Chapter 4 - Basics of Key frame Animation in MAYA | FREE tutorial , lesson & video training | Beginner

Chapter 4 - Basics of Key frame Animation in MAYA (Beginner tutorials & video lessons)

	Author - Saju Asokan
	Last Updated: July 25 2009

Note: Please don't save this page for offline viewing. These lessons will be available online 24x7 free of cost. Your visit to each page on this site gives a small revenue through advertisements, that helps to keep this site online and meet the associated expenses.

| Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | of 6 |

Key Topics

Animation Concepts in Maya

Playback Controls in Maya

Graph Editor in Maya

Animation Controls in Maya

Setting Key frames in Maya

Modifying the Tangents using Graph Editor

In this page, we will use the Maya's animation editor - Graph Editor to change the wave like ball animation to a sharp bounce.

Let's make the smooth curve at the middle to a sharp bounce in Maya. As we have broken the tangents, we can control the end points independently and create the bend at the vertex (key frame). Make sure that the Move Tool is selected (in-order to move the end point of the tangent) from the Toolbox in Maya window. Now click and hold the end point of the tangent of the middle vertex in the curve using the Middle-Mouse-Button/Scroll Wheel as shown in the image. Notice that since the tangents got broken, only one segment of the tangent got selected (turned blue).

maya graph editor key frame animation curve editing

With the mouse button still down, move the mouse slightly upwards so that the curve gets a slant as shown in the image.

maya key frame graph editor left tangent adjust

Similarly click and hold the other end point of the tangent of the middle vertex in the curve using the Middle-Mouse-Button/Scroll Wheel and move the mouse upwards slightly. This will cause the curve to take a bent shape along the center vertex in Maya.

The curve of the whole ball bouncing animation will look like the image shown below. The ball's position at the first key frame will be at a higher Y value which eventually drops down at the center of the curve, where it touches the table-top. Then it sharply bounces and increases until it reaches the last key frame in Maya.

Squashing the ball at the bounce point in Maya

We are almost done with the ball animation in Maya. Only one small step remains. Our ball is a soft rubber ball and hence it needs to get its shape deformed when it bounces off the table. This effect we will create in Maya using just three key frames.Let's get it done.

Click on the 50th frame in the time-line to jump to the 50th frame. Now click on the ball to select it. It should be in a position where it touches the table top in the animation sequence at this time instant. In this frame the ball's shape will remain intact since the ball hasn't yet started bouncing. But in the immediately adjacent frames we are going to deform the ball. Hence the shape of the ball needs to be stored in a key frame in Maya at this frame. But if you look at the time line, we already have a key frame set for the ball at this frame. Hence we need not create one now.

maya ball animation ball squash frame 50

Important: If suppose the ball didn't have a key frame set at the 50th key frame, we should have set one at this point. The reason is that if we set another key frame with the ball's shape deformed at any adjacent time instant, the ball's shape at the 50th frame also gets deformed due to Maya's interpolation (if the 50th frame didn't have a key frame storing the ball's attributes already set). So the rule of thumb is to set key frames wherever the Translation, Rotation or any other attribute of an object matters to you and it shouldn't be altered by Maya owing to interpolation to blend with any adjacent key frames.

Now click on the 51st frame in the time line. At this frame, we need the ball to be squashed, since it has hit hard on the table surface and is starting to bounce. Select the Scale Tool from the Maya Tool box and scale down the ball a little along the Y axis as shown in the image.

Now if you rotate the persp panel and see, you will notice that the scaling has created a small gap between the ball and the table. If that is the case, using the Move Tool in Maya, move the ball a little down so that it touches the table surface again. Until this moment, the changes that we have made hasn't been stored as a key frame. Hence if you jump to another frame, it will be lost. So press 's' key to register the ball's deformed shape as well as the position as a key frame at the 51st frame.

maya key frame animation ball bounce ball squash frame 51

Click on the 55th frame on the time line to jump to that frame. Here the ball has started bouncing off from the table. It is a right point where it can regain it's original shape. Hence using the Scale Tool in Maya scale up the ball along the Y axis so that it loses the deformed shape and regains it's original shape. Press the 's' key to set a key frame

maya animation ball squash deform frame 55

Save the scene now (as chap-04-keyframe-animation-ball) (You can also download the scene here) Congratulations for having learned key frame animation in Maya. These basic concepts and skills you learned are essential through out your journey in mastering Maya. Hence practice thoroughly.

<< Previous page

[ Back to Maya Contents ]

Maya free tutorial / lesson

Latest Additions

Maya

	Key frame animation
	Primitive Modeling in Maya

3DS MAX

	Modeling human head in 3DSMax
	Modeling female body in 3DSMax
	Character rigging - Biped - Physique

ARTICLES

	How I met God? Life incident
	Break up recovery advice

JUST 4 GEEKS

Build a Racing wheel yourself

Warning: include(/home/saju/public_html/include-pages/ads/right-pane-mid-ad.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/saju/public_html/Pages/Learners-corner/Maya/basics/chap-04/chap-4-keyframe-animation-basics-page6.php on line 507

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/saju/public_html/include-pages/ads/right-pane-mid-ad.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/saju/public_html/Pages/Learners-corner/Maya/basics/chap-04/chap-4-keyframe-animation-basics-page6.php on line 507

3DS MAX Tutorials

BASICS

	C01: Getting Started with 3DS Max
	C02: Viewports & Cameras
	C03: Texturing, Lighting, Rendering
	C04: Keyframe animation

INTERMEDIATE

	C05: Primitive Modeling basics
	C06: Primitive Modeling continued
	C07: Setting up a Scene
	C08: More on Materials & Textures
	C09: More on Lighting
	C10: Fire Effects in 3DS Max
	C11: More on Keyframe animation

ADVANCED

	C12.1: Modeling a human Head
	C12.2: Modeling a Female Body
	C12.3: Modeling a human Arm
	C12.4: Modeling a human Leg
	C12.5: Combining the human model
	C12.6: Modeling a human ear
	Ch-13: Character rigging

Articles

SPIRITUALITY

	Does God exist?
	How I met God? Life incident

RELATIONSHIP

Break up recovery advice

JUST 4 GEEKS

Build a Racing wheel yourself

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

	3D Modeling A to Z
	What is 3D Animation?
	Computer graphics in Special FX

	How do you rate this page's content ? Please send us a Quick FEEDBACK , which helps us to serve you better
[Close]