8

Freeform Animation 1039
If you later discover you need to output to
PAL video (at 25 frames per second), you can
switchtothePALframerate. The90framesare
automatically converted to 75, producing the same
total animation time with a different number of
frames. You can later switch back to NTSC frame
rate to restore the original 90 frames of animation.
You can sw itch back and forth between frame rates
at any time without losing animation data.
Fr e eform An imat i o n
character studio gives you the option to animate
biped (page 2–701) poses both with and without
the aid of footsteps. Freeform animation does not
use footsteps. In freeform animation, you set all
the keys yourself.
Fr e eform Me t h od
In freeform mode (without footsteps), you can
pose every joint of your
biped (page 2–701) exactly
as you like using traditional keyframe methods.
You can even blend dynamically between forward
kinemat ics and
inverse kinematics (page 3–1052)
to introduce hig her-level control in just the cases
you need it to simulate your character’s particular
motion.
Freeze/Unf r eeze
On the right, the trash can and streetlight are frozen.
You can freeze any selection of objects in your
scene. By default, frozen objects, whether
wireframe or rendered, turn a dark gray. They
remain on screen, but can’t be selected, and
therefore can’t be directly transformed or
modified. Freezing lets you protect objects from
accidental editing and speeds up redraws.
Frozen object s are similar to hidden objects.
Linked, instanced, and referenced objects behave
when frozen just as they would if unfrozen. Frozen
lights and cameras and any asso ciated viewpor ts
continue to work as they normally do.
You c an choose to have frozen objects retain their
usual color or texture in viewports. Use the Show
Frozen In Gray toggle in the
Object Propert ies
dialog (page 1–111)
.
Fu nction Curve
Function curves are editable splines that represent
animation values in a line-graph format. They
provide a valuable way of both visualizing and
editing your animation tracks.