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328 Chapter 12: Animation
Note:
Yo u c a n n o t n e s t a L a y e r c o n t r o l l e r w i t h i n a
List controller or another Layer controller.
Working with Animation Lay ers
The animation layers list works as follows (Refer
to the procedure section below (page 2–329) for
common workflow examples):
• The list displays all existing layers for the
selected object. If the object isn’t layer-enabled,
“(Enable Layers)” appears instead.
• By default, the Base Layer is the active layer
when you first layer-enable an object. This
meansthatitstoresallfutureanimationkeys.
• Every subsequent layer you create b e comes the
new active layer and appears after the previous
one in the list.
• When you select an object, its active layer is
automatically chosen. When exp anded, the
drop-down list highlights the active layer.
• When you select multiple objects that have
different active layers, “(Multiple Active
Layers)” appears.
The drop-down list displays all common
layers (that is, with the same name); layers not
common to all are unavailable.
When you select multiple objects, layers not common to all
are unavailable on the drop-down list.
• Youcanturnonoroffanylayerintheexpanded
list by clicking its light bulb icon. Turning off a
layer hides its animation without deleting it.
To toggle a layer, click its light bulb icon.
• You can include or exclude any layer from the
output track by clicking its plus/minus sign
icon. The output track contains the sum of
all included layers. You can use this tr ack to
control other objects’ tracks via MAXScript
and parameter wiring.
To toggle a layer’s inclusion in the output track, click the
plus/minus sign icon.
Tip: For a procedure that demonstrates how to
use this option, see Example: To link two objects
with wire parameters using the Layer Controller’s
output track: (page 2–330).
Each animation layer has a global weight value
which, when changed, impacts every controller
w ithin that active layer. Similar to the List controller
(page 2–342),youcananimatealayer’sweightand
toggle the visibility of the resulting keys in the
Track Bar using t he Track Bar Filter menu (page
3–706).