Can groups of keyframes be duped and moved?

[Kelley]

Using the little Mignola demon faerie, I have an eight-frame wingbeat cycle. I'm trying to build an Action in which he arches his back [chest out] stretches his arms out to the side, brings them front and claps his hands twice. Then drop into the 'ready-set-go' runners position.

 

I want the wing cycle to happen sporadically as part of the warm up...but can't find a way to dupe the keyframes as a group. [in previous apps., I could Select>Alt>and drag copies] You'll see in the timeline where I duped the action one keyframe, one channel at a time. But is there a faster way?

 

Second, when I paste the new keyframe in, it inserts a keyframe in every channel. Then I go in and delete. Is there a way to put the new key into one channel only?

[KenH]

Highlight the bones whose keyframes you want to duplicate.

In the timeline, drag a box around the concerned keyframes (Or hold down shift/control key to multi-select too).

Press Contol C.

Move the slider to where you want to paste the keyframes.

Press Control V.

[Paul Forwood]

I would animate the wings with short actions that you can set to repeat for as long as is required.

 

When using copy/paste you will need to pay attention to the filters at the bottom left of your screen. If you have the "Key Model" filter selected you will copy all the channels.

[Kelley]

If you have the "Key Model" filter selected you will copy all the channels.

 

Ken: the shift/control did it.

 

Paul: To escape the Key Model filter, another choice has to be made. [there being no simple CTRL_D 'deselect' as far as I can see] I chose Key Branch and things look fine. But there is also Key Bone. Is one preferable to the other?

 

Also, is there a way to put a lock on a bone so it can't move? In this case, the hips. [which is the root bone] In the process of moving arms, and deleting unwanted key frames, the whole character wanted to float upwards a few pixels, then down even though I never moved the hip bone.

[KenH]

That hip movement must be inherent in the rig. Maybe there's a pose to turn it off? Otherwise, it seems like you'll have to counter animate the hips. But it seems natural if the wings go down then the hips go up and vice versa.

[Kelley]

Ken: I take it then, there is no 'lock' function for a bone? As you say, the movement is probably inherent in the rig, which is simple, if not primitive. Just a 'messin' around' rig. But I did think the root bone would resist drifting out of place. I did solve it as you suggest, by watching the Translate table on the Hips Bone and any time a number chaged from default, I manually corrected.

 

In the Timeline shown, the toned area is where he drops to the runners stance. Now I want to make a sprint/running action. I opened a new Action and attempted to paste the final keyframes into it. Doesn't seem to want to happen. Everything on the timeline now will only happen once, by the run needs to be a repetitive/re-usable action. Can I continue to build on the same timeline, then select only the running keyframes and save only those as a new action?

[robcat2075]

Can I continue to build on the same timeline, then select only the running keyframes and save only those as a new action?

 

I haven't scoped out your question completely but you could save the chor action to an "action" then delete the channels you don't want in the "action"

[Kelley]

Robcat: What I'm trying, hoping, to do is build a 'run' action on the same timeline shown above. What you see there is 4 sec. long. If I build an additional 2 sec. of 'run', can I select those two seconds and save only that as a new action?

 

Or, are you suggesting that I can select the last two seconds in the choreography, and save that?

[KenH]

If you right click on an action in the chor, there's an option to export it as an action. Delete what you don't want (on a copy) and export as an action. Yes?

[robcat2075]

Robcat: What I'm trying, hoping, to do is build a 'run' action on the same timeline shown above. What you see there is 4 sec. long. If I build an additional 2 sec. of 'run', can I select those two seconds and save only that as a new action?

 

Or, are you suggesting that I can select the last two seconds in the choreography, and save that?

 

I'm saying (and Ken too) that deleting stuff in an "Action" (by that I mean an official A:M Action, which is an animation separate from a "Choreography") is so quick that preselecting part of some animation in a chor is not an issue. You can CTRL-select multiple channels in your Action timeline and delete what you don't want in one step.

 

You can also delete unwanted frames from before or after the part you want and slide what is left to 00:00 if you wish.

[Kelley]

OK. Done. This is brand-new ground for me, and I was [am] nervous about deleting those first four seconds. But since they had already been saved as an Action...here goes. Thanks.