This is an INCREDIBLE assistant to my animation workflow, because to put it simply Maya's 'Ghosting' Tool is completely broken! It's very temperamental and so I am unable to view previous/progressive frames in my viewport. However, with bhGhost, I can choose exactly which frames I want to see an outline of which can really help when posing and blocking.
bhGhost in practice, here I was trying to create a nice arc for the hand, and was successfully able to do so quickly using bhGhost.
The SECOND tool is Maya's Camera Sequencer. With the number of Cameras I have to manage in the film the Camera Sequencer makes it easier to view and play through all my shots.
So I took the liberty of learning how to use the Camera Sequencer. A lot like the Maya TRAX Editor, the Camera Sequencer uses the same sort of timeline feature to put clips together.
BUT... The camera sequencer is best used with the UberCam.
Which is the THIRD tool I have learnt to use in my workflow. The UberCam is a godsend. It's a fairly new feature that was bought into Maya.
I noticed that with my directorial and editing style there were many cutting points for some animation shots. It would've gotten very cumbersome then to have play blasted each camera out separately then to go into my editing suite and then edit the two clips together just to see what they will play like when put together.
So bring in the UberCam...
My UberCam Workflow, it looks a little complicated but it's really simple. The Top Left Window is my UberCam window. The Top right is my Active Camera. The Bottom Left is my Camera Sequencer and the Bottom Right is my Outliner.
With the UberCam and the Camera Sequencer working together I can convert my Active Camera's Time Range into Clips, add these to the UberCam and Trim and Edit them straight in Maya and finally put out a Playblast, greatly speeding up my workflow!
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