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CINEMA 4D R11 Quickstart – Non-Linear Animation
Never mix up the Motion Source and Motion Clips functions. The Motion Sources are
located at the left of the Timeline and the Motion Clips are located in the Timeline itself.
The latter are “merely” links to the original sources. This means that the source contains
the actual animation data and the Motion Clips (with which the animations are mixed
and can be stretched or expanded in the Timeline) simply reference this source but
themselves contain no animation data. This can also be seen in the Attribute Manager
after selecting a Motion Clip. The Attribute Manager contains a “Source” field in which
the source for that particular Motion Clip is displayed. This way, several Motion Clips
can use the same source (non-destructive animation).
2. Animation Layer
The Animation Layer System is a powerful yet easy to learn tool for managing and mixing animation using
layers.
Open the file “QS_AL_Start.c4d”. Again we see our trusted monkey head, however without any animation
applied to it. And again we will animate the monkey head with typical monkey-like movements. If you haven’t
already done so, switch to the predefined “Animation” layout. Select the “Monkey” Null Object and select
Animation / Add Animation Layer from the C4D main menu. Our Null Object has just been assigned a Motion
tag. In the Attribute Manager’s Motion System tab we can see that the current layer is “0”.
The check mark at the left of the Level 0 parameter indicates that layer 0 is the active layer.
You can begin animating right away. Create a couple of simple movements by moving the slider to a desired
frame, moving the head and saving a keyframe. Although how the monkey head moves is irrelevant we suggest
you use a standard left-to-right movement for now.