Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
items (such as Tangents and Playblast, which play a valuable role in animation) later in the
chapter.
FIGURE 16.3
The Time Slider contextual menu
TheRangeSlidersetsthecurrentvisiblerangeintheTimeSlider.Thisisusefulifyouneed
to work on a specific section of the animation, while also maintaining the full animation
timeline.
Setting values for the Animation Start Time and Animation End Time will set the overall
animation's timeline.
You can use the Playback Start Time and Playback End Time to manually set the Range
Slider.Tointeractively edittheRangeSlider,usetheRangeSliderbar.Ateitherendofthis
bar are two small squares; click and drag these to specify the Time Slider range in which
you want to work.
ThePlaybackControlsareverymuchlikearemotecontrol,allowingyoutoplaytheanim-
ation, step along a frame at a time, or even move along to the next keyframe.
Now that we know how to control time in Maya, let's now look at how to set keyframes.
Setting Keyframes
When you set a
keyframe,
you are actively storing that object's attribute values at that
specific time. Storing particular values at specific spots in the Time Slider instructs Maya
to create the in-between positions of those values that ultimately provides the illusion of
movement.
