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You can assign different controllers to the tracks, affecting the way they
respond. The Bezier Controller, assigned by default to all the Position tracks,
lets you move objects using the Select and Move transform tool, and converts
those movements into Bezier splines. You can adjust the splines in Function
Curve editing mode.
Animation Layers
When you animate a biped or other object, you can add layers of animation
above the original biped animation. This is a powerful way of making global
changes to your animation. For example, when you add a layer and rotate the
spine forward at any frame, a run cycle becomes a crouched run. The original
biped motion is kept intact and can be viewed by switching back to the original
layer.
You can view layers individually or as a composite of all the animation in all
the layers. Layers behave like a freeform animation; the object can adopt any
position.
Layers used in conjunction with Biped let you easily adjust raw motion-capture
data, which contains keys at every frame. You do this by adding a layer and
keyframing the biped.
Layer controls for Biped are on the
Layers rollout on page 4322 . For other
objects, use the
Animation Layers toolbar on page 7293 .
Applied IK
A type of inverse kinematics where one or more parts of the IK structure follows
another animated object exactly. After the scene is set up, Applied IK generates
transform keys for every object in the IK chain.
See
Animating with Applied IK on page 3386 .
Area Lights (mental ray Renderer)
Area lights are a feature of the mental ray renderer. Instead of emitting light
from a point source, they emit light from a broader area around the source.
Area lights create soft-edged shadows. This can help improve the realism of
your rendering.
Glossary | 7713