Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Auto Keyframe
You can also use the Auto Keyframe
feature when animating the planets and moons.
Auto Keyframe automatically sets a keyframe for any attribute that changes from a pre-
viously set keyframe. For example, an initial keyframe for an attribute such as Y-Axis
Rotation needs to be set at some point in the animation. The next time the Y-Axis
Rotation is changed, Maya will set a keyframe at the current frame automatically.
To turn on Auto Keyframe, click the Auto Keyframe icon ( ), which is to the right
of the Range slider. When the icon is red, Auto Keyframe is active.
To use Auto Keyframe to animate the moon orbiting Mars, follow these steps:
1. Turn on Auto Keyframe.
2. Start at frame 1. Select Mars's moon, and set a keyframe for its
Y
-axis orbit by high-
lighting Rotate Y in the Channel Box and pressing S.
3. Go to frame 240. Revolve the moon around Mars several times in a direction of your
choosing. Maya automatically sets a frame for
Y
rotation at frame 240. Save your file.
U S e CU beS i n S tead oF SphereS
U S e CU beS i n S tead oF SphereS
Feel free to create the planets and moons as cubes instead of spheres. That way, you can see
each of their individual rotations much more easily, so you can tell whether the animation is
working properly for you.
Feel free to create the planets and moons as cubes instead of spheres. That way, you can see
each of their individual rotations much more easily, so you can tell whether the animation is
working properly for you.
Using the Outliner
The Outliner is an outline format listing of all the objects and nodes in your scene. For an
in-depth look at the Outliner, see Chapter 3. For now, let's look at how to use the Outliner
to illustrate the hierarchies for the planets and moons. When all is good and proper, the
Outliner should look like Figure 2.24. Choose Window
➔
Out-
liner to open the Outliner window and take a peek at what you
have. If you haven't yet properly named everything, including
the moons, take this opportunity to do so by double-clicking a
name in the Outliner and entering a new name.
Let's look at the planet Mars and its layout in the Outliner
to better understand the hierarchy for all the planets. All the
other planets should be laid out exactly like Mars (except the
planets that have just one or no moons).
At the bottom of the hierarchy are Mars's two moons,
mars_moon and mars_moon2. Each of those moons is spin-
ning on its own pivot point. You grouped each moon to itself,
Figure 2.24
The Outliner view
of the planet hier-
archies
