Why is Channel Box Content Disappearing When I Hit Play?

[Anonymous]

Hello, I've downloaded Maya 2018 these days and I noticed a bug:

When I hit Play on the Timeline and leave it like that, and then select other objects on the Outliner and pass my mouse through the content on the Channel Box / Layer Editor, or If I move it's scrollbar, It's contents, labels and values start to disappear till the Box goes completely empty at all.

This goes back to normal once I hit Stop and select other object though. But it's still rather annoying, specially If want mess with these presets while the animation plays.

Why is this happening?

How can I solve it?

Thanks;

Arthur

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous

This is actually working as intended because generally Maya is locked up and unable to do much while playing an animation.

On top of this, if you're looking to make tweaks and changes or add keys to objects during animation it's best to pause the animation and/or stop it completely and scrub the timeline to the specific frame you want to make the changes to.

Let me know if this helps or if you need any more information!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the information I provided on Friday help you understand why the Channel Box content is disappearing?

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

[Anonymous]

I comprehend;

But working with particle system for example, It would be best If I see my changes to it in real time, so the job could be faster and more precise.

And this is some of when this channel box stuff makes it a little uncomfortable.

Or Is there another and better way to visualize what I am doing in real time without using the timeline at all? Or the only way is to modify and than look?

Sorry for any misconception or misuse of the Particle System, I am a complete newbie to the system of particles from maya, never used, so I am literally digging up the tool to find out how to use it. 

Thanks;

Arthur

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

I actually just recently really started diving into particle systems with Maya and while I understand it would be nice to be able to pause the simulation at any time and make changes, there's a reason that its best to stop and play the animation each time.

Usually when changing a value it will affect the entire particle system from start to finish of the animation. So while you can pause the animation at a certain frame and make changes, the result you will see might not stay the same throughout the entire animation. This is why its best to make a change and then play the animation from the start so you can see it all the way through and how the changes you made will affect the particle system.

As for your workflow, you could set up hotkeys to match the play, and restart button so you can quickly start, stop and restart the animation a bit faster and get a better idea of the changes you made.

Let me know if this information helps or if you have any more questions or need more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the information I provided help you understand why the channel box content disappears on playback?

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

[mspeer]

Hi!

1. Use the Attribute Editor to change values on the fly.

2. To move objects during playback use in FX Menu: Fields/Solvers -> Interactive Playback