Copying Actions? (or the best way to...)

Joelsquare · Post by **Joelsquare** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:40 pm

Hi All,

Like every post I'll be making over the next little while, let me start by saying "Sorry if this is majorly Noobish".

Is there a way to copy actions?

I am working on a fairly complex character that is mostly made of 3D objects. Because of this, some things are super easy, head turns for example, but some things are quite hard. Hand and finger movements, for example.

In order to have him (well, 'it' really - it's a robot) able to move properly, I have it set up as groups within groups. Example: I have a Group folder called Right Arm, which rotates at the shoulder. In that folder, I have an Upper Arm folder and a Fore Arm folder. The Fore Arm folder rotates at the elbow. In the Fore Arm Group folder, I have a Hand Group folder, which contains a palm and the fingers. This is all so that whenever I move a joint, everything after it also moves as it should.

However, because of the complexity of the 3D character, even a simple motion is fairly complex to achieve, for example, a realistic hand grasp. I've managed to save the perfect hand grasp as an action, but I want to do a series of variations on this one motion, i.e. gentle hand grasp, aggressive, only the thumb and first finger, etc. The point is that these are all very similar motions and positions with minor differences.

Ideally, I'd like to 'copy action' and do variations but I can't seem to find a way to do this! Am I overlooking something simple and obvious?

Alternatively, is there a better way to accomplish this? Interpolated Switch layers maybe?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Joel

jonbo · Post by **jonbo** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:41 pm

Here's one way. check this thread

viewtopic.php?t=9610&start=0&postdays=0 ... opy+action

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 9:31 pm

you can place actions into other actions exactly the same as you would on the main timeline. Create the new actions, click once on the old action and insert a copy with the icon at the top - the keyframes will be copied in as though you were applying the action to the main timeline and you can edit them there.

Joelsquare · Post by **Joelsquare** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:00 pm

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for your responses - I knew it wouldn't make sense to not be able to do this. At least I've already pre-apologized for my noonish question:).

This makes life so much easier!

Cheers,
Joel