Plot Shape Dialog Box

Lets you set options to plot the shape animation of an object or cluster to a new shape source.

To display: Select an object, cluster, or tagged points and choose Tools Plot Shape from the Animate toolbar.

For more information, see Sharing Shape Animation between Objects, Models, and Scenes [Shape Animation].

Shape Clip

Single Source	Creates one shape source (one shape key) for the whole plotted shape animation. Plotting to a single source is faster and takes up less space than plotting to multiple, individual sources. This is useful for copying shape keys to other objects. When you create a shape clip from the resulting source, it acts as a non-static pose clip which means that it can be cycled, bounced, or timewarped (only from the Time Control property editor).
	If you deselect the Single Source option, a shape source (key) is created for each plotted frame of shape animation. These shape keys are available on their own as well as being stored within a compound shape source.
Apply Keys	Automatically instantiates (creates) each resulting plotted shape source as a shape clip in the animation mixer. If you deselected the Single Source option, a compound shape clip is created containing the shape clips for each frame that is plotted. If you deselect this option, the shape sources are stored as any other shape key in the model's Mixer > Sources > Shape folder, but are not added to the mixer as shape clips.
Instantiation Mode	If you select Apply Keys and are plotting to multiple shape sources (Single Source is not selected), you must set the shape clips' Instantiation Mode to determines how the individual shape keys are applied in the mixer. You can choose from any of the four standard modes (see Choosing a Shape Instance Mode for Shape Clips [Shape Animation]), or Use Current Mode that uses the mode that is currently active in the Deform > Shape menu.

Shape Content

Name

The prefix name for each shape source that is created from the plotting.

If you are plotting to multiple shape sources (Single Source is not selected), this name is also used as a prefix for each of the shape keys within the compound shape source.

Shape Content

Determines the deformation that is stored for the shape-animated object or cluster:

Shape Authoring Deforms plots only the deformations that are in the Shape Modelling region in the object's construction history. This means that only the deformation resulting from the shape authoring deformation tools are plotted for the selected object or cluster.
All Deforms plots deformations that are in all regions of the object's construction history. This means that all deformations on the selected object or cluster are plotted, whether or not the deformation is a result of the tools that were used for authoring the shape animation.

For information on construction modes, see Creating Shapes in the Shape Modeling Construction Modes [Shape Animation].

Reference Mode

Determines the initial (reference) shape for the selected cluster or object's plotted shape animation. Select from the options that are the same as the commands in the Deform > Shape menu: Absolute, Local Relative, or Object Relative. See Deformations and Shape Reference Modes [Shape Animation] for more information.

Frame Range

Start	The frame at which to begin plotting
End	The frame at which to end plotting
Step	The frame step increments to use. When 1, every frame is plotted; when 2, every other frame is plotted, and so on.