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1044 Chapter 14: character studio

the Scripts list. The clips are connected visually in

the Motion Flow Graph with red arrows (ac tive

script) representing default transitions (Minimum

Motion Loss). The default duration for a t ransition

is 25 f r ames, which provides good results in

many cases. Transitions, by default, use velocity

interpolation between clips.

Use Edit Transition in the Scripts section to

fine-tune the transitions between clips. Select

a clip i n the Scripts list, then from the Scripts

commands, click Edit Transition; the Transition

Editor (page 2–1051) displays, and the source and

destination clip names are displayed at the top of

the Transition Editor.

In the Source Clip area, Start Frame represents

the f rame in the source file where the transition

starts. For example, if Source Clip Start Frame

is 60, the transition from thesourceclipstartsat

frame 60. The duration of the transition is set in

the Length field at the upper left; Length values

are in frames. In this example, if Length is set to

10, the transition to the destination clip takes 10

frames. In the Destination Clip area, Start Frame

represents the frame in the destination clip that the

transition star ts; a value of 80, for example, starts

the transition at frame 80 of the destination clip.

Inthisexample,thesourceclipplaysfrom0to

60, there is a 10 frame t ransition from frame 60

of the source clip to frame 90 of the destination

clip(frames80to90coverthedestinationclip

transition perio d ), then t he rest of the dest ination

clip plays.

When the Transition Editor displays, the first

things to try, before manually editing the

transition, are the Opt imized Tr ansitions.

Optimized transitions use a minimum foot sliding

algorithm. The top right-hand corner of the

Transition Editor dialog is the icon for optimized

transitions. If the optimized transition is not

satisfactory, try editing the t ransition manually.

Manual transition editing offers the most control;

the Frame spinners in the Ghost areas of the

Transition Editor allow you to scrub the source and

destination clips while v iewing two stick figures.

Findagoodstartframeinbothclipsusingthe

Frame spinners. Things to look for in both clips

are similar supporting feet, body momentum that

will appear natural, and arm motion similarities. If

velocity changes between the clips are too abrupt,

use the Length field to adjust t he duration of the

transition.

On the Motion Flow rollout, click Save File to save

your work as an MFE file; transitions and scr ipts

are saved. These BIP files contain no footsteps.

BipedfootkeysaresavedwithanIKBlendvalueof

1 for footsteps. To ext r act footsteps, exit Motion

Flow mode, use Load File on the Biped rollout,

and t hen click Conver t. Convert looks at foot IK

Blend values of 1 to extract footsteps.

Tip: The location of any referenced BIP file is saved

intheMFEfile.IftheBIPfilecannotbefound,

aMissingMotionFlowFilesdialogopensup

respectively, in which the m issing files are listed.

To rec t if y t his, open the AssetTrackingdialog(page

3–487) and set a new path of the missing files.