Track View Two kinds ... under Graph Editors ... Dope sheet and Curve Editor. Dope Sheet Like traditional hand drawn animation. Listed actions and spoken words for
characters. It’s like the Track Bar. You can select and move keyframes in time. The dope sheet is great for managing animation of multiple objects. The left side is the Controller Window. It shows a hierarchical list
of all the animation tracks. What is a track? It is a single animation channel,
or animatable parameter, such as X Position or Bend Angle.
Move an object with the Auto Key [Animate button in Max 4] on and you will
automatically create keys in the XYZ position tracks for that object. Note how you can explore the scene hierarchy in the Controller Window. If you select an object in the viewport, that object will show in the track
view. You can change that: Settings/Manual Navigation toggles
on and off. Filters are available, for example, so only animated tracks can be displayed ...
that one alone clean up a lot. The main part on the right is the Edit Window. You can pan, zoom,
etc. There is also zoom horiz/vert
extents. There is a time ruler you can move up and down
if it gets in the way. You can move a vertical slider bar that works like the time slider
in the main interface. Make sure Edit Keys is on to do any editing
work:
by default: Position is Red Rotation is Green Scaling is Blue Object and modifier parameters are Yellow. Use the dope sheet’s own move tool to move keys ... selected keys
turn white. Note—when you select a key, other keys also turn white ... these are keys
that are part of the same immediate hierarchy. You can move keys on individual axis transforms, no problem. All this is hierarchical. If you select the main object name [which is the
parent] you will move with it all the object transforms. This behavior
works when the default modify subtree toggle button is on:
Copy keys using shift-drag with move. Right click a key to see properties. Activate the add keys button to add to a track. Make sure you are in a track.
Remember to turn it off. Delete keys with delete. Edit ranges is cool. It lets you move around chunks of animation easiy. Keep in mind what is the hierarchy you want to move,
for example, Objects, Sphere, X Position, etc. You can move the entire
chuck, or just the start of end of the range.
Remember, the relevant immediate object hierarchy must also go with whatever
you are moving ... the main thing is, be mindful of what track you have
active, and where it is in the hierarchy and how it affects other tracks
[if at all.]
Modify Subtree This is what allows moving a track to affect sub-tracks, such as transform
track moving all transforms with it, for that object. Try turning modify subtree off and edit keys on to get a hybrid
view. Lab Activities 1. Use your files from the Trajectories lab. Open up the Dope Sheet. Tweak
the timing of your animation. Use the Edit Key mode with Modify subtree
turned off. 2. Create at least 3 object moving in a scene.
Use the Dope sheet to manipulate the animation events, dragging them
to different positions on the timeline, etc. |
