Import animation into the Time Editor

This topic is about bringing animation that is not already open in Maya into the Time Editor. For information on adding animation that is already open into the Time Editor, see Add Maya scene animation to the Time Editor.

If no animation is loaded in the scene, you can import or ma, .mb, .fbx animation files into Maya to use as Time Editor Animation Sources. If you want to import FBX files that contain multiple takes, see the section Importing multiple FBX takes, below.

Note: The Time Editor overrides constrained attributes if you import animation for these attributes when there already an existing rig in your scene and the Time Editor is not muted. Use the Allow clip creation to override existing constraints option in the Time Editor area of the Animation (Settings) preferences to prevent constrained attributes from disabled by the Time Editor when you import a clip.

Import Maya animation

Import ma, and .mb, animation files into Maya to use as Time Editor Animation Sources to drive rigs and objects.

To import animation for use in the Time Editor

1. Select File > Import Animation Clip... from the Time Editor menu bar.

   A file browser appears where you can navigate to the animation file you want to bring in.

2. Select a ma, .mb, or .fbx animation file and click Open.

   The Rename Namespaces window opens.

   Note: If no clip appears, it is because the Time Editor could not find any objects in the Animation Source in the scene. Import animation that is related to the objects in the scene, for example, rig animation for a character.
   Tip: If you delete a clip in the Time Editor, its animation disappears. Your original animation remains in the Source menu in the Time Editor menubar and Outliner. See Restore deleted Time Editor animation for information about creating a new clip.

Importing multiple FBX takes

The Time Editor supports the import of FBX files with multiple takes, but you must specify how the takes will appear as clips. This is described in Import multiple FBX animation takes in the Time Editor.

To import an FBX file with multiple takes for use in the Time Editor

1. Follow same procedure above for Import Maya Animation (Select File > Import Animation Clip... from the Time Editor menu bar).

   A file browser appears where you can navigate to the FBX file with multiple takes you want to use.

2. Select a file and theTime Editor Import options window appears, letting you specify how the multiple takes are to be displayed in the Time Editor.

Note: Multi-take import is also supported through the Time Editor File menu or the Track Contextual menu.

Note: The object names in the FBX file must match the names of the objects that you are populating.