Tail Control Property Editor

Determines the behavior of a tail, ear, or belly control object in a rig.

To display: Select a tail object (Create > Skeleton > Create Tail), or a tail, ear, or belly control object in a biped, dog leg biped, or quadruped rig (Create > Character > Rig). In the explorer, open the Tail Controls custom parameter set under the control object's root node.

For more information, see Creating a Tail [ Character Animation ].

NoteYou must have the Interactive play mode active in the Simulation Time Control Property Editor to be able to interact with the tail control object in the view. This play mode is active by default for spring-based control objects. However, to calculate motion blur, you need to switch to Standard play mode.

Tail Control

Mute Simulation	Toggles the activeness of the control object's simulation.
Reset Simulation	Resets the control object to its animated (non-simulated) state.
Response Speed	The amount of time the control object takes to respond to movement. The higher the value, the more quickly the control object responds to movement. This parameter controls the Step Size in the Spring operator, so a larger value increases the speed as more time elapses between each update.
Anim/Sim Blend	Blend of animation and simulation on the control object's movement. A value of 0 is all animation, and a value of 1 is all simulation.

Caching

Caching On/Off

Select this option to cache the simulation to an action source that is saved in the tail model's Mixer Sources Animation folder. If you select this option, the Regenerate Cache options appear.

For more information, see Tails, Spring Caches, and Models [ Character Animation ].

Regenerate Cache

Regenerates the cache action source in either of these ways:

Manually: the cache is regenerated only when you click the Regenerate Cache button.
Whenever Dirty: the cache is regenerated automatically whenever a change is made to the simulation.

Regenerate Cache button

Regenerates the cache action source.

Current State

Set as Initial State

Sets the control object's current position and orientation to be its state at the start of the simulation.

Profile Curves

Using the parameters and curves on this page, you can control the behavior of the control object as it responds to movement. Select an option from the Distribution list, then edit its curve in the Profile Curve Editor below. The values for all three Distribution parameters are displayed in the Spring Parameters table below the profile curve editor.

For more information, see Editing the Spring's Profile Curves [ Character Animation ].

Distribution

Allows you to control the behavior of the control object along its length. Select any of these options to display and edit its curve:

Mass: Mass in kilograms (kg) of the control object. The more mass, the more force it takes to change the control object's direction.
Stiffness: Sets the rigidity of the spring. Higher values cause the spring to be stiffer.
Damping: Sets the resistance of the control object to velocity and affects how quickly it responds to movement or animation.

Profile Curve Editor

Allows you to edit the curves of the selected Distribution parameter: Mass, Stiffness, or Damping.

Values are shown on the graph's Y axis, and the length of the control object (the control points on the control object's curve) are shown on the graph's X axis, with 0 being the control object's root.

You can edit the fcurves here as you do in the fcurve editor.

Spring Parameters

Displays the curve values for the selected Distribution parameter: Mass, Stiffness, or Damping. Each Spring number (Spring0, Spring1, Spring2, etc.) represents a control point on the control object's curve, with Spring0 being the root. You can edit the values for each control point by double-clicking in the cell and entering a new value.

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License