9

General-Purpose Controllers 295
Gener a l-Pur pose Contr oll ers
The following controllers are general purpose in
that you c an apply them to par ameters of different
data types, yet they behave in essentially the same
way for t hose different parameters.
Within certain general-purpose controllers there
might be variations according to the data type
used by a parameter.
See Animation Controllers (page 2–307) for
detailed descriptions of controller properties.
B ezi er Contr oller s
Bezier controllers (page 2–310) interpolate between
keys using an adjustable spline curve; they are the
default controller for most parameters.
Use Bezier controllers to provide fully adjustable
interpolation between keys. Bezier controllers
support the following options:
•Adjustabletangenthandles.
• Step tangents for abrupt changes from one key
to the next.
• Constant velocity control.
You can adjust the key interpolation by choosing
among different tangent types in the Key Info
dialog. .
TCB Cont r ol le r s
The TCB controller (page 2–377) produces
cur ve-based animation like Bezier controllers.
However, TCB controllers use fields to adjust the
Tension, Continuity, and Bias of the animation.
U se TCB controllers when you want adjustable,
cur ved interpolation between keys, and you want
to use TCB style controls. TCB rotation controllers
were the default controller type in versions 4 and
earlier.
Linea r Control ler s
The Linear (page 2–341) controller interpolates
between animation keys by evenly dividing the
change from one key value to the next by the
amount of time between the keys.
Use Linear controllers when you want motion to
have a rigid, mechanical look.
Nois e Contr ol ler s
The Noise (page 2–353) controller produces
random, f r ac t a l-based animation over a range of
frames. Noise controllers are parametric; t hey do
not use keys.
Noise controllers have many possible uses; as in
the following examples:
• Use Noise whenever you need completely
randomanimationaroundagivenvalue.
For example, use a Noise Rotation controller
whenyouwantanobjecttowobbleinplace.
A common use for a noise cont roller is the
creation of camera shake.
• Use No ise in a List con troller to apply variations
to the result of another controller. For example,
use a List controller to combine Noise Position
with Bezier Position. The Bezier controller
moves the object while the Noise controller
makes the object shake and str ay a little f rom
the trajectory.
XYZ Control le r s
The XYZ controllers such as Euler XYZ (page
2–318) and Position XYZ (page 2–356) are
specifically designed so that you have three
separate curves, one for each axis. This allows
you to independently view and cont rol the curves
individually. This has advant ages over rotation
controllers like TCB that do not display function
curvesatall.XYZcontrollersarenowthedefault
for rotation animation.