Autodesk 62205-051408-9001 User Guide - Page 87

Creating Expressions ❚❘❘ You can also adjust the speed along the motion path using the Speed channel. For information on how to use the speed channel, see "Controlling Speed" in Chapter 12, "Creating Animations''. Copying and Pasting Keyframes When creating animations with multiple layers, you can save time by copying and pasting keyframes between the layers. To copy and paste keyframes between layers: 1. In the Workspace panel (or active viewport), select the layer that contains the keyframes you want to cut or copy. 2. Click the Timeline tab. 3. In the Timeline, expand the category with the keyframes you want to cut or copy, then select the channel. The keyframes appear in the Timeline. 4. Draw a rectangle selection around all the keyframes you want to cut or copy. 5. Choose Edit | Copy (CTRL+C). 6. Select the channel to which you want to paste the keyframes. 7. Position the Timeline cursor where you want the first keyframe to be pasted. 8. Choose Edit | Paste (CTRL+V). 9. The keyframes are pasted into the selected channel starting at the location of the Timeline cursor. Creating Expressions You can also animate an object by adding an expression to its channels. You can either add an expression to a channel based on the channel's value, add an expression to a channel to link its value to the target channel, add a predefined expression, or write your own expression. For those who are not very familiar with JavaScript, you can use the Expression Browser to add a predefined expression. For those who are familiar with JavaScript, you can use the Multi-line Editor to write your own expression. To add an expression to a channel: Do one of the following: • In the Timeline, right-click a channel and choose Add Expression. An expression is added to the channel based on the channel's value. The Multi-line Editor is displayed and the expression script is selected. • In the Timeline, select a channel, click Link (/) to create an absolute path or Link (..) to create a relative path, and then select another channel. An expression is added to the selected channel linking its value to the target channel-the second channel selected. • In the Timeline, select a channel, click the Exp. Browser button; in the Expression browser dialog, click an expression picon in the left pane, and click OK. The selected predefined expression is added to the selected channel. • In the Timeline, select a channel, click the Exp. Browser button, and in the Expression browser dialog, click OK. An expression is added to the channel based on the channel's value. For information on adding and creating expressions, see Chapter 13, "Creating Expressions''. Using the Paint Tools Paint is an interactive, vector-based and objectoriented drawing operator that you apply to a layer as you would other operators. It allows you to perform a wide range of painting tasks, from simple 71