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604 Chapter 12: Animation

Motion Mixer

The Motion Mixer allows you to combine motion

data for biped and non-biped objects.

The Motion Mixer takes its design from the world

of audio. When a song is recorded in a studio,

each instrument is played and recorded separately.

Each recording is called a track. The tracks are

then put together in a sound mixer so they play

simultaneously, or overlap one another. During

the mixing process, the mixer operator can change

the length or speed of a track, increase or reduce

volume, move a track to another place in the song,

orcauseatracktofadeinorout.

The Motion Mixer works in a similar way. For any

object, you can add multiple tracks (page 3–1023)

to the mixer, each holding a separate series of

motion clips (BIP files (page 3–916), XAF files).

You can trim clips to use only part of a motion,

make the clips play slower or faster, or create

transitions from one clip or set of clips to another.

Yo u c a n a l s o u s e t h e M o t i o n M i x e r t o a n i m a t e

some body par ts with one set of clips, and other

body parts with other motions. For example,

suppose you have two clips, one where the biped

runs with its arms pumping by its sides, and

another where the biped stands and cheers with

its arms in the air. You can mix the leg and hip

motions from the running motion with the arms

fromthecheeringmotiontomakeananimation

of a biped cheering as he runs across a finish line.