ANIMATION TOOLBOX – OVERVIEW

The Animation Toolbox is a compact UI and hotkey-trainer for common animation tools that are not used inside the Graph Editor.

See the Graph Editor Toolbox for animation functions related to the Graph Editor.

THE PROBLEM

Many of Maya’s animation tools are hidden in various menus and on the animation shelf.

Some functionality is completely missing in Maya.

THE SOLUTION

This UI puts all of your favorite animation tools in one neat, easy-to-find location, and adds new functions not found in Maya.

USING THE TOOL

Click the buttons for each function and hover over the button for tooltip help.

The hotkeys are written on each tooltip, try to remember the hotkeys if you are using our hotkeys.

See the descriptions below for each tool.

COMPACT SETTINGS

Change Rotation Order
Change Rotation Order will change an animated object’s gimbal order while maintaining its orientation for each keyframe in the timeline.

See documentation of the full tool Change Rotation Order .

Select Animated Nodes
Selects animated nodes and objects in the scene.
– Under Selected Hierarchy: Selects animated objects in and as children of the current selection.
– Scene (All): Selects all animated nodes in the scene.
– Within Selected: Filters only the animated objects/nodes in the current selection.

Make Anim Hold
Make Animation Hold allows an animator to easily block poses without stepped keys.

Mode 1: Place the timeline between two keys and run. The first key will be copied to the second with flat tangents.

Mode 2: Place the time between two keys of the same value, with auto-key off adjust the object’s pose. Now run.
The new pose will be copied to the two keys either side of the current time.

Zoo Hotkey: alt a

Delete Key Current Time
Deletes keys at the current time, or the selected timeline range.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift v

Key Visibility Toggle
Keys and inverts the visibility of the selected objects. Very handy for animating the visibility of objects.
Visibility of True will become False. Or a visibility of False will become True. Objects are Keyed.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift alt v

Reset Attributes
Resets the selected object/s attributes to default values.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift alt s

Control Curve Toggle
Toggles the visibility of Controls and Curves.
Zoo Hotkey: d (tap)

Bake Playback Range
Bake animation for every frame on the selected objects.
Works on the current playback range.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift alt b

Create Motion Trails
Creates a motion trail on the selected object.
Zoo Hotkey: shift alt {

Open Ghost Editor
Opens Maya’s Ghost Editor Window.
Zoo Hotkey: shift alt }

ADVANCED SETTINGS

Set Key Channel Box
Sets a key on all attributes ignoring any Channel Box selection.
Zoo Hotkey: shift s

Set Key All Channels
Set Key on all attributes, but if any Channel Box attributes are selected then key only those channels.
Zoo Hotkey: s

Play/Pause
Play/Pause animation toggle.
Zoo Hotkey: alt v

Reverse/Pause
Reverse/Pause animation toggle.
Zoo Hotkey: alt z

Step to Next Frame
Step to the next frame in the timeline.
Zoo Hotkey: alt c

Step To Last Frame
Step to the last frame in the timeline.
Zoo Hotkey: alt x

Step Forward 5 Frames
Step forward five frames in time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl alt .

Step Back 5 Frames
Step backwards five frames in time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl alt .

Set Play Range Start
Sets the playback start to the current time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl alt ,

Set Play Range End
Sets the playback end to the current time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl alt .

Set Time Range Start
Sets the time-range start to the current time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift alt .

Set Time Range End
Sets the time-range end to the current time.
Zoo Hotkey: ctrl shift alt ,