Import Animation Clip

Opens the Import file browser. This window lets you browse for animation clip files to import. Import Clip imports the selected animation clip to the current, highlighted character. You can import animation clips that have one of the following file formats:

• mayaAscii (.ma)
• mayaBinary (.mb)
• mel (mel)
• OBJ (.obj)
• audio (.wav, .aif, .aiff)
• move (.mov)
• EPS (.eps)
• Adobe^® Illustrator^® (.ai)

Import Animation Clip to Characters

Opens the Import file browser. This window lets you browse for the animation clip files you want to import to your loaded characters. Import Animation Clip to Character imports the selected animation clip to all the loaded characters in Trax. You can import animation clips that have one of the following file formats:

• mayaAscii (.ma)
• mayaBinary (.mb)
• mel (mel)
• OBJ (.obj)
• audio (.wav, .aif, .aiff)
• move (.mov)
• EPS (.eps)
• Adobe^® Illustrator^® (.ai)

  Clip

  Set one of the following options:

  Put Clip in Visor Only

  Adds the animation clip you are importing to the Visor.

  Put Clip in Trax Editor and Visor

  Adds the animation clip you are importing to the Trax Editor and Visor.

  NoteWhen you put a clip in the Visor, you can then access it from the Outliner. See Use the Outliner with Trax for information on viewing clips in the Outliner.

Import Audio

Opens the Import file browser. This window lets you browse for audio files to import to your Soundtrack for the current scene. You can import audio files that have the following file formats:

• WAV (.wav)
• Audio Interchange File Format (.aif, .aiff)

For information on the Import Options window, see File > Import.

Import Cache

Opens the Import file browser. This window lets you browse for and select an existing geometry or nCloth cache file to attach to the current object. If the current object already has a geometry or nCloth cache, the cache file you browse to and select replaces the original cache but does delete it from disk. See Create or import geometry caches.

Export Animation Clip

Opens the Export file browser. This window lets you browse for the location to which you want to export your animation clip. You can export your animation clips as the following file types:

• mayaAscii (.ma)
• mayaBinary (.mb)
• mov (.mov)

Character Mapper

Opens the Character Mapper window. See Character > Character Mapper.

Export Character Map

Opens the Write file browser. This window lets you browse for the character set to which you want to export your character map. You can export character maps as the following file types:

• maya Ascii (.ma)
• mayaBinary (.mb)
• move (.mov)
• mel (.mel)

  Map Method

  Sets the format of the character map you want to export. The Map Method option you choose depends on which map you expect will be the easiest to edit. Before you select a Map Method, you first need to know the attributes (and their order) of both character sets.

  By Attribute Name

  Creates a map where the current character set’s attribute values are mapped to the attribute names of the target character set.

  By Attribute Order

  Creates a map where the current character set’s attribute values are mapped to the target character set based on the order (descending) of attributes in the Channel Box.

  By Node Name

  Creates a map where the current character set’s attribute values are mapped to the corresponding object and attribute names of the target character set.

  By Current Map

  Creates a map using the current mapping for the selected character sets. This is useful if you have already exported a map to fix character mapping, then later need to add new attributes to the character set. If you use By Current Map, you will only be able to edit the attribute mappings you have added since the last time you corrected the mapping.

  This option works only if you have already exported a character map and executed the resulting MEL script. See Mapping animation between characters.

Visor

Opens the Visor window. See What are the Visor, Outliner, and Clip Library?.

Undo

Deletes your last action in the Trax Editor.

Redo

Repeats the last action you previously deleted in the Trax Editor.

Cut

For animation clips only.

Removes the selected animation clip from the Trax Editor and stores it in your system’s virtual clipboard. See Cut, copy, and paste clips.

Copy

For animation clips only.

Copies the selected animation clip in the Trax Editor and stores the copy in your system’s virtual clipboard.

Paste

For animation clips only.

Pastes the copied or cut animation clip from your system’s virtual clipboard to the highlighted Character in the Trax Editor.

Split

Splits the selected animation or geometry cache clip into two separate clips. See Split clips.

By default, the first new clip that is generated is named Start and the second new clip is named End. Also, if you split animation clips, the two new source clips are named clipnStartSource and clipnEndSource.

Split Time

Lets you specify a custom time at which the clip will be split. This field is only available when Specify Time in on.

Merge

For animation clips only.

Merges the selected animation cache clips. See Nonlinear Animation.

Clips can be merged within a track, or clips from separate tracks can be merged. The clip that begins first becomes the first section of the merged clip. When clips that overlap in time are merged, their animation is blended automatically.

To merge geometry cache clips, see Merge geometry cache clips.

Name

Lets you enter a name for the merged animation clip.

Merge Cache Clips

For geometry or nCloth cache clips only.

Cache Directory

Specifies the location on your server or local disk to which the merged geometry or nCloth cache you want to create is saved. The folder icon ( ) allows you to browse to a different directory than the default.

Name

Specifies the base name for the merged geometry or nCloth cache clip you want to create. By default, the base name is mergedClip.

Evaluate every frame(s) and Save every evaluation(s)

When creating a geometry or nCloth cache, one sample of your object’s deformations is taken every frame and saved to your cache by default.

Evaluate every frame(s) specifies how often samples are taken during geometry or nCloth cache creation. For example, a value of 2 caches the deformations or simulation of the current object at every other frame of the Cache Time Range.

Save every evaluation(s) specifies which samples are saved during geometry or nCloth cache creation. For example, a value of 2 specifies that only every other sample specified by the Evaluate every frame(s) option is saved to your geometry or nCloth cache.

