Can I make frame 3000 frame 1 in my next animati

[cabbage0896]

This is probably another rookie question but I thought it was worth asking, Is it possible to take all the information at say frame 3000 and use it to create frame 1 in a new animation? I'm trying to get all my characters, props, etcetera in the same position to begin the next scene, then I would like to delete all the animations and audio files and anything else that is not needed and I can pick up from there at frame 1 in a new animation with a clean slate. Is this possible? My issue is the layers are getting messy and extensive and a clean start would be nice. Doing a "save as " some other file name was one thought but that saves at frame 0 if I could I would like to save or copy/paste at the last frame. Do I have any options? I feel like I'm missing something simple here, any thoughts...?

[Greenlaw]

Wow, that's a long sequence.

I haven't actually done this myself, only ready about it elsewhere, but try this:

First, save the scene as a new file.

Go to frame 3000.

Open the Copy Current Frame panel. Enable 'Copy Entire Document' and enter frame 1 in the Copy To Frame field. Enable all the channels and click Ok. (Ignore the part about enabling all channels--see the note in next post.)

Now, move the current time marker to frame one and choose Clear Animation Document After Current Frame.

Save the scene.

In theory, that should get you where you want.

I'm going to test that myself now because I think I'd find this useful too.

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, it works.

Note: It's not necessary to enable all those channels...just leave them off. My guess is that if nothing is selected, it's assumed that everything will be copied. If anything is selected, then only those items will be copied.

Hope this helps. (And yes, I'm going to find this useful.)

[Greenlaw]

Additional note: Apparently, if you don't select any channels, the tool really does copy EVERY channel...even channels you haven't intentionally keyframed, so you might want to enable only the channels you've actually keyframed. That would be easier than deleting all the unwanted keys at frame 1.

[Greenlaw]

Hmm...I don't understand something here. I selected only the transform and rotate bones channels but Copy Current Frame still copied all keyframes. Also, I don't see a channel option for switch layers.

Are these bugs? Can somebody who actually knows this tool confirm or explain? Thanks!

[Greenlaw]

Ok, I think I got it. Do not enable Copy Entire Document. If you leave this disabled, the tool copies only the selected channels. I'm not sure if this ignores other layers/groups not currently visible.

I don't see any way to make this too work for Switches so you may need to copy those keys manually.

Unless I'm missing something (very possible,) this seems like a flawed tool. Guess I better read up on it.

[Greenlaw]

There's actually very little info about this tool in the manual. I think what I described above are limitations with it.

Depending on the complexity of your scene, this tool might still be useful. Use it cautiously though.

[Greenlaw]

By the way...

The way I've dealt with this situation in the past was to first consolidate my layer channels, freeze the keys where I wanted to start the new anim (frame 3000 in your case,) cleared the previous keys and then simply move or copy the keyframe to frame 1.

The downside is that you'll have to repeat this for every layer or group in the scene that has keyframes, which may or may not be a big deal depending on your scene complexity.

[cabbage0896]

Thank you D.R Greenlaw for your insights. I have tried your suggestions and met with some success. my best attempt was to consolidate all the layers and use the copy keyframe like you suggested. one difference I added a keyframe at frame 3000 then I did select "copy entire document" as well as "select all channels" in the keyframes window and copied to frame 1. it did work at that point I cleared all animation after frame 1 and deleted all the unnecessary layers I didn't need to continue on to my next scene. It did what I was trying to achieve with some minor re-posing of characters and I was good. Thanks again!

[Greenlaw]

Cool! I'm Glad that worked out for you, and I got to learn and try something new too.