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472 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
between objects in the same scene. Animation
data from several objects can be merged at the
same time.
Within the Merge Animation d ialog , objects
eligible for transferring or receiving animation
data are called
nodes . Source nodes refer to objects
from which animation data can be transferred,
while
current nodes can receive animation data.
Merge nodes aresourcenodesthathavebeen
mapped to (matched up with) current no des in
the Merge Animation dialog in preparation for
merging.
In order for a particular attribute’s animation
data to be transferred from a merge node, the
corresponding current node must ha ve the same
attribute.Forexample,ifamergenodehasan
animated Bend modifier applied to it, the current
node must also have a Bend modifier applied to it
for the animation data to transfer successfully.
The Merge Animation feature is ideal for
transferring animation dat a between similar
hierarchies, such as character structures. In
character creation, it is a common practice to name
bones for different characters with the character
name plus a suffix or prefix that describes the
bone. For example, you might have one character
called Alien with bones named Alien_Pelvis,
Alien_LeftHand, etc. Another character called
Chef would have bones named C hef_Pelvis,
Chef_LeftHand, etc. The Merge Animation dialog
can automatically filter prefixes and suffixes so
you can quickly map the merge nodes for complex
hierarchies.
Note: Ifyouplantomergeanimationdatatoand
from characters, the process will be much easier if
youusethesamebone-nameprefixesorsuffixes
for each character.
See also
Merge (page 3–469)
Merging Effects (page 3–216)
Replace (page 3–476)
Procedure
To replace the animation in the current scene with
the animation fr om a nother scene:
1.
Load the scene that will r eceive the merged
animation data.
2. Cho o se File menu > Merge Animation.
3. In the Merge Animation dialog, click Source
File to choose the file from which to merge
animation data. The objects appear under
Source Nodes in the Object Mapping rollout.
4. On the Object Mapping rollout, drag and drop
thesourcenodestotheMergeNodescolumn,
matching them with the appropriate current
nodes.
5. IntheSourceTimeRangegroup,choose
Replace Animation.
6. Specify the source node attributes that wi ll be
merged.
7. Click Merge Animation to merge the animation
data from the merge nodes to the current nodes.
To insert animation data from one character to
another:
TheSourceObjectsandCurrentObjectsentry
fields allow you to enter wildcard expressions to
filter prefixes and suffixes of node names. The
filtered text is ignored by the Auto Name Mapping
tool, so complex structures of similarly-named
nodes can be mapped quickly. This feature is
handy for transferring an animation between
character structures, providing the source and
current nodes have been named w ith the same
conventions.
1. Loadthefilewiththecharactertowhich
animation data will be merged.
2. Cho o se File menu > Merge Animation.