Assign Controller

Use Assign Controller in Track View or on the Motion panel to assign animation controllers to any animatable parameter or track.

• Track View > Controllers Toolbar > (Assign Controller)
• Track View > Highlight a controller track in the Controller window. > Edit menu > Controller submenu > Assign
• Track View > Highlight a controller track in the Controller window. > Right-click the track. > Assign Controller
• Select an object. Motion panel > Assign Controller rollout > Highlight a track in the list. > (Assign Controller)

Animation controllers and constraints provide powerful tools for animating all the objects and materials in a scene. For example, rather than keyframing the position of an object in your scene, the object can follow a spline using the Path constraint, react to any animated parameter using a Reaction controller, or move to a musical beat using the Audio controller. You can use a List controller to combine controllers with individual weighting. You can drive a single vertex or control point on a complex object by a variety of controllers.

To view lists of available controllers and constraints, see Animation Controllers and Animation Constraints.

Note: You can also assign controllers and constraints directly from the Animation menu; doing so automatically assigns the item as the child of a List controller.

Constraints and Controllers

Technically, there is no difference between a controller and a constraint. A constraint is simply a controller that requires the use of a second object. For example, a Path constraint is a controller that requires a spline object for a path.

Special-Case Controllers

Special-case controllers are not assigned manually with the Assign Controller command. They are applied automatically during certain procedures:

• A Barycentric Morph controller is applied by selecting an object and assigning a Morph modifier: Click Command panel Geometry Compound Objects Morph.
• A Master Point Controller is assigned when animating vertices, control points, or vectors at a sub-object level of an Editable Poly, Editable Mesh, Editable Spline, Editable Patch, NURBS surface, or FFD modifier.
• Slave Controllers can be assigned manually, but are also applied automatically to selected tracks when a Block controller is created in Track View Global Tracks. A Slave controller transfers key data to a Block controller. See Block Controller.

Procedures

Example: To assign an animation controller in Track View:

1. In the Track View Hierarchy, select one or more parameter items of the same type.
2. From the Edit menu Controller submenu, choose Assign.
3. Choose a controller type from the Assign Controller dialog.

   If a parameter has already been animated, then assigning a new controller has one of the following effects:

   • The existing animation values are recalculated to produce a similar animation with the new controller. For example, replacing Position XYZ with Bezier Position preserves the animation closely.
   • The existing animation values are lost. For example, replacing Smooth Rotation with Noise Rotation discards the Smooth Rotation animation values.

Interface

Choose a controller type from the Assign ... Controller dialog. Depending on the type of track currently highlighted, the dialog lists a subset of the different types of controllers.

Make Default

Makes the highlighted controller the default type for this type of parameter. For example, setting a Float parameter to the Noise Float controller will set Noise Float as the default for all Float parameters. After clicking Make Default, you're prompted to confirm the change.

OK

Assigns the highlighted controller to the highlighted track or tracks. In some cases, doing so opens a parameters dialog for the new controller.