9

Saving and Loading Animation 473
Alternatively, you can load animation to
specific tracks in Track View; see Hierarchy
Right-Click Menu (page 2–516).
6. FromtheFilemenu,chooseLoad Animation
(page 3–474).
7. Find and highlight the XAF file from which to
load animation.
8. Click Load Motion. If the objects you’re
loading animation to are the same as those
you saved the animation from, the animation
loads and is mapped automat ically. If mapping
isrequired,you’regiventheopportunityto
setitup.Or,ifyou’vealreadysetupmapping
for the scene and incoming animation data,
chooseamapping(XMM)filefromtheMotion
Mapping/Retargeting drop-down list and
then click Get Mapping. Otherwise , click Edit
Mapping.
Clicking Edit Mapping opens the Map
Animation dialog (page 3–478),whichcontains
three lists: from left to right, Current, Mapped,
and Incoming. The Current list shows selected
objects in the scene and their animation t racks;
the Incoming list shows animation tracks in the
X AF file, and the Mapped list shows, for each
track in the Current list, the animation track in
the Incoming list that will map to it. In certain
cases, such as with objects that have the same
name, some tracks are mapped automatically
and appear in the Mapped column as soon as
you open the dialog. The t racks that are already
mappedareshowningrayintheCurrentand
Incoming columns.
9. To map a pair of t r acks manually, click a track
in the Current list and another in the Incoming
list, a nd then click the left-arrow (<-) button to
the lef t of the Incoming list.
This places the name of the incoming track in
the Mapped list, opposite the Current-list track
to which it is assigned.
10. To remove a mapping assignment, click its
entry in the Mapped list, and then click the ->
button.
11. Continue setting up the mapping assignments
as needed. When you’re finished, click Save
Mapping or Save Mapping As, and then specify
afilenametosave.
After yo u save the mapping file, the Load
Motion button becomes available, and you can
proceed w ith loading the animation.
12. Click Load Mo tion.
The animation data is loaded and assigned to
the selected objects, and any animation keys
appear on the track bar.
To retarget an incoming animation:
This is a continuation of the previous procedure,
and explains the basic workflow of node
retargeting. Retargeting means to scale the
animation so it matches the objects onto which
you are mapping the motion. You can use this
feature any time you need to transfer an animation
between two objects or r igs of different sizes and
proportions. For example, an animation of a cat
stretching could be retargeted to a bigger dog
model, resulting in a scaled animation to fit the
dog’s skeleton.
Once your track-mapping assignments are
complete, the Retargetable Nodes list on the
Retargeting rollout displays the mappings available
for retargeting.
For steps that describe retargeting a character rig,
see To retarget one char acter onto another (page
3–482).
1. First, in the Scale Origin g roup, choose the
Incoming and Current objects to use as the
origin and basis for sc aling.
Forexample,whenretargetingarig,youwould
use each rig’s root object.