animClip

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Maya uses animation clips as the building block of its non-linear animation system, "Trax". An animation clip allows the user to bundle a set of animation curves independent of time so that they can be reused multiple times, with different timing than the original clip.

Character sets are integral to Maya's use of clips, since a clip contains whatever attributes of the character were animated when the clip was created. For more information on character sets, refer to the character node documentation.

Clips in maya can be of two types: source clips and scheduled clips. Scheduled clips are also referred to as instanced clips. In the Maya UI, source clips are visible in the Visor while scheduled clips are visible in Trax. A source clip maintains the animation curves for the clip. A scheduled clip contains data about the placement of an instance of a source clip in the Maya timeline. In this context, an "instance" means that the animation curves from the source clip are shared by the scheduled clip. Scheduled clips never contain their own animation curves, they always refer to a source clip's curves.

For example, if you create a clip called "run" in maya that lasts from frames 1-20, a source clip node will be created with a start of 1, a duration of 19, and dependency graph connections to all of the animation curves that make up the "run". If you then place an instance of the run clip at frame 5 and another instance of the run clip at frame 20, you have 2 scheduled clips: one with a start frame of 5 and one with a start frame of 20. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, only a single set of animation curves exist for the run regardless of the number of times the run is scheduled.

Trax also allows you to create "blends" between clips, which enable you to control the transition between the clips. A blend is represented in the dependency graph by an "animBlendInOut" node, which uses an animation curve to determine the transition type.

In the dependency graph, when a character has animation clips, the character node will always be connected to a "clipLibrary" node and a "clipScheduler" node. The clipLibrary node is connected to all of the source clips and their animation curves. The clipScheduler node is connected to the scheduled clips and blends. It is the clipScheduler that computes the final animation by looking at the placement and overlap of the clips and feeding the attribute data back into the character set.

Related nodes

character, clipScheduler, clipLibrary, animBlend, animBlendInOut

Attributes (36)

absoluteChannel, absoluteRotations, channelOffset, clip, clipData, clipInstance, cycle, duration, enable, hold, localStartPosition, localStartPositionX, localStartPositionY, localStartPositionZ, offset, offsetXform, pose, postCycle, preCycle, recomputeOffset, scale, sourceEnd, sourceStart, start, startFrame, startPercent, startTrim, timeWarp, timeWarpEnable, useChannelOffset, weight, weightStyle, worldStartPosition, worldStartPositionX, worldStartPositionY, worldStartPositionZ

Long name (short name)	Type	Default	Flags
absoluteChannel (ac)	bool	false
When set to true the channel starts at the keyed value (absolute) if set to false the channel is treated as an offset (relative) to prevent jumps
absoluteRotations (abro)	bool	false
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by the absoluteChannel attribute.
channelOffset (co)	double	0.0
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by offsetXform.
clip (cl)	Message	n/a
The clip message attributes is used to connect instance clip nodes to their source clip node. As well it connects source clips to their library node.
clipData (cd)	clip	NULL
Clip ghost shape transform information. Used to ensure ghost translation and rotation remain synchronized with clip.
clipInstance (ci)	bool	1
If this value is true, the clip is an instanced version of a "source clip", meaning that the clip shares the animCurves of the source clip but is placed in the clip editor at a different position than the original source clip was recorded. Deleting an instanced clip removes its instance from the schedule (the clip editor). If this value is false, the clip is the source clip and its animCurves are shared by all instanced version of it. Deleting the source clip deletes all instances of the clip.
cycle (cy)	double	1.0
This attribute is obsolete.
duration (du)	time	0film
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by the sourceStart and sourceEnd attributes.
enable (ea)	bool	1
Whether the clip is enabled
hold (h)	time	0film
Length of time that the clip holds its end value.
localStartPosition (lsp)	compound	n/a
This attribute is obsolete.
localStartPositionX (lspx) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete.
localStartPositionY (lspy) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete.
localStartPositionZ (lspz) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete.
offset (o)	enum	0
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by the absoluteChannel attribute.
offsetXform (oxf)	matrix	TmultiSharedObject::create<TdataMatrix>
Clip offset transformation.
pose (ps)	bool	false
A clip pose is handled like a regular clip, but when the pose attribute is set to true, the clip is displayed in the pose section of the Visor.
postCycle (ca)	double	0.0
The postCycle value is used to repeat the clip, in whole or in part, after the end of the basic clip.
preCycle (cb)	double	0.0
The preCycle value is used to repeat the clip, in whole or in part, before the beginning of the basic clip.
recomputeOffset (roff)	bool	false
Plug to trigger synchronization of translation and rotation offset specified by clip ghost shape.
scale (sc)	double	1.0
Used to scale the clip
sourceEnd (se)	time	0film
The time on the original animCurve(s) where the clip ends. Used to trim the ending portion of the animCurve(s) to the desired ending point. Modifying this attribute only affects this instance of the clip. See the description of the clipInstance attribute for more information about the source clip and clip instances.
sourceStart (ss)	time	0film
The time on the original animCurve(s) where the clip starts. Used to trim the beginning portion of the animCurve(s) to the desired starting point. Modifying this attribute only affects this instance of the clip. See the description of the clipInstance attribute for more information about the source clip and clip instances.
start (st)	time	0film
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by the sourceStart and sourceEnd attributes.
startFrame (sf)	time	0film
The actual start frame where the clip is placed for playback.
startPercent (sp)	double	0.0
This attribute is obsolete.
timeWarp (tw)	double	0.0
Input for a timewarp curve or expression. The only values that are used are between times 0 and 1.
timeWarpEnable (twe)	bool	false
Determines if an animation curve connected to the timeWarp attribute is used as a time warp curve.
startTrim (str)	time	0film
This attribute is obsolete.
useChannelOffset (uco)	bool	1
This attribute is obsolete.
weight (w)	double	1.0
Weight for the clip
weightStyle (ws)	enum	0
How the clip weighting is applied. `From Start` indicates that a weight of zero returns the clip to its start frame. `From Zero` indicates that a weight of zero sets the attributes in the clip to zero. `Absolute From Zero` indicates that absolute channels are weighted `From Zero` and relative channels are weighted `From Start`.
worldStartPosition (wsp)	compound	n/a
This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by offsetXform.
worldStartPositionX (wspx) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by offsetXform.
worldStartPositionY (wspy) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by offsetXform.
worldStartPositionZ (wspz) double 0.0 This attribute is obsolete, it has been replaced by offsetXform.