Plot to Action Dialog Box

To display: Select an object or model and choose Tools Plot All Transformations, Rotations, Positions, Marked Parameters, or Constrained Transforms from the Animate toolbar.

For more information, see Plotting (Baking) Animation [Animation].

The settings you make in this dialog box are kept so that the next time you plot (within the same session of Softimage), the same options are selected. This makes it easy to do several similar plots in a row. These settings are kept in a custom parameter set named PlotToAction that is found under the scene root.

Action Name

Name of the action source that is created. If you select Delete plotted action (below), this name is irrelevant.

Time Span Options

Start Frame	Frame at which to begin plotting the animation.
End Frame	Frame at which to end plotting the animation.
Step Value	Frame step increments to use. When = 1, every frame is plotted and a key is set at every frame; when = 2, every other frame is plotted and a key is set at every other frame, and so on.

Fcurve Options

Kind of Fcurve	Choose the type of function curve that is created when you plot the animation: Standard is the same kind of fcurve as used in the animation editor, mapping time and values. If you select Standard, you can specify the type of fcurve Interpolation (below). Boolean fcurves map time to Boolean values (true or false). These create staircase-like function curves, useful for plotting animated toggles (on/off values). Integer fcurves map time to integer values. These also create staircase-like fcurves, useful for plotting the values of integer parameters, such as RGB values. Raw Data fcurves map time and values, like standard fcurves but using only linear interpolation. They require less memory, which means a smaller file size. These are useful when you plot long animation sequences, such as from motion capture data.
Interpolation	You can select the type of interpolation only when the Standard fcurve option is selected: Spline, Linear, or Constant. These are the same as fcurve interpolations in the animation editor — see Choosing a Function Curve Interpolation Type [Animation]. If you plan to do curve fitting, it's best to create standard spline curves.
Process rotations to ensure continuity	Any complete (full 360-degree) rotations or more are processed for continuity. This option treats orientation as an entity instead of individual X, Y, and Z Euler rotation function curves. This allows the plot processing to avoid "spikes" in the continuity of the rotation curves, when they may jump between equivalent (but discontinuous) representations. You may want to select this option when plotting rotations if you plan to stretch, mix, or manipulate them as actions in the mixer. Only Rotation X/Y/Z function curves are processed by this command. For example, the Roll parameter on a skeleton's bone is not considered to be a rotation fcurve, so its rotation is not processed.
Fit Plotted Values with an Fcurve	Reduces the number of keys on the fcurves resulting from the plot.
Fit Tolerance	If the previous option is selected, use this option to adjust the closeness of the fit of the curve. Smaller values respect the original shape of the curve more by using more keys, resulting in a fit that keeps closer to the original curve.

Plotted Action

Apply plotted animation to object

Applies the plotted action on the selected objects. The action source is also kept.

If you deselect this option, the action source is created with the Action Name that you specified in the model's Mixer Sources Animation folder and in the Sources Model folder at the scene level.

You must then select the source and apply it to the object by choosing the Actions Apply Action command on the Animate toolbar.

Apply using paste keys rather than replace curve

Pastes the keys from the plotted animation to the object's original fcurves rather than replacing the entire fcurve with the plotted one.

The pasted keys don't need to be of the same type as the fcurve to which they are added. For example, you can paste Raw Data keys to a Standard fcurve.

If you deselect this option, the object's original fcurves are replaced by the plotted fcurves.

Delete plotted action

Deletes the plotted action source that is created.

If you deselect this option, an action source is created with the Action Name that you specified, but you must apply it to the object by choosing the Actions Apply Action command on the Animate toolbar.

NoteWith both Apply plotted animation to object and Delete plotted action selected, the plotted animation is applied immediately to the object, but no action source is kept.