Time Editor Animation Sources

Animation Sources are the various types of data that you can use to drive the motion of an object. The Animation Source is the data that tells a model how to move. Without one, your object is static. Whenever you create an Animation Clip, even a single-frame Pose clip, the Time Editor creates an Animation Source. You can also create Animation Sources from existing animation in your scene (see Add Maya scene animation to the Time Editor). When you drag an Animation Source onto a track, a Clip is created.

You can find the Animation Sources in your scene in the Time Editor Source menu as well as the Outliner. You can filter the Outliner so that you see only Time Editor nodes by entering timeEditor in the Outliner Search field.

Think of an Animation Source as a description of elements shown in the Roster, or as a container that stores the animation of objects in the scene. Animation Sources drive animation clips in the Time Editor. Any retiming workflow done to clips does not affect the original animation stored in the Animation Source.

Note: You can have only once Animation Source per Clip.

Animation Sources let you work in the Time Editor non-destructively; you cannot destroy the original data without first disabling the Time Editor and editing it in Maya. To learn how you can edit Animation Sources while working in the Time Editor, see Mute the Time Editor.

Tip: Animation Sources are independent; if you delete a clip or a track, the animation data is not deleted. You can test this if you delete a clip from the Time View in the Time Editor and then verify that the Animation Source information remains in the Outliner. Middle-mouse-drag the Animation Source from the Outliner back onto the Time Editor track to restore it. Working with clips in the Time Editor is non-destructive to your animation.

See Create clips from Animation Sources and Restore deleted Time Editor animation.

Creating Animation Sources

A Time Editor Animation Source can be any keyed attribute driven by animation curves. You can create an Animation Source by selecting an animated object in your Maya scene and clicking Create Clip from Selection in the Time Editor toolbar. A new Animation Clip is added to the Time Editor and an Animation Source is added to the Source menu in the Time Editor menu bar and the Outliner.

Reusing Animation Sources

You can find all the Animation Sources in your scene in the Source menu in the Time Editor menu bar or the Outliner.You can use the same Animation Source multiple times in the Time Editor. This happens if you:

• Copy and paste clips
• Split a clip
• Duplicate Compositions
• Drag an Animation Source from the Outliner into the Time Editor (if that Animation Source is already in use by a clip)
• Use a motion capture data file that contains multiple takes (see Import multiple FBX animation takes in the Time Editor.)

Important: When an Animation Source is being reused elsewhere in the Time Editor, all instances of its title are italicized. This is to help you avoid modifying the clip if you modify an Animation Source clip in a composition. Be careful not to open the Graph Editor and move a key on the animation, or you will change the source animation.

To create a version of an Animation Source so you can make edits to, right-click the clip and Make Animation Source Unique from the Time Editor clip contextual menu. This lets you make the selected Animation Source independent from its originating clip.

One exception to using Make Animation Source Unique to create an independent clip is when you have multiple motion capture data performances (such as different Karate moves) stored in a single animation file. In this case, do not cut the Animation Source into multiple pieces. Instead, create a unique Animation Source that contains only the relevant segment by using Bake > Bake to New Clip in the Time Editor menu bar; this creates a separate iteration of the Animation Source.

Animation Sources and remapping

If you drag an Animation Source onto a Clip, the animation data in the Clip is replaced while the Roster structure is kept as-is. This lets you remap animation, on the same object by replacing the previous animation. See Remap animation with an Animation Source for more.

Note: Multiple clips can share the same Animation Source.

Supported Animation Types

The Time Editor supports keyed attributes driven by animation curves. The following data types can be in an Animation Source:

• Animation Curves
• Constraints
• Expressions
• Set Driven Keys
• Shapekeys
• Pointcloud caches (external files only)
• Audio
• Targets for animation data as a string reference (including namespaces)

Note:

• Trax clips cannot be Time Editor Animation Sources.
• Character Sets are incompatible with the Time Editor and cause unexpected results because the Time Editor sees Character Sets as constraint-driven attributes. If you want to use animation that contains a Character Set in the Time Editor, save a version without them.