For more information, see Geometry cache creation.

Delete existing cache files after merge

Specifies that all your enabled geometry or nCloth cache nodes are deleted when the merged cache clip is created. However, your geometry or nCloth caches on disk are preserved.

Trim Before

Removes the segment of the selected animation or geometry cache clip that comes before the Trax current time indicator’s position.

Trim After

Removes the segment of the selected animation or geometry cache clip that comes after the Trax current time indicator’s position.

Duplicate

For animation clips only.

When you duplicate an animation clip, a new track is generated and a copy of the clip is added to this track.

Duplicate Input Connections

When on, creates a copy of the selected animation clip whose duplicate animation is independent of the original clip’s source animation. This means you can edit the animation on this new clip and it won’t affect the animation on your original clip—it will only affect the duplicate.

When off, creates a copy of the selected animation clip whose duplicate animation is dependent on the original clip’s source animation. This means any modifications made to the original clip’s animation are propagated to the duplicate clip.

Duplicate Input Connections is off by default.

Copy Channel Offsets

Lets you apply the current channel offset settings from one animation clip to another. This is useful when you want multiple clips to have the same offset settings.

Quick Select Sets

Lets you select a Quick Select Set. When you select a Quick Select Set in Trax, the animation or geometry cache clips that are part of the set you select are quickly loaded and displayed in the track view area.

For information on creating a Quick Select Set of clips, see Quick Select Set.

Group

For animation clips only.

Creates a group under the current character and places the selected animation clips in tracks under that group.

Ungroup

For animation clips only.

Removes the selected group from its character and places the group’s tracks directly under its character or parent group.

Frame All

Frames all animation and geometry cache clips in the track view area so that each clip’s start and ends are visible.

Frame Selection

Frames the selected animation or geometry cache clips in the track view area.

Frame Playback Range

Frames the current playback range in the track view area.

Center Current Time

Centers the track view area on the current time.

Graph Anim Curves

For animation clips only.

Launches the Graph Editor and displays the animation curves for the current, selected animation clip.

Attribute Editor

Opens the Attribute Editor and displays the selected character’s, animation clip’s, object’s, or geometry cache clip’s nodes and attributes.

Enable/Disable

Turns on or off the selected animation clip’s animation curves or the selected geometry cache clips cache. See Enabled/disabled clips or Enable or disable geometry cache clips.

Activate/Deactivate Keys

For animation clips only.

Turns Activate Keys on or off for the selected animation clip. The Activate Keys mode lets you key into a clip. See Active/inactive clips.

Remove Empty Tracks

For animation clips only.

Removes all empty tracks from the current character.

Animation Clip

Creates an animation clip for the current character. See Animation clips and Animate > Create Clip.

Constraint Clip

The options in the Create Constraint Clip Options window are the same as those in the Create Clip Options window, with the exception that the Create Constraint Clip Options window does not contain the Time Range Animation Curve option. For information on the options in the Create Constraint Clip Options window, see Animate > Create Clip.

Expression Clip

The options in the Create Expression Clip Options window are the same as those in the Create Clip Options window, with the exception that the Create Expression Clip Options window does not contain the Time Range Animation Curve option. For information on the options in the Create Expression Clip Options window, see Animate > Create Clip.

Pose

Creates a pose for the current character. See Poses.

For information on the Create Pose Options window, see Animate > Create Pose.

Blend

For animation clips only.

Blends the selected animation clips. You can only create a blend between two animation clips at a time. See Blends and Create and edit blends.

Character Set

Creates a character set for the current object. See Characters, groups, and subcharacters.

For more information on the Create Character Set Options window, see Character > Create Character Set.

Time Warp

For animation clips only.

Creates a time warp curve for the current animation clip. See Time warps and Create and edit time warps.

Quick Select Set

Creates a Quick Select Set for the current animation or geometry cache clips. Quick Select Set lets you create a selection set for multiple clips from various clips and characters. The selection sets you create with this option appear under Trax menu bar > Edit > Quick Select Sets.

You can edit the membership of an existing quick select set with the Relationship Editor. See Relationship Editor.

Geometry Cache

Creates a geometry cache clip for the current object. See Geometry Cache > Create New Cache and Create or import geometry caches.

Insert Clip

For animation clips only.

Lets you insert an animation clip into the current track. The list of clips contains the names of all the animation clips in your scene.

Insert Pose

Lets you insert a pose into the current track. The pose list contains the names of all the poses in your scene.

Autoload Selected Characters

When on, any objects or characters you select in either the scene view or the Time Slider’s Current Character drop-down list are automatically loaded into Trax. Also, when you cancel your selection in the scene view, all characters and objects are automatically removed from Trax.

Load Selected Characters

Only available when Autoload Selected Characters is off.

Loads all selected characters or objects into Trax, replacing the currently loaded characters or objects. If you select Load Selected Characters, cancelling your selection in the scene view does not remove the characters and objects from Trax.

Add Selected Characters

Only available when Autoload Selected Characters is off.

Loads the selected characters or objects into Trax. Use this menu item to add characters or objects to Trax when there is already a number of characters or objects loaded in Trax.

Bookmarks

For characters only.

Bookmark Current Characters

Creates a bookmark for the current, highlighted character in Trax. Character bookmarks let you quickly load characters into Trax.

Use the Bookmark Current Character option box to name your bookmarks.

All the character or object bookmarks you create appear as a list under List > Bookmarks.

Remove All Bookmarks

Deletes all the current scene’s character bookmarks.