Setting the animation layer modes

Once you have created or duplicated a layer, you can set its animation layer mode and accumulation mode. See also Animation layer modes and Accumulation modes.

To set an animation layer to Additive mode:

Do one of the following:

Right-click the layer and select Layer Mode > Additive from the contextual menu.
Select the layer, then in the Properties window select Additive from the Layer Mode menu.

Note

A new layer is set to Additive mode by default.

To set an animation layer to Override mode:

Do one of the following:

Right-click the layer and select Layer Mode > Override from the contextual menu.
Select the layer, then in the Properties window select Override from the Layer Mode menu.

The layer is in Override mode and its name displays in bold text.

Note

When you first set a layer to Override mode, the Passthrough option is active by default and the layer’s Weight is set at 100.

To set the Passthrough mode:

Do one of the following:

Right-click a layer in Override mode and select Layer Mode > Passthrough from the contextual menu.
Select the layer, then in the Properties window select Passthrough from the Layer Mode menu.
Note
When Passthrough is selected in the Properties window, the layer is automatically in Override-Passthrough mode.

To set the layer Accumulation modes:

Right-click on the layer in the Animation Layer and select either Layer Accumulation > Per Channel or Layer Accumulation > Per Layer.
Note
You can also select the Layer Accumulation mode in the Properties window.

The Layer Accumulation modes affect how MotionBuilder calculates Rotation animation, as shown in the following table. See also Accumulation modes.

NoteThe Layer Accumulation mode you select can change the result animation. See Result animation.

Option	Description
Per Layer	The keyframes set for rotation are calculated according to layer first, and property second. MotionBuilder calculates all the keyframes set for these three properties (Rotation XYZ) on the first layer before calculating the next layer, and so on.
Per Channel	The keyframes set for rotation are calculated according to property first, and layer second. All keyframes set for Rotation X are calculated first for every layer, then all keyframes set for Rotation Y on all layers are calculated, and finally all keyframes set for Rotation Z on all layers are calculated.

Note

MotionBuilder and Maya use different Layer Accumulation modes by default. In MotionBuilder, Per Layer (known as Quaternion Rotation Accumulation mode in Maya) is the default. In Maya, Per Channel (known as Euler Rotation Accumulation mode) is the default.

Note

MotionBuilder does not support layers that use the Scale Additive Accumulation mode. A dialog warning appears when you import a scene that uses this type of layer. You can either use Scale Multiply Accumulation mode in Maya and export the file again or you can bake your layers to retain the visual fidelity of your animation.