Ex 4.

Demonstrate the use of Maya timeline

Step 1: Timeline

Time Slider

Play Control
Aim: To demonstrate the use of Maya timeline
Timeline
The timeline is where the bulk of the animation process takes place. This is where
you control the speed at which a movie element moves, when it enters and exits the
scene, and its depth, or stacking order, in relation to other elements in the scene.
Timeline consists of:
Time slider
Range Slider
Playback Option
Playback Control
Command Line
Help Line

Time Slider
The Time Slider controls the playback range, keys, and breakdowns within the
playback range.
Tip: Resize the Time Slider to make it taller or more compact by hovering over the
top edge of the Time Slider until the splitter cursor appears and dragging it up
or down.

Current Time Indicator

The Current Time Indicator is a grey block on the Time Slider. You can drag it to
move forward and backward in your animation.

By default, dragging in the Time Slider updates only the active view. All views can
be set to update by changing the Playback settings to Update View All in the Time
Slider preferences (Window > Settings / Preferences > Preferences).

Note: See Customize the Time Slider if you want to change the colours and
opacity of elements in the Time Slider.

Right-click the Time Slider to access the Animation controls menu, which provides
easy access to common operations.

Time Slider Bookmarks

Time Slider Bookmarks are coloured tags along the top of the Time Slider that flag
events in your scene. Bookmarks are a way you can draw attention to specific
moments in time which is useful when you want to focus or highlight specific
areas or moments in your scene.

Add a Bookmark to a selected time range by clicking the Bookmark icon in

the Range Slider or pressing Alt (Option) + T.
Selecting keys on the Time Slider
Cached Playback status line

The Cached Playback status line is a blue stripe that displays the condition of
the Cached Playback data for the current scene. Cached Playback is a method
Maya uses to increase animation playback speed by storing the animation in
memory and recomputing only the part of the animation that was changed, rather
than updating the whole scene for the entire time range.

Whenever you edit a scene that has been cached, the modified area of the status
line temporarily turns dark blue to show the segment of the animation that is out of
date before becoming blue again to show that the values have been updated.

When Cached Playback encounters an unsupported node it will enter Safe Mode.
While Cached Playback is in Safe Mode, the Cached Playback status line turns
yellow and a warning symbol appears on the Cached Playback icon.

Right-click the Cached Playback status line to turn Cached Playback off and on,
flush the cache, or select a new Caching Mode. You can change the colour of
the Cached Playback status line in the Colour Settings and set its width and
placement in the Cached Playback Preferences.

Key ticks

Key Ticks are red (by default) marks in the Time Slider that represent the keys you
set for the selected object. Breakdowns are a special type of key displayed as green
marks in the Time Slider.

The visibility of Key Ticks can be turned off or on in the Preferences window. You
can also set the size and colour of the key ticks displayed in the Time Slider.

Selecting keys on the Time Slider

If you need to select a range of keys on the Time Slider, such as when you work
with Time Slider Bookmarks, Shift + drag across the timeline.

Time units

The ruler markings and associated numbers on the Time Slider display time. To
define the playback rate, select the desired Time unit in the Settings
preferences (Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences). Maya defaults to
measuring time as 24 frames per second, the standard frame rate for film

Note: By default, Maya plays your animation in seconds. You can change
the Time unit type without affecting your animation’s key-based behavior, but it's a
good idea to specify the Time unit before you begin animating. However,
expressions that use the frame variable might not work correctly if you change
the Time setting.

Current time field

The entry field to the right of the Time Slider indicates the current time expressed
in the current Time unit. You can change the current time by entering a new value.
Your scene moves to that location in time, and the Current Time Indicator updates
accordingly.
Range Slider

Range Slider bar

Audio

Right-click the Time Slider to open the Animation controls menu, where you can
select the Audio rollout that gives you access to the Audio menu, where you can
manage your Maya's audio settings.

When you import an audio file, its waveform shows on the Time Slider.

Range Slider
The Range Slider, located below the Time Slider, controls the playback range
reflected in the Time Slider.
A. Animation Start Time
B. Playback Start Time
C. Range Slider Bar
D. Playback End Time
E. Animation End Time
F. Time Slider Bookmark icon
G. Character Set menu
H. Animation Layer menu

Note: Time Slider Bookmarks (F.) and Character Set menu (G.) are not available
in Maya LT.
Animation Start Time

(A. in the illustration above.)

This field sets the start time of the animation.

Playback Start Time

(B. in the illustration above.)

This field shows the current start time for the playback range. You can change it by
entering a new start time, including a negative value. If you enter a value that is
greater than the Playback End Time, the Playback End Time is adjusted to one
time unit greater than the Playback Start Time.

Range Slider bar

(C. in the illustration above.)

Drag either end of the Range Slider to manually extend or shorten the Playback
Range.
Playback Options
 Playback End Time

(D. in the illustration above.)

