Smart Layer Tutorial 04: Space Switching, Root Motion, Curve Filters

https://borovikmotion.gumroad.com/l/smart_layer TUTORIAL PARTS 01-03: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2OG7vVACTCv4LwfzM_SCFharPFMnLiN0 Third person locomotion tutorial: https://www.behance.net/gallery/108725255/Locomotion-Sword-Combat-Technical-Animation-Demo First person shooter tutorial: https://www.behance.net/gallery/89722101/FPS-Tutorial-Unreal-Engine LM locator script: https://luismiherrera.gumroad.com/l/LMlocator?layout=profile Azri rig: https://www.gameanim.com/product/azri-rig/ Smart Layer is a script for Autodesk Maya that allows you to adjust animation in a very easy and quick way. Usually, we adjust animation with animation layers. But with this approach, each change results in a ton of routine work, controlling the poses, managing keys and timings to avoid issues like feet sliding, wobbliness, etc. Smart Layer eliminates these issues, and work that before could take hours to do - now can be done in seconds. That makes it perfect for tasks like mocap cleanup, game animation, cinematics/movies layouts. Main applications: proportionally "shift" the animation, and avoid feet sliding proportionally rotate the animation, and avoid feet sliding make animation follow a spline, proportionally, without feet sliding create variations of the same animation, but with different poses (like the same character stop animation can end with 10 different idles) create strafe animations from movement-forward create animations for different directions, using only forward animation (character starts, attacks, abilities, etc.) create movement-in-circle animations from movement-forward adjust individual controls and keep the original animation flow The script doesn't care about the rig type, would it be a biped or quadruped, or spider, or centipede, or any other custom creature, it works for everything. How it works: 1) add animation controls to the animation layer 2) in layer, create keyframes with necessary adjustments, and run the script 3) the script will do the math, and create a new animation layer, where your adjustments will be applied in a "proportionate" way, preserving the original animation's flow, but with a new poses. The script is in late beta, bugs and feature requests here: https://trello.com/b/doArYTKr/smart-layer-bugs Tested in Maya: 2020.4, 2022.5, 2023.3, 2024.2, 2025 (Windows 10); 2022.5, 2023.3, 2024.2, 2025 (Mac OS Monterey 12.4) Tested on rigs: Advanced Skeleton, mGear, Azri, Pickle Rig*, HIK**, and others. *Pickle Rig is a custom rig for Maya, made in a simple, "traditional" way, using regular transforms and standard components. **HIK requires to remove unused controls from layer ***When processing a large number of controls - use "Run Simulation" option (parallel evaluation works faster) SCRIPT REQUIRES CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET TO GO THROUGH ACTIVATION. CHECK IF YOUR MAYA IS ABLE TO DO SO, can be done via script: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qk4Vw6Eym1-QrXUpRNu4vhJg2rHhiiwf/view 00:00 greetings 00:39 intro to space switching 04:06 smart anim curve filters 09:49 intro to locators and constraints, animation snapshots 14:42 bake to the world space 19:20 timeline selection 21:09 animated vs static main control 24:20 root motion extraction 28:51 more complex path 31:02 manual root motion extraction 36:25 bake to selection 39:45 set keys over selected time range 45:02 bake inside 47:01 custom main 47:54 simple center of mass 52:51 two handed weapon attack animation 55:55 manual switch space inside 58:01 bake to IK, mixamo example 01:02:27 bake to IK, hands, fingers 01:05:19 manual switch to IK 01:14:07 bake to AIM, sword polishing 01:18:03 easy secondary motion 01:24:07 manual switch to AIM 01:26:52 summary