Import Anim Options

Match Method

Determines how to match up the objects in the SDL file with those in the picked hierarchy.

Hierarchy – All objects in the retrieved animation are matched to their corresponding objects in the picked hierarchy, based on their position within the hierarchy.

Name – DAG node objects in the SDL file are matched to those DAG node objects in the picked hierarchy that have the same name. Non-DAG objects are still matched according to their position relative to their nearest DAG ancestor.

Retrieve Method

Determines how the picked objects are affected by the animation being read in from the SDL file:

Replace Part – Replaces a portion of the existing animation, if any, on the affected parameters. The portion replaced begins at the point specified by the Placement option, and extends for the number of frames implied by the selection in the Frame Range option.

Replace All – Replaces all of the existing animation on the affected parameters, regardless of frame number.

Insert – Inserts animation from the SDL file into the existing animation, at the point specified by the Placement option. Any existing animation after this point is moved ahead in time to make room for the inserted animation, unless a placement of Before or After was specified; in which case, existing animation remains where it is.

Parameters

Indicates which parameters should be retrieved from the SDL file:

All – All parameters in the file are retrieved.

Global – Retrieves only those parameters that are selected in the Global section of the Animation > Editors > Param control window.

Local – Retrieves only those parameters that are selected in the Local section of the Animation > Editors > Param Control window for the currently picked object(s).

Note

If the SDL file contains no animation for a parameter in the frame range being retrieved, then that parameter will not be affected, regardless of the setting of the Parameters option.

Frame Range

Specifies which frames are to be retrieved from the SDL file:

All – Selects all animation in the file, from the first to the last keyframes for all affected parameters in the file.

Option Window – Pops up Start and End sliders that can be used to explicitly specify the range of frames to retrieve from the SDL file.

If the start or end of the frame range does not fall precisely on a keyframe for any of the affected parameters, then a keyframe will be inserted at that point.

If the animation on an affected parameter does not span the full range selected, then it may be extended to the edges of the range using linear tangents. This is only done if the Replace Part or Insert operations have been selected and the retrieved animation joins up with existing animation.

Placement

Specifies where the animation from the SDL file should be placed:

The Before and After options are only available when using the Insert retrieval method.

• Before – Causes the SDL animation to be inserted before the first keyframe of animation on the currently picked object(s).
• After – Causes the SDL animation to be inserted after the last keyframe of animation on the currently picked object(s).
• From File – Causes all of the keyframes from the SDL animation to be placed at the same times as they occupy in the SDL file.
• Option Window – Pops up the Start Time slider which you can use to specify the time at which the first keyframe from the SDL file should be placed.

Spacing

Allows you to specify a time gap to be left between the start and end of an inserted segment of animation, and between subsequent copies of an inserted or replaced segment of animation.

If the spacing is set to 0, it is possible (even likely) that the keyframes at either end of the inserted animation will fall on the same time as one of the keyframes in the existing animation. Since only one keyframe is allowed at any given time, the time of the leftmost of the two keyframes is set back by 0.01 frames to distinguish it from the other and the two are joined with linear tangents. An exception to this is if both keyframes also have the same value; in which case, they are merged into a single keyframe.

By explicitly setting Spacing to a value greater than 0, you can avoid the default behavior and better fine-tune the transition between the existing and inserted animations.

Copies

Specifies the number of copies of the retrieved animation to place into the existing animation. The first keyframe of each copy immediately follows the last keyframe of the previous one by the gap specified in the Spacing option.

Retrieve Joint IK

If this option is selected, the IK handle information is retrieved for the corresponding sections of a skeleton. This information is saved with the animation in the SDL file.

Overwrite Names

If this option is selected, the names of the affected existing animation curves will be overwritten by the names of the curves retrieved from the SDL file. If the new name conflicts with that of some other curve in the existing animation, then a default curve name will be created.

If Overwrite Names is not selected, then the names of the existing animation curves will be retained. Note that it is not always be possible to retain curve names, specifically in the case where multiple-instance actions are involved.

If a curve’s existing name cannot be retained, then it will be given a new, default name.

The Overwrite Names option is only available for a Replace All operation. Replace Part and Insert always try to retain existing curve names.