Dealing w/ keyframes and the Time Line

[thumperness]

So I have run into my 1st, of many, animation question:

 

I started the 'It's a pitch' tutorial and did the 1st pose at time 00:00:00. Then I had to save the project and get something else done in the house. When I reopened the project, I got the 2nd pose finished only to realize I had not moved the timeline up to 00:00:10.

 

So I did a 'save as' and moved the keyframes of the new pose over to 00:00:10. So now I want to copy the keyframes from my 1st project of the beginning pose. But when I paste those keyframes into the new project at 00:00:00, it seems to combine the 2 poses instead of replace the 'bad pose'.

 

I then deleted all the keyframes from 00:00:00 and pasted but it does the same thing.

 

M y question is: If I have apparently no keyframes in 00:00:00 but I have keyframes in 00:00:10, how do I paste the keyframes into 00:00:00 without it mixing w/ attributes/keyframes from 00:00:10?

[robcat2075]

It's amazing it works at all!

 

It is possible to copy a keyframe from one PRJ, load a new PRJ and paste the Keyframe onto the same character. Try doing that in any other software!

 

However, without watching you do it i don't know what filters you have set, nor how fully keyed the bones are keyed in each case. For example, if you copy a key from a bone that has translation keyed but is still unkeyed at it's default rotation, and paste that onto a bone that has translation and rotation keyed, you'll get the new translation but no new rotation.

 

What you are trying to do is far beyond the scope of "It's a pitch" which is intended as a bare introduction to keyframing.

 

My suggestion... bite the bullet, pick one PRJ and redo the missing pose and then continue on. Lesson learned and the extra practice posing the character will do you good!

 

Also, watch my "Keyframing Basics" video, in the tuts link in my signature, for further explanation of keyframing workflow and info about filters.

 

I hope to cover the topic better in a NewTaoA:M segment, but that's for the future.

[thumperness]

LOL!! That's really the answer I was pretty sure I'd get. I was just hoping the was a trick like "Hold these 9 buttons down and click on this and all will be well." Never hurts to ask.

 

Kinda like the 'Make awesome dragon model' button. It never quite evolved.

[Rodney]

I don't think I'm fully understanding your setup.

I assume you are building your Pose in an Action.

 

Try this...

Temporarily move your Keyframes on Frame 10 to Frame 1.

Then paste your other Keyframe into Frame 0.

Move Frame 1 to Frame 2 (A:M will inbetween Frame 0 and Frame 2 but there won't be any Keyframes on Frame 1.

Copy Frame 0's Keyframes and Paste them into Frame 1.

Copy Frame 2's Keyframes and paste them into Frame 2.

Now expand these out to their desired location in the Timeline.

What you do with the inbetween/breakdown frames is entirely up to you and of course you will get some drifting depending on the intropolation you set on the keyframes (Hold, Spline, Linear, Zero Slope).

 

Note: If you have a bad Pose on the Frame you are trying to paste into delete those keyframes.

 

Also: Depending on what is going on at your end this may not work but you may be able to use a different/interim method. For instance, you might be able to move Keyframes from 10 to 0 and then paste into Frame 1. Then you can copy and paste them again into the order you want.

[Rodney]

I have noticed some behavior that is rather problematic when I get too experimental with the keyframe pasting (keyframes present without the actual model showing for instance) but that may be related to a screen refresh issue).

 

One thing that does seem to be important when pasting keyframes between two Project files is that you want to use A:M's drop down menu (Edit/Copy Keyframe and Edit/Paste Keyframe) rather than Control C and Control V on your keyboard because the former works while the latter does not. At a guess it seems the keyframes are not being stored properly in A:M's paste buffer when the Control C and Control V keys are used. So... the solution there is to Copy/Paste keyframes via the Edit menu.

 

You shouldn't even have to move the keyframes around like I described above when using the dropdown menu.

[thumperness]

I don't think I'm fully understanding your setup.

I assume you are building your Pose in an Action.

 

Just to clarify. I am following the TAoAM tutorial for It's a pitch word for word. So I am working in the chor.

 

I'll try this stuff Rodney, but Rob has a point. I'll prolly just re-do the initial pose for practice