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Changing the timing of an attribute
Lesson 1: Keyframes and the Graph Editor
Deleting extra keyframes and static channels
Fine tuning an animation
Now you can improvise adjustments to the animation
on your own. For example, you might choose to speed the ball’s horizontal
movement up to the first bounce but not thereafter. You might also
decide to raise the peak height of the ball’s motion so that it
doesn’t seem to hover over the fence unrealistically.
Whatever you choose to do, you’ll likely need
to edit both the Translate X and Translate
Y curves, not just one of them. Play the animation after
each adjustment.
The following two figures show examples of curves
after modification. The two graphs are identical, except the curve
points are selected in the second figure. The second graph shows
the position of the tangent handles.
If you want your curves to match the shape of
the curves in the above figure, here’s what you would need to do:
To
adjust the animation curves to match the above images
- On the Translate
X curve, delete the three key points between the two
key points at the end. To delete keys, select the key points and
press Delete. (The preceding figures
show the curve after the points were deleted.) To delete the points,
drag a selection box around them and press Delete.
With fewer key points on the curve, it’s easier
to maintain the curve’s smoothness for larger distances as you edit
its shape. Small kinks in an animation curve can ruin an otherwise
perfect animation, so it’s useful to remove key points that you
aren’t using.
- On
the Translate X curve, select the
left-most key point and move its right tangent handle down slightly.
(Remember to use the middle mouse button when moving a handle or
point.) Select the right-most key point and move its left tangent
handle up slightly.
Notice that the slope of the Translate
X curve increases slightly in the early part of the animation,
then tapers off toward the end. This causes the ball to accelerate
slightly at the beginning of the animation, then decelerate after
its first bounce.
- On
the Translate Y curve, remove the
key point at frame 22. (The preceding figures show the curve after
the point was removed.) This point wasn’t essential to the curve
shape.
- On
the Translate Y curve, select the
left-most key point and move its right tangent handle up slightly.
- At
the key point where the bounce occurs on the Translate
Y curve, move the left tangent handle up a bit. This
raises the high part of the curve left of that key point, which
makes the ball rise higher over the fence.
- If
you want to change the shape of Translate Y curve
but lack adequate control with the existing key points, you can
add a key point at the position of your choice. (No key points were
added in the prior figures.) To add a key, click the Add
Keys Tool icon, select the curve, and middle-click the desired
position on or off the curve.