Mel Keyframe & Expression Animation

Mel Keyframe & Expression Animation return to main index

Introduction This tutorial provides mel scripts that demonstrate the general principles of using keyframes and expressions for animation. The object that is animated in listings 1 and 2 is created by the ring() procedure that was introduced in the tutorial "Mel: Modeling with Smart Transforms". Figure 1

Listing 1 (keyframe.mel) source "FULL_PATH/ring.mel"; select -all; delete; // Get the "master" object ring(5, 4); for($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) { string $temp[] = `instance -st`; //_____ keyframing _________________ currentTime 1; xform -os -t 0 0 0; // <<<--- IMPORTANT setKeyframe ($temp[0] + ".translate"); currentTime 30; xform -os -t 0 $i 0; setKeyframe ($temp[0] + ".translate"); //__________________________________ } playbackOptions -min 1 -max 30; //play; Listing 2 (expression.mel)   source "FULL_PATH/ring.mel"; select -all; delete; string $exp = ""; int $fcount = 30; // Get the "master" object ring(5, 4); for($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) { string $temp[] = `instance -st`; //_____ expression _________________ $exp += $temp[0] + ".translateY = ((frame - 1) * " + $i + "/" + $fcount + ");\n"; //__________________________________ } expression -s $exp -ae 1; // print the expression //print($exp + "--------------------\n"); playbackOptions -min 1 -max $fcount; //play;

© 2002- Malcolm Kesson. All rights reserved.