8

Collapse Controller 507
Collapse Controller—
Converts procedural
animation tracks to Bezier, Euler, Linear, or TCB
key frame cont roller tracks. Can also b e used to
convert any controller to these type of controllers.
Allows for key reduction by using a Samples
parameter. See
Collapse Controller (page 2–507)
Ignore Animation Range—Ignores the
animation range for the selected cont roller track.
When set, the track plays independently of its
range and its backg round changes color. See
Ignore Animation Range (page 2–526) .
Res pect A nimation Range—Respects the
animation range for the selected cont roller track.
When set, the track plays only within its r ange. See
Respect Animation Range (page 2–527) .
Mak e Unique—Lets you turn an instanced
controller into a unique controller. If a controller
is instanced, making changes to it will affect where
ever it is copied. If the controller is unique, then
changes to it will not affect any thing else. See
Make Controller Unique (page 2–528) .
Out of R a nge Types—Lets you extend the animation
beyond the existing keyframes. Used primar i ly
to loop and otherwise cycle y our animation
without having to copy keys. See
Parameter Curve
Out-of-Range Types (page 2–528)
.
Proper t ies—Displays the Properties dialog,
which gives access to the key interpolation types.
Different controller types will offer individual
options here. For example a Position XYZ
controller wi ll offer Fast, Slow, Linear, Smooth,
Step, Bezier and Auto Tangent as key options,
while a TCB controller will not show any of
those controls. For some controllers this is the
primary gateway to the animation parameters.
See
Properties (Track View Key Window) (page
2–537)
.
Collapse Controller
Track View > Track View menu > Controllers > Collapse
Controllers
The Collapse Controller tool allows you to convert
procedural animation t r acks into tracks with
keyframes. A procedural track is an expression
track, wired parameter, noise controller, or even
something like a list cont roller.
You can also use this tool to convert any controller
track to a simple keyframed track. You can convert
rotation tracks to either Euler or TCB, and collapse
Position and Scale tracks to either Bezier or Linear
controllers.
You can collapse an entire track, or collapse a range
of frames within a track by setting the Start and
End frames. A Samples parameter lets you define
howmanyframeswillbeplacedbetweenkeys.
Collapse Cont roller can be used to collapse any
number of selected tracks at once.
This functionality is similar to the Collapse button
found in the Collapse Transform group of the
Motion panel >
Trajectories rollout (page 2–296) .
Wa rn in g: I f you are using a Path constraint w ith the
Follow option, using Collapse Controller to collapse the
position and rotation tracks will not preserve rotation
properly, because additional rotation is a pp lied by the
Path constraint. If you want to collapse t his kind of track,
use Collapse in the Collapse Transform group of the
Motion panel > Trajectories rollout instead.
Procedure
To collapse a procedural controller track:
1.
In a viewp ort, select an object with a procedural
controller, then right-click and choose Curve
Editor from the quad menu.
The Track View – Curve Editor is displayed.