/
Animation Preparation in Maya

Animation Preparation in Maya

Table of Contents

Summary

This document details the workflow of animation preparation in Maya. The output will be an anim prep file, referencing all rigs from Maya, the caches from Layout, and the audio tracks ready for the animator to start their work. The timing, framerate, frame range, unit scale, and other settings are also checked during this stage to ensure the rest of the process is smooth, especially when working in co-productions. The anim prep file will then be published to ftrack after being built and will be ready for animation. There are 2 ways to build these files.

Video demonstration

Add a video demo here.

Before starting

Checking the caches

Check on the Layout task of the shot in Ftrack that the caches have been correctly published

Note that the exported environment cache is published at sequence level, not shot level

image-20250515-151343.png
image-20250515-151224.png

Checking the links

Check on the Sequence and Shot folders that the assets are correctly linked to it.

When a project is created on Ftrack, we use an Art Breakdown document to automatically create the assets and link those assets between each other (decors get linked to sets, sets get linked to sequences, characters get linked to shots,…) etc.

  • Click the Sequence folder, and in the side board, navigate to the “Links” tab.

    • Normally, at Sequence-level, you should see links to Sets

image-20250522-090811.png

  • Click the Shot folder, and in the side board, navigate the “Links” tab.

    • Normally, at Shot-level, you should see links to Characters and Props

image-20250522-091011.png

If you cannot see any links for a shot you are going to be working on, make sure to flag it to your lead. If you require any extra information about asset linking, see the expand below.

Creating the anim prep file through Maya

There is an automatic way to create an anim prep file, and a manual way. Let’s first go over the manual way for a better understanding of the process.

Creating the anim prep file through Maya involves more steps, but will allow you to control that the settings and references in the file are correct.

Starting the task

To begin your work, you will need to find your task and launch Maya in the right context, so you can access the necessary SYNK tools

Ftrack

  1. Make sure you’re logged in to Ftrack connect, which is a standalone app.

  1. Travel to the animation prep task of the shot you want to work on.

  1. Launch the SYNK Maya action.

A version of Maya which includes the SYNK Pipeline will now launch automatically.

Maya

Once Maya opens, you will be greeted by a window that will allow you to select which version of the file you want to work with.

Open the version you want to work with or create a new version and start modeling.


The most important tab is the Work tab:

Note: If there’s already an existing anim prep file and you need to build a new file nonetheless, head to the “Other” tab in the Scenes window and click on Build in current context

The scene will now start building and importing the exported Layout caches and reference the corresponding rigs.

Creating the anim prep file through Ftrack

All these steps can also be done automatically through an Ftrack action. This does require a manual check afterwards just in case.

  1. Travel to the Shot folder of any shot on Ftrack OR the Sequence folder of the sequence you want to build.

  1. Right-click the Shot/Sequence folder and travel to “Actions”. You can do this in multiple ways.

  1. Click the SYNK Build - Anim Prep action

    image-20260327-083018.png

 

Running the action will create a new Maya scene and reference all the available caches and corresponding rigs on the Render Farm. A playblast will also be rendered through the exported camera view and then published along with the file to ftrack. If you launch the action on a sequence, it will do this for all the shots in the sequence.

Checking the Anim Prep file

Before rendering a playblast and publishing the file (if doing it the manual way) or after launching the ftrack action (if doing it the automatic way), take a closer look at the following elements:

  • Make sure all the layout caches are present in a “Layout_REF” group and that all the corresponding rigs have been referenced

  • Make sure the rigs are correctly placed on the same starting position as the caches, with the correct rotation values

  • Make sure the camera settings are correct (focal length, correct camera movements,…).

  • You might need to manually adjust the clip plane values of the camera if the camera clips into an environment asset. To do this, you need to unlock the reference

    image-20260224-155342.png

  • You might also need to adjust the depth of the Animatic image plane

    image-20260224-155444.png
    image-20260224-155453.png

  • Make sure the frame rate is correct

  • Make sure the frame range is correct

  • Make sure the audio works

  • Make sure the environment cache is on a display layer set to “R”

  • Make sure the layout caches are on a display layer set to “R”

  • Make sure every rigged asset is on a separate display layer

  • Make sure important geometry in the rigs is not hidden (and let your lead know that the geometry is hidden in the rig)

  • Make sure the LOD distance of the geometry is set high enough so the rig doesn’t disappear if the camera goes too far (and let your lead know that the LOD distance is too low in the rig)

  • Always compare the Layout render with the shot camera view in Maya to make sure they match. There is now a display layer with the latest layout render to make this easier.

  • If a rig is in front of the camera in the Anim Prep render, hide the rig to make the render again. Then unhide the rig and publish.