What's New in Animation

The options in the new Live Connection window ( > Edit > Live Connection or File > Send to MotionBuilder > Live Connection) are an extension of the Send to commands that were introduced in Maya 2012. Now you can send your HumanIK defined character to MotionBuilder and establish a live streaming connection.

This new workflow lets you drive your skeleton or Custom rig with motion capture data, so you can pre-visualize your retargeting result before baking the final animation from MotionBuilder into your Maya scene.

Note This feature is only available if Maya is used as part of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites.

• Live character streaming
• Set up a local live connection
• Set up a remote live connection

You can now share and reuse animation more efficiently using Maya's ATOM (Animation Transfer Object Model). The .atom file type and its associated import/export options let you save specific poses or animation sequences, then easily reload them onto other objects.

ATOM options let you set precisely which animation to reuse and how you want to import and export it. After exporting, you can import animation based on the character hierarchy, name matching, or using a template file as a filter.

• ATOM animation file format
• Export .atom animation
• Import .atom animation
• Define a character template for animation export

Clip matching

When manipulating clips of animation in the Trax Editor, new clip matching tools let you define an offset object to better align the movements in your animation sequence.

See the following topics for new or updated information:

• Match poses and align clips
• Display clip ghosts
• Match Clip Options

Watch: Clip matching

More easily set relative or absolute clip offsets

Updated clip Offset settings are now included in the Create Clip Options (Animate > Create Clip > ) and in the Trax Editor context-sensitive menu, letting you more easily view and set whether channels have an absolute or relative offset from the previous clip. See also Offset clip channels.

Other updates

The Rotation Blend setting in the Blend Clip Options (Create > Blend > ) has been updated with simpler Euler and Quaternion options. Quaternion is now the default Rotation Blend setting when you create a blend between animation clips. See Trax menu bar for updated information.

In the Graph Editor, the Retime Tool lets you directly adjust the timing of key movements in your animations. This tool provides a new type of timing manipulator in the graph view, letting you shift key moments in time, or warp entire sequences to make them occur faster or slower.

For animators working in a pipeline with multiple Autodesk applications, similar animation retiming tools are available in 3ds Max, Softimage, and MotionBuilder.

Refer to the following topics for new or updated information:

• Change the timing of movements in animation
• Graph Editor toolbar
• Graph Editor Edit menu

Watch: Retime animation

The new Send to commands in Maya and 3ds Max let you convert a CAT bipedal character into a Maya compatible HumanIK character. This direct connection lets you transfer your character structure, definition, and animation from 3ds Max into an FK representation on a HumanIK skeleton in Maya. Any changes or new animation that you create in Maya can be updated on your original CAT character, so you can continue to animate in the context of your 3ds Max scene.

Note This feature is only available if Maya is used as part of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites.

• Convert CAT to HumanIK

• Updated Buffer Curve options Graph Editor Curves menu now let you create a snapshot of referenced curves. See Edit animation curves in referenced files.
• The Add Key Tool (originally available in the Graph Editor toolbar) is now only available from the Keys menu. The original Add Key icon now represents the Insert Keys Tool. See also Add keys to a curve.
• View framing options (Frame All, Frame Selection, Frame Playback Range) are now grouped in a View > Frame menu.