Setting Up Characters within a Model Structure
Models are structures in XSI that make it easy to organize scene elements that need to be kept together. A character’s skeleton hierarchy, controls, envelope geometry, and groups are often kept together within a model.
The main reason for using models with character animation is that they provide the easiest way to import and export characters between scenes, and to copy animation between characters.
You can refine your rigs and character models over the course of a production without fear of lost animation. For example, character animators can start roughing out animation with a simple rig and low resolution proxy model while the other creative work is still being worked out. As long as you keep the rig controls’ names and their coordinate space consistent, all the animation is kept and can be reapplied as the character and rigging both get more complex.
Another reason to work with models is to easily use the animation mixer. Each model can only have one Mixer “node.” If you have many characters in a scene but they aren’t within models, you have only one mixer node (under the scene root, which is technically a model) for the whole scene which means that you can’t copy animation from one character to another.
When working with characters and the mixer, it’s best to create models at the character level (or higher); that is, don’t create models for each hand, foot, leg, etc. This makes it difficult to animate the character as a whole in the mixer because you won’t have a high-level view of all of your character’s animation. If you want to segregate the different parts within a model, use a compound clip for each different part.
For more information on using models with the animation mixer, see Models and the Mixer and Sharing Actions between Models in the Nonlinear Animation guide.
To create a model
1. Select the objects that you want to include in the model. Any children of the objects you select will automatically become part of the new model.
2. Click Create > Model on the Model toolbar. The Model property editor opens.
3. Specify a Name for the model.
A null is added to the scene as the parent of the selected objects. You can add other objects to the model at a later time by using the Parent button on the Constrain panel or by dragging and dropping them onto the model’s node in the explorer.
For more information on models in general and referenced models, see Models in the Data Management guide.
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