- [Narrator] So now let's see how we can generate
an animation like this from scratch.
The most common procedure for generating an animation
is a five step procedure.
The first step is to move the time bar to the start time
required, then we're going to set the keys as required
to record our initial appearance or location.
Next we'll move the time bar to the end time
we're looking for.
We'll then change the appearance or location
of those actors as required, and finally
we'll set the keys to record that new final appearance
or location, and it's also important to note here
that if auto keys is turned on this last step
is done automatically for us.
So, let's take a look at generating my first animation.
So let's start off by just doing a simple camera change.
So again the first step I want to do is go to my initial time.
So my first initial time will probably be at zero seconds
and most likely we'll just stay with the current view.
But regardless just for practice I'll move my time bar
to zero seconds, and then I'm going to set my initial
appearance or location.
In this case, it's just a camera angle.
So I'm actually going to keep the camera angle I'd like here
but you can change to whatever camera angle you'd like.
So maybe I'd go to a front view, or in this case I did
actually want specific iso view here.
Then once I've set that initial location
I can hit my camera key.
So we'll see here we have a number of different keys
available that we can set.
So first I'll take a look at my set camera keys.
So we're now at zero seconds.
If I click the set camera keys I'll get my camera key
icon coming in at zero seconds.
Now here is auto keys as I mentioned.
So this removes the last step and will automatically do that
for you, set any changes automatically for you.
So this can be a little bit of a time saver.
But just for now I'm going to turn this off.
However you can keep that on or off,
depending on your own preferences.
In my case I'll just turn it off here
so we can go through the full five step process.
So next for step number three I want to move
my time bar to my final time.
So let's say I want that camera change to be going
from zero seconds, so I'll move to about three seconds.
It's also important to note that I can actually
navigate within my timeline using those same mouse gestures
as I navigate in three D.
So if I want to zoom into my timeline
I can just scroll in with my zoom wheel,
or if I just click my zoom wheel I can pan as well.
Just becomes useful as your animations become
larger and larger.
You might need to zoom into specific portions
or pan around to exact time points and things like this.
So now that I've zoomed in, makes it a little bit easier
for me to get it maybe exactly on three seconds here.
So now I've set my time bar to my final point in time
and then step four would be to make any changes I'd like.
Right, so in this case I'm just changing the camera angle.
So I'm going to go up to my camera angle again,
change it from this iso view to let's say a right view
and then my final step, step number five,
is to set the key once more for this new final appearance.
So I want to jump back down to my keys
and again it's a camera angle that I'm changing.
So I'm just going to hit set the camera keys here.
As soon as I click that button I should see
my camera key icon appearing at three seconds.
So now, from zero to three seconds I should be
transitioning from that iso view to my right view.
I can just click and drag my time bar to show this
or of course I can jump back
and play through the whole animation.
Similarly let's just do the exact same thing
but in this case actually moving some geometry actors.
So let's say now I want to remove or explode
my drone legs down.
So my step one would be to move my time bar
to the start location or the start time.
So let's say about four seconds I want to start this explode,
and then I'm going to grab my drone legs
and set that initial location.
So, jump back to my set keys options here,
and this time it's not a camera key,
'cause I'm not exactly changing a camera angle.
But if I just navigate through there I have set
digger keys, set property keys, and set location keys.
So, depending on what you're changing
you can set these keys accordingly.
In this case, we're looking at actor locations.
We're exploding our drone legs here.
So I want to hit set location key.
As soon as I do that, again, I see my location key
coming in at about four seconds,
and then of course my next step would be to move
the time bar to my end time.
Let's say I want this explode to occur from
about four to six seconds.
Then next step again to make whatever appearance
or location changes I would like.
So in my case now I want to explode these downwards.
So I'm just going to use the tools
that we've already learned.
So again, if I want to move or explode anything
I'll want to jump into my transform tab
and I can use a number of these tools,
but I'll just use translate and explode the legs
downward in the Y direction to about here let's say
and now that I've made my change
the last step would be to set that location key once more.
So again, I'll have to be selected on the actor
I'm making the change to.
So I'll grab those legs and jump over
to the set location key.
Click that once more and now I'm seeing
a new location key come in at about six seconds.
So that explode should be occurring
from four to six seconds.
Very often when generating animations I like to just
click and drag my time bar to easily see each change
I'm making, but of course I can jump all the way back
to the beginning and press play.
But once your animations get longer and longer
you probably won't want to play all the way through
each time.
So I just like to click and drag the time bar.
So now we can see I have my camera angle changing
from zero to three seconds, and I also have
my drone legs exploding from four to six seconds.
I'll just continue on here and in a very similar method
I can of course explode or move all of my geometry actors.
I can also change any properties
or add any collaborative actors.
So, very common, let's say, you want to change
the color or more commonly the opacity of particular actors.
Let's say in this case maybe I want to
see the internal electronics.
So I want to remove or become transparent
the top of my enclosure.
So again I'll grab the top of my enclosure
and then run through those five steps once more.
Maybe my start time will be about seven seconds
and instead of moving or using the translation keys
all I have to do now is change some property keys.
First, I want to set again the initial property.
So at seven seconds I want my enclosure top half
to be fully visible.
So I need to set that property.
So I can click on opacity if I'd like
or I can just set properties for all the properties.
So I have a set keys option here right beside
my set location keys, and this will set all
of your property keys or any specific property
if you're highlighted on that property.
In this case I'm really only worried about opacity.
So I can click directly on opacity
and then hit set keys.
If I wasn't selected on opacity
it would set all of my property keys.
So at seven seconds I'll set my initial property key,
and again you see that coming in at seven seconds
as a property key, and I can actually even expand
my properties and I'll see that this specifically
comes in as an opacity property key.
And again, running through the five steps,
I'll jump ahead to about nine seconds
and then at nine seconds I want this to be
fully transparent.
So I'll jump back to my opacity
and change the opacity from 255 down to about zero.
So now, from seven to nine seconds I'm hoping that
the top of my enclosure will slowly start to fade away.
The last step, again, I'll just need to jump to my set
property keys again, so that will set the final
appearance of my top half at nine seconds,
and I'll hit set keys.
See once more a property key coming in at nine seconds
and if I click and scroll my time bar I can slowly
see it fading from seven to nine,
and now if I just run through this whole animation
I should see my camera angle changing from zero to three
and then a simple explode from four to six
then a property change, in this case opacity,
from seven to nine.
In just the same way you can change any other properties
and you can also add in or remove
specific collaborative actors however you'd like.