LogInSlava Borovik released a series of videos on his tool, covering everything from its basic functions to a manual approach for spline transformations and space switching.
Created by Bloober Team's Senior Technical Animator Slava Borovik, Smart Layer is a handy script for Autodesk Maya that allows you to adjust animation quickly and easily. Usually, we adjust animation with animation layers. But with this approach, each change results in a ton of routine work: controlling the poses, managing keys and timings to avoid issues like feet sliding or wobbliness, and so on. Smart Layer eliminates these issues, and work that before could take hours to do can now be done in seconds, making it perfect for mocap cleanup, game animation, and cinematics/movie layouts.
Following the latest update to Smart Layer, Slava has been working on a tutorial series designed to help new users and animators expand their knowledge. This series covers everything from installation and theory to basic features, as well as explaining traditional techniques and demonstrating how Smart Layer differs. Slava also goes beyond script workflows, covering manual approaches as well.
In his latest video, which you can find at the top of the page, the developer provides a detailed explanation of space switching in Maya. He covers everything from the theory and basics to more complex examples and real-world applications. When Smart Layer was first released, he was surprised to learn that many animators were struggling with basic tasks, such as animating the master control or extracting root motion. To address this, he made a simple yet effective space switcher script, along with a root motion extractor and curve filters, which are especially useful when working with baked keys. If you don't have Smart Layer, no worries, Slava also shows how to achieve everything manually using basic locators and constraints. As he explains, he believes this knowledge is too valuable to be kept behind private scripts and thinks everyone should have at least a basic understanding of it.
Check out the rest of the Smart Layer tutorials and more on Slava's YouTube channel:
Follow Slava on X/Twitter for updates, and purchase Smart Layer here.
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