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View Full Version : Space switching - Opinions?

eek
04-01-2011, 02:46 PM
Do you prefer pushing the offset between spaces, to a separate controller or baking it onto the control itself?

Pushing to a separate controller

Pro's:
Keeps keys for the control clean
No breaks in f-curve values
Easier to debug later

Con's:
Need a method to 'clean' the offset, when adding/moving/deleting offset keys, when they change later offset values
Offset is stored somewhere else


On the controller
Pro's:
What you see is what you get
No need to 'find' where the offset is

Con's:
Hard to remove from f-curve
Difficult to 'know' in the f-curve if its a switch and not a gimbal fix etc
The controller needs to be keyed prior to the switch


Personally i like the separate controller method, i've done both with methods to make them work well. Maybe allow user to chose?
jipe
04-01-2011, 03:44 PM
As an animator I think I've only ever used the first option, but my experience is not impressive or widespread. I'm curious what other animators think... the second option just seems really unappealing because my fcurves are sacred. I imagine it would be frustrating to try and look at a curve and figure out if that bump is from a space switch or a gimbal or simply just a weird movement.
MolemanSD7
04-01-2011, 05:40 PM
I agree with jipe. I've been using the ZV Parent Master script to handle a lot of these issues, since the native rigs we use at work don't really have a good system for space switching. With it, I know that if there is a strange pop in the anim, that it's because of an issue with the constraint's keyframe, and not my motion when my curves are clean.

So I'm definitely a fan of having it separated. You should really check out the ZVPM solution. It's simple and clean, and I haven't found any issues with it yet.

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/character/c/zv-parent-master
eek
04-01-2011, 06:54 PM
Nice MolemanSD7 - I will check it out.

The funny thing is that I can get both to work seamlessly - but the offset method is so much easier to debug.


Edit:
ZV stuff is pretty identical - nice and simple with a fix offset button.
theflash
04-02-2011, 07:40 PM
I personaly like the offset approach. I did the same in animatable pivot. I store offset on a pivot control separately to animate it. The main problem with second approach is that the control has mixed transform value that makes it difficult to visualize and calculate the actual transform and offset.
I agree with you about debugging issue.
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04-02-2011, 07:40 PM
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