Edit Connections in Autodesk Maya 2013

The proses of tweaking the various animation curves hat are part of the rig willrequire seleting a lot of nodes that are connected already via a set-driven key but also spread out among the various panels of Autodesk Maya 2013.Autodesk Maya a number of ways to view connected nodes. One of the newest additions to the tool set is the Node Editor , which in some ways, is like the older  Hypergraph but slightly more elegant. As the next few steps demonstrate, you can use this editor to easily select the nodes you have already connected and even get rid of some nodes that have been created along the way  that aren’t really needed.

1.       In the viewport window, choose  Panels c Layout  c Three  Panes Split Top.  Use

the Panel menu  in each pane to set the top-left  viewport to Node  Editor, he top right  view to Persp, and the bottom view to Graph Editor.

2.       In Persp view, select the lightControlHandle so that  it turns  green. In the Node Editor, click the icon for input  and output connectionconnected nodes

3.       Hold  the Alt key while RMB dragging in the Node  Editor  to zoom  in on the node  boxes;  take a look  at the animation curve nodes.  By selecting the anima- tion curve nodes,  you will see the animation curves appear in the Graph Editor

There  are quite  a few animation curve nodes.  Several of them were created  when you used a set-driven key to drive the ramp’s  color  position; as a result,  a few animation curves were added  that  don’t  really improve the scene.

4.       In the Node  Editor, select the node  named  neonLight_colorEntryList_1_colorB, and press the Delete key to remove  it from the scene.

5.       Use the same process  to delete the following nodes.  These are keyframes that have been set on the colors  of the ramp, but you need only animation curves for the position of the ramp  colors,  not the color  values themselves.  Delete the fol- lowing  nodes:

neonLight_colorEntryList_1_colorR neonLight_colorEntryList_1_colorG neonLight_colorEntryList_0_colorR neonLight_colorEntryList_0_colorG neonLight_colorEntryList_0_colorB neonLight_colorEntryList_0_Position

6.       In the Node  Editor, select the neonLight_colorEntryList_1_Position node,  and

Shift+select the motionPath1_uValue node.  You’ll see the animation curves appear on the Graph Editor  below.  Drag  a selection  around both  curves, and press F to focus the view on the curves.

7.       Press the Linear  Tangents button to make  both  curves straight, which  removes the easing in and out of the animation

The animation curves on the graph  indicate how the animation of the attributes is tied to the Translate x values of the lightControlHandle node.  The x axis values correspond to the Translate x value of lightControlHandle, the Y axis values correspond to the values of neonLight_colorEntryList_1_Position and motionPath1_uValue, both  of which  range  between 0 and 1. To make  the anima- tions  a bit more  in sync, you should  edit the curves so that  they match, as in the following steps.

8.       Select the lower  keyframe on the far right,  which  is the starting value of motion- Path1_uValue. Press W to switch  to move mode,  and drag the key upward on the Graph Editor  so that  it matches  the starting point  of neonLight_colorEntryL- ist_1_Position

9.       Play the animation; you should  see that  the position of the locator is more closely aligned  with  the leading  edge of the color  of the ramp  as it moves along the tube.  You can continue to tweak  the position of the keyframes on the Graph Editor  to refine the animation if you like.

10.    Next  you can edit the animation of the emitter  rate.  In the Node  Editor, select the emitter1_rate node.  The animation curve appears on the Graph Editor  at the bottom of the window. Press F to focus on the curve.

The graph  shows  that  the rate starts  at 0 when  the lightControlHandle is all the way on the left. The rate gradually increases  as the lightControlHandle moves to the right.  It would  most likely look  better  if the emitter  started at a higher  rate, increased, and then dropped off sharply  as the lightControlHandle reaches  the right  side.

11.    e the Insert  Key function and the Move  Key function to add keyframes near the front  and the end of the curve. Use the Move  Keyframe  tool to edit the keys on the Graph Editor  so that  they resemble  This doesn’t  have to be an exact  match;  in fact, there  are opportunities to create  variations on the look of the particle  effect through editing  this curve. Just make  sure you keep the start  and end points  at the same place so that  the emitter  is off when  the light- ControlHandle is at either  end of the lightControl.

12.    Rewind and play the animation.

13.    To make  the nParticles behave  more  like sparks, open  the Outliner window, and select the nParticle1 node.  Open  its Attribute Editor  to the nPartcle1Shape tab, and set LifeSpanMode to Random Range.  Set LifeSpan to 0.35  and Lifespan Random to 0.1. This means  the nParticles will live for 0.35*1 seconds  plus or minus  0.1 seconds  (see left image in

14.    Switch to the nucleus1 tab,  and set the Gravity  slider to 1 so that  the nParticles don’t  fall quite  as quickly