This simple MaxScript is extremely useful for copying animation from one object to another.
To Install
The script is free as part of my scriptpack. Instructions to download all my scripts are here.
To use
- Launch the script using my script navigator
- click the “From” pick button and select the object you wish to grab the animation from
- click the “To” pick” button and select the object add animation to.
- click the “Bake” button to Bake the animation across the current frame range.
Controls
Pick Objects group buttons
- “From” pick button: use this to pick the object you wish to grab the animation from
- “To” pick” button: use this to pick the object you wish to bake the animation to
- The two “select” buttons will function when objects have been picked to highlight the named objects in the scene
Keep Offset
Does just what is says. It looks like the two objects are linked together. But there is no link … under the hood everything is done with a bit of matrix maths.
Transform Checkboxes.
- Pos checkbox: when on the position transform will be baked
- Rot checkbox: when on the rotation transform will be baked
- Scale checkbox: when on the scale transform will be baked
Remove all keys before baking:
Removes all keyframes from “selected transform controllers” of the “To” object. ( transform controllers are selected using the transform checkboxes).
So if need to KEEP your existing ROTATION animation and just grab the POSITION animation you can use this and just activate the “Pos checkbox.”
Removing keys before baking prevents old keys being interlaced with new ones. If your using a stepsize of 2 or more I’d recommend leaving this on.
Radio buttons
- All Keys: This removes ALL keys from the selected transform controllers, INCLUDING keys outside of the current time range.
- Current time range: Only remove keys in the time range shown on the 3dsmax trackbar.
The step spinner
Changing this number will allow you to bake every nth frame
Bake Button
Click this to bake animation keyframes onto the “to” object selected.