19

So, the first tip is to create an additional camera specifically for animation, and to give that a name.

00:28

So, if I go to my Object Lister, my default camera is on my default layer,

00:33

and I'd set this layer up for this one, and I can rename that to be like, “Anim_Camera”.

00:40

The second thing is to select that camera, and in the Camera, Editor lock it.

00:46

So, what a lock in the Camera Editor means is, if I use my Shift+Alt and try to tumble the view, it won't move.

00:52

If I want to look around my model, I should switch back to my working camera,

00:58

but if I accidentally tumble the animation camera, I will mess up my animation.

01:04

So, I'm going to show you three different ways of animating, and this setup applies to all of them.

01:11

So, the first method requires me to pick the camera as a whole group and then to use simple keyframe animation.

01:20

So, I can't tumble the view.

01:22

I need to move and rotate the camera, get the view that I want, for example, to start,

01:31

and then just come and set the keyframe, move to the next location, make whatever move I want to make on the camera,

01:41

and set a keyframe.

01:50

So that simply lays back between those keyframes.

01:54

And it'll work well with maybe two or three keyframes, but as you can see, there's a little bit of a wobble going on as the camera moves.

02:00

To stop that, we have a second method which involves ungrouping the camera.

02:05

So, the camera is made up of these three components, and the wobble comes from the up vector not being in sync with the eye point.

02:13

So, in my model, I can take that camera and ungroup it.

02:17

So, then I spend a little bit of time just arranging that camera so I've got a really good vertical relationship between my up and my eye point.

02:28

And then I'll group these two together, and I'll just call it “lens”, for example.

02:36

Now I've got a much more straightforward way of controlling my camera view, I can just put my viewpoint where I want it to be on the car,

02:44

and I can take that lens point and I can move that up.

02:47

And as I move that around, you see that's got a lot more control over that view.

02:51

I'm not getting that wobble that I saw before.

02:55

So again, once you've got that set up in that way, you can simply set a keyframe for that grouped up vector and eye point component.

03:04

So finally, we can use a motion path for the camera animation.

03:09

And the way I use this is, I'll start by just moving the viewpoint into the center of the car in this case, if that's what I want to be the focus.

03:17

And then I need to pick the eye component.

03:19

And in the motion path, set the camera Up vector.

03:24

And this will keep it stable as it goes around the path.

03:27

So if I select my path that it moves the camera onto the beginning of the path.

03:32

It's also created a control curve for the Up vector.

03:37

And if I open my Animation Editor and play that back, you see that we get quite a nice smooth and level animation around the car.