9.5.2

1020 • CHAPTER 19
TIMELINE • 1021
Bake Object
Not all types of animation can be baked. You can convert into real keys, for
example, only those movements that alter the position, scaling or rotation of
an object.
This command will convert animations that were not created using position, scale or rotation tracks
(but nonetheless refer to the position or size of the object) into real position, scale or rotation tracks.
For example, you can convert the motion that is created by an IK tag to a Rotation animation with
the corresponding keyframes.
The Bake Object command is especially useful when exporting an animation to a foreign le format,
such as VRML, which does not support animation properties such as the Vibrate tag.
Bake Object creates keys at regular intervals, paying no attention to any
necessity for the positioning of the keys; very many keys are created. Therefore
you should use this command sparingly and economically. Try to reduce the
keys of the animation afterwards using the Simplify Curve command in the
F-Curve window.
Position Track To Spline
This command converts an object’s animation path to a spline. First, select the object whose X, Y and
Z position tracks you want to be converted to a spline. Next, choose this command. CINEMA 4D will
create a Spline object that corresponds to the position path of the object. You can edit the spline and
assign this to the object again using the Spline To Position Track command.
Spline To Position Track
This converts a spline into an animation path. First, select the object whose animation path you want
to change. Next, choose this command. In the dialog that opens, enter the name of the spline that
should be converted to the object’s position tracks and click OK. CINEMA 4D will create new X, Y and
Z position tracks for the object so that it follows the path of the spline.
If you are using a B-Spline, you may need to increase the number of
intermediate points to ensure a good match between the spline and position
track. This is because sometimes the control points of B-Splines do not lie on
the curve.