TRAX WORKSHOP: THE TIGER CLIPS:
I have chosen this tiger sequence to demonstrate some of the advantages of using the Maya Trax editor which is a way of storing animation in small packets (clips) and arranging them on the time line so that they run sequentially and where needed in parallel.   I don’t know many Maya animators that actually use the Trax editor which is surprising because it does have a lot of potential especially when organizing herds of creatures.   The editor is very buggy however and clip merging is frustrating and difficult to use but if your careful it does have its uses which I hope to demonstrate here.   The time line above shows all the animation clips that control the body of the tiger.   The clips that control the face & ears are not shown here but we will look at those on the next page.   The main clips are the set of three on the first line.   Together they loop.  The other three clips below do very little except adjust the angles of the head/neck in the xyz.   Scroll through the time line with your cursor.   There is no need to click on anything.