Motion Blending for Multi-Layer Recording

Motion Pilot supports multi-layer and mixed recording for the settings under the Transform, Wave and Motion sections.

Multi-layer Recording for Transform Settings

1. Create a scene and an object.
   
2. Select the target object and enter the Motion Pilot mode.
3. Drag the X and Y sliders to adjust the puppet sensitivity. The greater the values, the farther the object is compelled to move when puppeting begins.
   
4. Enable the Face Cursor checkbox and choose Turn (Override Rotation).
   
5. Click the Preview button and press the Spacebar to start previewing.
   
6. Press down the Record button and hit the space key to start recording the driven movements.
7. Press the space key again to stop recording.
8. In this case, the fish are design to be gradually scale down as it moves close to the swirl center. However, the Scale in the Motion Pilot is linear along one axis, which is not suitable for the fish to move back and forth around the viewport.
9. In the Motion Pilot panel, activate only the Scale checkbox (deactivate all other settings).
   
   • Activate the Uniform Scale to keep the fish's ratio for scaling.
   • Set the W (width) to 2.0 to scale up or down twice by mouse cursor moving by the specific axis.
   • Set the driven axis to -X in order that when you move the mouse right, the object scales down.
10. Open the Puppet Properties panel and activate the Blend with Current Motion checkbox. This will blend the next recording result to the last recording
    ** If this checkbox is deactivated, then the last recording will be completely removed for the next one.
    
11. Record again. This time, move slowly from the center of the viewport to the right side to create a scale down animation.
    
12. Playback to view the result.
    

Multi-Layer Recording for Settings in Different Section

Because of the way the human hand naturally behaves, it's impossible to click the mouse button while moving it. Consequently, when you want to smoothly move an object and play back its imported motion by clicking the mouse, there will be a momentary pause in the object's movements. To avoid this interruption, utilize the multi-layer technique to record the initial movement, then record once more and click the mouse button whenever you wish to prevent the object from pausing.

1. Create a scene and an object.
   
2. Select the target object and enter the Motion Pilot mode.
3. Drag the X and Y sliders to adjust the puppet sensitivity. The greater the values, the farther the object is compelled to move when puppeting begins.
   
4. Also activate the Face Cursor checkbox, and choose the Turn (Override Rotation) radio button.
   
5. Click the Preview button and press the Spacebar to start previewing.
   
6. Press down the Record button and hit the space key to start recording the driven movements.
7. Press the space key again to stop recording.
8. In the Motion Pilot panel, deactivate all settings in the Transform section.
   
9. In the Motion section activate the Blend Motion checkbox and load a motion or an animation for the object.
   
   Choose either of these two methods to playback the animation of the object:
   • Use Mouse Movement: Move around the viewport to playback the animation of the object during the puppeteering.
   • Use Mouse Click: Click to playback the object's animation.
   • Click to Play: Plays animation once by mouse clicking.
10. Open the Puppet Properties panel and activate the Blend with Current Motion checkbox. This will blend the next recording result to the last recording
    ** If this checkbox is deactivated, then the last recording will be completely removed for the next one.
    
    (in this case, the Viewport Center radio button is also chosen to prevent from intervening the movements of the object).
11. Record again. This time, move slowly from the center of the viewport to the right side to create a scale down animation.
    
12. Playback to view the result.