Exporting reference tweaks
 
 
 

The tweaks you’ve made to the zombie shuffle have not actually changed the original zombie animation. Instead, the changes reside in the current scene file as reference edits.

To view reference edits

  1. Open the Reference Editor (File > Reference Editor).
  2. In the Reference Editor, select the zombieShuffle reference.
  3. Select File > List Reference Edits.

    Maya displays a list of the node and attribute values that have changed since the zombie file was referenced.

    From this you can see that the zombieShuffle file still contains the original, unaltered zombie walk, while the current scene referencing zombieShuffle contains only the tweaks you’ve made since.

  4. Close the List Reference Edits window.

You can export the reference edits in the current scene for use in your graveyard scene.

To export the reference edits

  1. In the Reference Editor, select the zombie reference.
  2. Select File > Export to Offline File.

    The File Browser window appears.

  3. In the Options section, set the following:
    • Export nodes: Connected to referenced file for selection
    • Include setAttr edits: On
    Note

    This tutorial assumes you are using the default Maya File Browser. If these options do not appear in the File Browser, change back to the default browser by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, and then going to the Files/Projects section and setting the File Dialog option to Maya Default.

  4. Name the file armTweak1, and then click the Export to Offline File button.

    Maya creates an edits file containing your animation tweaks.

Now you are ready to apply the tweaked animation to zombies in the graveyard file.

To prepare for the next part of the tutorial, re-open the graveyard3.ma scene (File > Open Scene). You do not need to save the current scene.