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3. Click the Enable Animation Layers button, and enable the Position track, then click Ok to close the pop-up dialog box. This adds a Base Layer to the Selection list.

4. Click the Auto Key, drag the Time Slider to frame 100, and move the jet to the far end of the runway. Then disable the Auto Key button. Set the Weight value for this layer to 0.

5. In the Animation Layer toolbar, click the Add Animation Layer button to add a new layer. In the Create New Animation Layer dialog box that appears, select the Duplicate the Active Controller Type option and click OK. A new layer labeled AnimLayer01 is added to the Selection list.

6. Click the Auto Key button again, drag the Time Slider to frame 100, and move the jet upward away from the runway. Then disable the Auto Key button again.

7. Select the Base Layer from the Selection list in the Animation Layers toolbar and set its Weight value to 100. Then drag the Time Slider, and notice that the jet moves up at an angle over the 100 frames.

8. Click the Auto Key button again, drag the Time Slider to frame 0, and set the Weight value for AnimLayer01 to 0; drag the Time Slider to frame 30, and set the Weight to 60; drag the Time Slider to frame 50, and set the Weight back to 0; and finally drag the Time Slider to frame 80, and set the Weight to 80. Then disable the Auto Key button again.

Dragging the Time Slider shows the jet bounce down the runway before taking off, as shown in Figure 35.4.

FIGURE 35.4

The Animation Layers feature provides a single parameter for controlling the plane's height.

Saving Animation Files

Before an animation sequence can be mixed in the Motion Mixer, it must be saved. The Motion Mixer easily can load any existing animation sequence in the current opened Max file, but saving a sequence to the local hard disk makes it accessible for other Max scenes. The Motion Mixer can be accessed using the Graph Editors⇒Motion Mixer menu command. More on the Motion Mixer is presented as a bonus chapter on the book's CD.

Saving general animations

The animation of objects can be saved using the XML Animation File (XAF) format. To save the animation for the selected object, open the Save XML Animation File dialog box, shown in Figure 35.5, using the Animation⇒Save Animation.

FIGURE 35.5

The Save XML Animation File dialog box is used to save animations of the selected object.

For general animations, you can select to include tracks, constraints, only keyable tracks, and a specific range. The User Data fields let you enter notes or specific data used by plug-ins about the animation sequence.

Loading Animation Sequences

The Load XML Animation File dialog box, shown in Figure 35.6, is opened using the Animation⇒Load Animation menu command. It looks like a normal file dialog box, but it has some additional features.

Caution

Within the Character Assembly rollout for Character objects is a button to Save Animation. This button saves character animations using the ANM file format, which cannot be opened using the Animation⇒Load Animation menu command. •

The Relative and Absolute options determine whether the animation is loaded relative to the object's current location or whether it is loaded into the frames where it was saved. The Replace and Insert options let the new keys overwrite the existing ones or move them out to insert the loaded keys. You can even select the frame where the new keys are loaded. The Load Motion button lets you load an existing mapping file named the same as the animation file if one exists or lets you create a new one.

Note

The Animation⇒Load Animation and Animation⇒Save Animation menu commands are active only when an object is selected. •

FIGURE 35.6

The Load XML Animation File dialog box lets you load animation files from one scene and apply them to another.

Mapping files are listed in the drop-down list for easy selection, or you can use the Get Mapping button to select a different mapping file to load.