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290 Chapter 12: Animation
• Storing animation key values.
• Storing procedural animation settings.
• Interpolating between animation key values.
Most animatable parameters don’t receive a
controller until you animate them. As soon as
you change an animatable parameter at any frame
other than 0 with the Auto Key button on, or click
in its track using Curve Editor > Add Keys, a
default cont roller is assigned to the parameter.
Accessing Controllers
There are two places where you work directly with
controllers:
•
Tr ack View: Controllers are
indicated in the Hierarchy list by the var ious
controller icons. Each controller has its own
individual icon. Using Track View, in either
CurveEditororDopeSheetmode,youcanview
and work with the controllers for all objects and
all parameters. See Track View (page 2–501).
•
Motion panel: Contains special tools
for working with transform controllers. The
Motion panel contains man y of the same
controllerfunctionsastheCurveEditor,plus
controls necessary for working with special
controllers such as IK Solvers. U sing the
Motion panel you can view and work with the
transform controllers of a single selected object.
See Motion Panel (page 3–774).
Catego r i es o f Contr o ll er s
There are two main categories of controllers.
These categories are easy to identify when looking
at the Track View - Curve Editor Hierarchy list.
Single-Parameter Controllers: Control
animation va lues of a single parameter. Regardless
of whether the parameter has a single component,
such as the number of sides of a cylinder, or
multiple components, such as the RGB values of a
color, the controller is handling a single parameter.
Compound Controlle rs: Combine or manage
multiple controllers. Compound controllers
include high-level Transform controllers, such
as PRS (page 2–357),theEuler XYZ Rotation
controller (page 2–318),theTransform Script
controller (page 2–379),andtheList controller
(page 2–342).
A compound controller appears in the Hierarchy
list as a controller icon with subordinate-level
branches of other controllers.
Contr ollers and Constr aints
In addition to controllers, the software can animate
using constraints. These items are located in the
Animation > Constraints menu. The constraints
include the following: Attachment, Surface, Path,
Link, Position, Orienta tion, and LookAt.
When you assign a controller in the Motion panel
or in Track View, you will see these constraints
appearing in the list of available controllers. You
can assign them the same as the other controllers,
but they are also assignable from the Animation >
Constraints submenu. For more information, see
Animat ion Constraints (page 2–392).
Note: If you assign a controller using the
Animation > Controller submenu, a list controller
is automatically applied to the object, with
the selected con troller applied beneath the list
controller . This is different than controllers that
are applied via the Motion panel.
Viewi ng Control ler Ty pes
Yo u c a n v i e w t h e c o n t r o l l e r t y p e a s s i g n e d t o a
parameter in both the Curve Editor and in the
Motion panel. Before you can view the controller
types in Track View, you must do the following: