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Saving and Loading Animation
You can save and load animation data for any number of objects separately
from the actual scene via Load Animation and Save Animation commands
available on the File menu. These commands use two file types:
■ XAF (XML Animation File) contains the animation data.
■ XMM (XML Animation Map File) contains mapping information: how the
incoming animation data is assigned to objects in the current scene.
Mapping is quite flexible: as long as data is comparable, it can be assigned.
For example, each key for both position and rotation animation contains
three numbers, so you could, if you wanted, assign incoming position data
to a current object's rotation track, or vice versa.
See also:
■
Save Animation on page 6876
■ Load Animation on page 6873
■ Map Animation Dialog on page 6879
Procedures
To use the Save Animation and Load Animation commands:
You start by saving animation data from the current scene.
1 Select any number of objects in your scene that contain animation. The
animation can be of any type: procedural, manually keyframed, IK, and
so on.
The frame range from which the animation is saved is the same for all
objects, so make sure you select only objects from which you want to
save the same frame range.
NOTE Using this method, you can save animation only from selected objects.
Alternatively, you can save animation from specific tracks in Track View; see
Hierarchy Right-Click Menu on page 3461 .
2 From the File menu, choose
Save Animation on page 6876 .
3 Set the save parameters.
6870 | Chapter 21 Managing Scenes and Projects