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The clipLibrary node manages the source clips and their animation curves for a single character. The clipLibrary's compute method is able to evaluate the attached clips to obtain their attribute values at any time, independent of the current scene time.

While the clipLibrary node manages source clips, the clipScheduler node manages instanced clips. In other words, the clipLibrary handles the raw clip data, and the clipScheduler manages the placement of the clips on the timeline (clips placed in Trax). Each character will be associated with at most a single clipLibrary and a single clipScheduler. The clipLibrary node is able to keep track of source clips and their associated animCurves by connections in the dependency graph. Each source clip is represented by an animClip node which is connected to the clipLibrary's sourceClip attribute. The index of the array attribute where the sourceClip attribute is connected is used as an unique index to identify the connected source clip. Animation curves are connected to the clipLibrary using function attributes. The function attributes allow the library to evaluate the curves at times other than the current scene time. The indices of the attributes where the animation curves are connected are used to correlate the curve to its associated clip and channel, as follows: Since the clipLibrary manages its associated clips via connections, it is important that all required connections are made when setting up clips. The API contains two function sets: MFnClip and MFnCharacter, which will make the proper clipLibrary connections when you create clips using the API.
Node name Parents MFn type Compatible function sets
clipLibrary node kClipLibrary kBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kClipLibrary

Related nodes

clipScheduler, characterMap

Attributes (20)

activeClip, characterMapping, characterdata, clip, clipEval, clipEvalList, clipEval_Hidden, clipEval_Inmap, clipEval_InmapFrom, clipEval_InmapTo, clipEval_Outmap, clipEval_OutmapFrom, clipEval_OutmapTo, clipEval_Raw, clipFunction, clipIndexMapping, clipName, duration, sourceClip, start

Long name (short name) Type Default Flags
clipEvalList (cel) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorablehidden
An array of clipEvals, one entry per clip.
clipEval (cev) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorablehidden
An array of function attributes. The animation curves and expressions that drive this clip get connected to the _Raw attribute that is a child of this attribute.
clipEval_Hidden (cevh) function NULL outputinputhidden
For Internal Use Only
Function being applied at this attribute with the mappings cached for efficiency
clipEval_Raw (cevr) function NULL outputinputconnectable
For Internal Use Only
Actual function being applied at this attribute
clipEval_Inmap (cevi) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Mapping of node's function input parameters to function data input parameters
clipEval_InmapTo (cevit) short 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Node's internal function input parameter index
clipEval_InmapFrom (cevif) short 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Function data input parameter index
clipEval_Outmap (cevo) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Mapping of node's function output parameters to function data output parameters
clipEval_OutmapTo (cevot) short 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Node's internal function output parameter index
clipEval_OutmapFrom (cevof) short 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
For Internal Use Only
Function data output parameter index
clipFunction (cf) function NULL outputconnectable
The clip function gets connected to a scheduler that manages the placement, scale and blending of the clips. The scheduler evaluates the clip function to determine the clip.
characterdata (cd) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorablehidden
An array of character data for the characters managed by this library. The character data allows the clipLibrary to correlate the animCurves of each clip to their associated character channel.
characterMapping (cm) characterMapping NULL outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Stores the mapping of clip data to character attributes
clipIndexMapping (cim) intArray empty outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Stores a unique index for each channel in the character.
activeClip (act) integer -1 outputinputstorable
The index of the clip which is active. Keyframes set onto a character go into the active clip. An active value of -1 indicates that the "default" clip is active. The default clip is not stored in the clip library, but is instead hooked directly to the character. The clip command is used to name the default clip and move it into the clip library. When a default clip is moved into the clip library, the active clip remains -1 and new keys go into the new default clip.
clipName (cn) string TmultiSharedObject::create<TdataString>"unusedClip" arrayoutputinputconnectable
This attribute is not used.
start (st) time 0film arrayoutputinputconnectablehidden
This attribute is obsolete.
duration (du) time 0film arrayoutputinputconnectablehidden
This attribute is obsolete.
sourceClip (sc) Message n/a arrayoutputinputconnectable
The source clips associated with this library are connected to this attribute. Array indices for the sourceClip attribute line up with those for the clip attribute.
clip (cl) Message n/a arrayoutputinputconnectable
The clip message is connected to any schedulers that use the clip. Array indices for the clip attribute line up with those for the sourceClip attribute.