This field shows the current end time for the playback range. You can change it
by entering a new end time. If you enter a value less than the Playback Start
Time’s value, the Playback Start Time is shifted to one time unit less than the
Playback End Time.

You can also edit the preceding settings from the Animation Preferences window.

Note: Changes to the Range slider are undoable. You can change this setting in
the Undo preferences with the Consolidate Time Changes option.

Animation End Time

(E. in the illustration above.)

This field sets the end time of the animation.

Time Slider Bookmark icon

(F. in the illustration above.)

Click to set a Time Slider Bookmark for the selected time.

Character Set menu

(G. in the illustration above.)

The Character menu is a quick way to switch the current Character Set.

Animation Layer menu

(H. in the illustration above.)

Note: The Animation menu is a quick way to switch the current Animation Layer.

Playback Options

The Playback options, located next to the Range Slider, let you change settings
regarding animation playback, such as frame rate, looping, and Auto keying.

A. Framerate menu
B. Loop
C. Cached Playback
D. Volume
E. Auto Key
F. Animation Preferences
Framerate

Continuous Loop

Play once

Oscillating Loop

Cached Playback
Framerate

The Framerate menu lets you set the scene frame rate in frames per second (fps). It
displays the current frame rate.

Note: Once you set a frame rate, it changes everywhere in Maya, whether in
the File Open options, Preferences window, or Time Slider. When you save the
file, the frame rate is saved with it.

When you change the Framerate, it updates once the animation has completed a
cycle or you restart it.

Loop

Click this icon to cycle through 3 animation playback states:

Continuous Loop

Repeats the play range on playback.

Play once

Plays the play range once.

Oscillating Loop

Loops the play range forward and backward.

Tip: You can set looping so it either loops the play range or the entire animation
using the Loop Play range when stepping frames and keys option in the Time
Slider Preferences.

Cached Playback

Click this icon to turn Cached Playback on and off.

Cached Playback lets you preview and work on your animation in real time by re-
computing only what has been changed in the background of your scene. See Use
Cached Playback to increase playback speed for more.

Right-click the Cached Playback icon for options to switch Caching modes,
flush the cache, open the Animation or Time Slider settings Preferences, where
you can set the direction of the cache fill or configure the appearance of
the Cached Playback status line on the Time Slider, or open the Cached
Playback section of the Color settings.

When Cached Playback encounters an unsupported node, it enters Safe Mode.

When Cached Playback is in Safe Mode, the Cached Playback status line turns
yellow and a warning symbol appears on the Cached Playback icon. When this
happens, see the Script Editor for an explanation of the causes of Safe Mode. For a
list of currently unsupported nodes, see Cached Playback unsupported nodes.
Volume

Click the Volume icon to show a slider where you can adjust the sound level of the
current scene.

Double-click this icon to turn off the sound. The icon changes to indicate that
the sound is muted.

Right-click the icon to access the Audio menu, where you can import or delete
audio into the scene, as well as choose how the audio waveform is displayed on the
Time Slider.

Auto Key

This icon lets you turn on Auto key mode. Autokey lets you automatically set keys
on attributes as you change the current time and attribute value.

Time Slider Preferences

This icon is a shortcut to Time Slider preferences, which let you set how you want
key ticks, and time to show on the Time Slider.

Play Controls
Step 1
The Playback Controls are buttons that let you play and step through your
animation. The playback range is displayed in the Time Slider.

Click the Go To Start button to go to start of playback range.

Click the Step Back Frame button to step back one time. Default hot key : Alt
+, (comma) key for Windows.

Click the Step Back Key button to step back one key. Default hotkey: ,
(comma) key.
Tip: This button only works if the keyed object is selected and the keys are
showing in the Time Slider.

Click the Play Backwards button to play backwards. Pressing the Esc key
stops playback.

Click the Play Forwards button to play forwards. Default hotkey: Alt + v for
Windows

Click the Step Forward Key button to step forward one key. Default hotkey: .
(period) key.
Tip: This button only works if the keyed object is selected and the keys are
showing in the Time Slider.
Command line

A. Help line
 Click the Step Forward Frame button to step forward one time (or frame).
Default hotkey: Alt + . (period) key for Windows.

Click the Go To End button to go to end of playback range.

Click the Stop button to stop playback.

Command line

The command line lets you type single MEL or Python commands without having
to open the Script editor. You can switch between MEL and Python mode by
clicking the MEL/Python button. The result from the command appears in the
output

Type MEL or Python commands in the command line. The result appears in the
colored box to the right of the command line. You can drag the divider between the
input and result boxes to resize them. When the cursor is in the command line, use
the Up and Down Arrow keys to scroll through the command history.

To enter more complex scripts, click the Script Editor button to the right of the
result box. Help Line

A. Help line

The Help Line, along the bottom left of the Maya user interface, provides a short
description of tools and menu items as you scroll over them. This bar also prompts
you with the steps required to complete a certain tool workflow. For more
information, see Script editor