S2ENGINE HD 2023
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Animation Track panel

 
The Animation Track Panel is used for managing the playback of the current selected animation of the model (see Editing Animations) and for recording keyframes.
 
3.4.8.3. Animation Track panel
1

Animation name

1. Animation name
Here is the name of the currently selected animation (see Editing animations for knowing how to select an animation).
2

Keyframes

2. Keyframes
Using these button you can Add and Remove a keyframe.
  • To Add a keyframe, drag the timeline thumb on the frame you want to add a key and then click the add button
  • To remove a keyframe, click on the keyframe you want to remove on the timeline, and then click the remove button
 
To know more about how to setup keyframes see Editing animations
3

Playback

3. Playback
Here are all the tool for animation playback:
  • Play: start playing the animation
  • Stop: stop the animation playing and returns to frame 0
  • Pause: pause the animation playing. In this case the timeline remains on the current frame.


    When you stop animation playing the model pose is reset to its original stand pose and you cannot scroll animation frames.
    To do this you have to pause the animation.

4

Zoom

4. Zoom
Use these controls to zoom in/out the timeline.
You can use either the slider and the - (zoom out) and +(zoom in) buttons


When zooming the timeline you could need to scroll it until the desired frame.
To do this use the timeline scroller described in the timeline section

5

Frame number

5. Frame number
Here is the current frame of the animation. The current frame is the frame on which is positioned the timeline thumb.
 
In the case of Blend1D or Blend2D animations that are composed by more than one source animation, the current frame is relative to the selected source animation.
 
To select a source animation you have to click on the down arrow of the combobox and then select the desired animation.
In the following GIF example there is a blend2D animation composed by 10 source animations, note how, basing on the source animation selected, the current frame changes:
6

Animation time

6. Animation time
The time of the current frame of the animation.
Animations duration is normalized, so the current frame time can be between 0 and 1.
7

Timeline

7. Timeline
 
The timeline shows you the animation playback and allows you to change the animation frame and time by moving the timeline thumb.
 
The timeline thumb is the red vertical line with a grey button on top of it.
To move the thumb, hold the mouse on the top area of the timeline, on the same line as the grey button:
 
Frames are showed as blue rectangles.
When a frame is selected (by clicking on it) or the timeline thumb in placed on a frame, it is coloured in orange.
 
On bottom of the timeline there is a slider that allows you to move forward and backward the timeline frame in the case you have zoomed in.
8

Blending Controls

8. Blending Controls
When the animation belongs to Blend1D and Blend2D types it is difficult to test the it without the possibility to freely set the animation input parameters.
Setting the animation input parameters, infact, you can see how the animation blending evolves when the input changes.
In the case of Blend1D the input is a single variable, in the case of Blend2D the input is composed by 2 variables.
 
Using the Blending Controls set you can test the animation blending by changing the input using sliders.
In addition you can use these controls to test the animation masking.
 
An animation mask is a set of nodes that you can exclude from the animation.
This is useful when you have 2 or more animation channels.
If you use a mask on the top channel you can make the top channel animation to be played only on a part of the model (for example the top body).
This allows you to mixing animations using logic (GameMachine) and make, for example, a character to shoot while running or walking.
 
Blend controls allow you to test the currently selected mask (see editing animations) by creating, on fly, two channels for the current animation and allowing you to choose what animation to play on the top channel.
 
  • Mask: Click this check button when you want to enable the masking on the top animation. It will remain pressed until you click it again.
  • Masked animation: It is a combo box that allows you to Choose the animation to put on the top channel, the animation that will be masked.
    In the following GIF a reload animation is masked while a walking animation is playing:
  • BlendX: changes the first input of the animation (the bottom channel animation)
  • BlendY: changes the second input of the animation (if animation is a blend2D)
  • BlendX2: changes the first input of the top animation (the top channel animation)
  • BlendY2: changes the second input of the top animation (the top channel animation)


    BlendX2 and BlendY2 are the input in the case the top animation itself is a blend1D or Blend2D animation.
    If you do not want to test masking and do not choose the top animtion, you can use BlendX and BlendY to normally test the blending of the currently playing animation