Match poses and align clips

When manipulating the clips in an animation sequence using the Trax Editor, you can use clip matching options to automatically align clips based on a specified object, or display interactive clip ghosts that let you manually align the clips in the scene.

To match poses between clips

1. Ensure your character is set as the current character set (Set the current character set).
2. (Optional) Display clip ghosts for the clips you want to match.
3. Scrub through the animation to find frames where your character reaches a common pose in each clip, then trim or split the clips so that the common pose occurs at the end of the first clip, and at the start of the next clip.

   For example, if you're blending a walk clip with a run clip, trim the walk clip to end on a frame where the left foot is down, then trim the run clip to start with a similar pose.

4. Do either of the following to align the clips in 3D space:

   To manually align the clips:

   • Select a clip ghost, then move and rotate it until it aligns with the trajectory of the next clip.
     Tip With a clip ghost selected, press D + drag to adjust the position of the clip ghost pivot. Enable Snap to points in the main Status line (toolbar) to snap the ghost pivot to a specific point, such as a bone on your character's skeleton.

   To automatically align the clips:

   

   • Select an object to act as the match pivot, or anchor.

     This is the object Maya will use to establish the position and match the clips in space, and it can be any object included in the character set, or any object driven by objects included in the character set.

     The object you select depends on what type of transition occurs between the two clips. For the walk and run clip example, where the action is centered around the feet, the Left or RightAnkle effector can be a good match object.

   • Select the clips you want to match, then select Modify > Match Clips > .
   • In the Match Clip Options, set the options you want.

     The match object you selected displays in the Match node field. (To change the match object used for any subsequent match operation, you can select a new object and click .)

   • Click Match Clips.

     Maya checks the position and location of the Match node object at the end of the first clip, and at the start of the second clip, then moves the second clip to match the first based on that object.

     TipFor subsequent match operations based on the same match object, you can select Modify > Match Clips to align clips without changing the options.

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