Animation layers not working

[DannyTheGamer]

Hi,

I have a mocapped character and would like to adjust the data through an animation layer (the mocap data is in the BaseAnimation layer).

However, upon creating the new layer, it seems that it only contains the scale properties of the object I create it on. In fact, editing translate and rotate values only seems to affect the original keyframes, making it impossible to adjust the animation.

Another peculiar thing is that in all of the tutorials I've seen covering this subject, when the new layer is selected, the circle next to the BaseAnimation layer turns red, whereas in my case it stays green.

Thanks in advance!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @DannyTheGamer

What version of Maya are you running and is it up to date?

Also, has this worked in the past for you or is this the first time you're trying and experiencing these issues?

[DannyTheGamer]

Hi,

I'm working with the Maya 2018 Student Trial, fully up-to-date and this is my first time experimenting with Animation Layers.

[sean.heasley]

Hi @DannyTheGamer

Hmm ok. We have an article on this workflow that might help you out a bit.

If that doesn't help, when you get a chance can you please zip and attach the scene file here or via dropbox/google drive or another file sharing program so I can take a look at it?

[sean.heasley]

Hi @DannyTheGamer

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the suggestion I provided yesterday work for you?

If so, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[DannyTheGamer]

Hi Sean, sorry for the delay in responding, just went through a very long trip.

I followed the article, and unfortunately the problem still persists: the BaseAnimation layer remains active no matter what layer I'm on, and any keys I create are placed in the BaseAnimation layer, almost as if the new layer didn't exist.

I'd also like to specify that what I'm mainly trying to do is to adjust arm movements (mainly rotation) so as to not have the arm go through the body.

Let me know if the file is working for you, I sent it in a private message.

Cheers

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @DannyTheGamer

I'm not seeing these issues on my machine so it may be with your settings.

Have you tried deleting your settings/preferences? If not please do so and let me know if anything changes.

Also, what GPU are you using and are the drivers on our certified hardware list?

You can find our certified hardware list here!

[DannyTheGamer]

Boom! Resetting preferences did the trick! Thanks so much!

Is there any setting that may have triggered this behaviour that you know of? I'd like not to change it again xD

Thanks again, I already marked your answer as solution 🙂

[sean.heasley]

Hi @DannyTheGamer

I'm not sure, settings/preferences can be very fragile and there's a variety of action(s) that can corrupt certain parts of them and cause issues like this.

That said, we're always working on improving Maya's base functions to prevent things like this from happening in the future!

[DannyTheGamer]

Got it. Keep up the good work and thanks again for the help!

[Anonymous]

It might be a bit late, but in my experience this problem occurs when you make a new animation layer with the mesh and the skeleton selected. I think that you only need to select the skeleton when making a new animation layer. This way only the layer selected becomes green, leaving the others red. Try if this helps because I don't think it's a preference problem. Though I'm still a noobie myself so I might be wrong. But it might help you as well since this fixed the problem for me.

[julius.liubertas]

****, reseting preferences... that is extreme solution. 

For future people who may be looking into this an extra thing to look into:

I had the same problem and it seems that if any of the channels (translate,rotate and scale) is locked - anim layers fails to work either. So unlock transform channels, do the animation layering then. 

[Anonymous]

hi i had read your all ways of solving this issue i tried but i am facing still this issue and i am also using maya student version 2018