8

Reduce Keys 549
thecaseofappliedinversekinematics,thesoftware
generates a key on nearly every fr ame. Of ten, the
same animation can be produced w ith fewer keys.
Having fewer keys in a track ma kes it easier to
change your animation.
Reduce Keys analyzes the pattern of keys in a block
of time and creates a new pattern of fewer keys
that produces nearly the same animation. You
specifyhowcloselythenewanimationmatches
the original.
Note: The Reduce Keys button, depicted above,
appears on the Keys toolbar only in Curve Editor,
but you can add it to a Dope Sheet toolbar with
Customize User Interface (page 3–836) .
Procedure
To reduce keys:
1.
Select an animated object in the view port.
2. Right-click the object and choose Curve Editor
or Dope Sheet from the quad menu.
3. In the Hierarchy list, highlig ht the tracks whose
keys you want to reduce. Reduce Keys works
only on highlighted tracks.
4. Optionally, in the Key w indow, specify a time
range within which to reduce keys. High light
a key at either end of the range to reduce, or
drag a selection rectangle a round the keys you
want to reduce. A lternatively, in Dope Sheet
mode, hi g hlight specific tr acks and then use
Select Time (page 2–543) to designate a block
of time within which to reduce keys. If no keys
are high lighted in a highlig hted t r ack, Reduce
Ke ys works on all keys in that t rack.
Youcanuseanyoftheabovemethodstospecify
different ranges for different highlighted tracks.
5. From the K eys menu, choose Reduce K eys.
The Reduce Keys dialog appears. This dialog
has a single Threshold parameter.
Raising the Threshold setting will increase the
number of keys that are reduced. The higher
the threshold, the greater the reduction.
6. Click OK to reduce the keys.
Observe the results. If you are left w ith too few
keys, press CTRL +Z to undo, then lower the
threshold and reduce the keys again. If too
many keys remain, increase the threshold and
reduce keys again.
Tip: It w i l l take repeated experimentation to find
exactly the right threshold for your particular
animation.
Interfa ce
Reduce K eys—DisplaystheReduceKeysdialog.
Threshold—Sets a threshold value. Higher values
will result in fewer keys.
OK —AcceptstheThresholdsettingandreduces
keys as follows:
• Keys are reduced only in highlighted tracks.
• If any of a track’s keys are hig hlighted, reduction
is performed only within the indic ated range
(that is, be tween the leftmost and rightmost
highlighted key for each track). If no key is
highlighted, reduction is performed on all keys
in the track.