Match poses and align clips

You can use clip matching options and interactive clip ghosts to define offsets and align the clips in an animation sequence.

To match poses between clips

1. Select an object to base the offset on, then select Edit > Set Offset Object in the Trax menu bar.

   For example, select the parent locator of a character hierarchy.

   NoteIf you are animating a HumanIK character and you want to use a parent locator as the offset object, ensure that the parent reference object is included in your character set. See also Animating HumanIK characters in Trax.

   If any of the clips use Relative offsets, you'll need to click Yes in the warning that appears to switch those clips to use Absolute offsets. (See Absolute and relative channel offsets.)

2. Ensure your character is set as the current character set (Set the current character set).
3. Display clip ghosts for the clips you want to match.

   (Select an object to display as the clip ghost, then select Edit > Set Clip Ghost Root. Right-click a clip and turn on Show/Hide Clip Ghost.)

4. Do either of the following to align the clip ghost objects in 3D space:

   To manually align the clips:

   • Scrub through the animation in one clip to find a frame where your character reaches a pose similar to the start or end frame ghost of the next clip.

     For example, if you're matching two different walk cycle clips and the character's left foot is planted at the start frame of the second clip, look for a frame in the first clip where the character's left foot is planted.

   • Select the clip ghost, then move and rotate it until it aligns with the trajectory of the next clip.

   To automatically align the clips:

   • Select the source and destination clips.
   • Select Modify > Match Clips > and set the Match Clip Options, then click Match Clips.

     Based on the match options you set, Maya automatically offsets your source clip to match the specified match object in your destination clip.

   By adjusting the position of clip ghosts, or by setting the Match Clip Options, you offset the clip animation to a new position in 3D space.

5. (Optional) Once you have established proper matching between clips, you can drag and rearrange the clips so that similar poses overlap in time, creating a seamless animation sequence.