Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
...
These are the basics of what LightWave
uses to
control
animation. (Remember,
these are the “
hows
,” not the “
whys
.”) At its
core, animation is simply manipulating an
item's changes in
position
,
rotation
, and/or
scale
over time. All LightWave animations
consist of moving, rotating, and/or scaling
an object, bone, light, camera, or special
effect, creating keyframes that record these
changes over time, and using the Graph
Editor to hone the shape of the curves that
LightWave uses to store the motion data.
What you've learned in this chapter has
shown you the basic tools used by
all
CG
animators, whether they are creating space-
ships flying through minefields or animating
Mortal Kombats. It's
how
these tools are
used that create the art we know as anima-
tion. The use of these tools defines an
animator and the animations he or she
creates.