Workflow.

I recently updated my workflow a bit and tonight I asked some other animators how they do a few basic things within Maya. What I learned was shocking. It seems that nearly all of them use Maya's default hotkey settings and, in some cases, didn't even use those when available. With 3d software packages there is typically a default setting to accommodate many different disciplines that don't necessarily make sense for just one in particular, such as modeling, animation, or rigging. The programs usually try to hit the lowest common denominator across disciplines instead, often leaving each specialty somewhat wanting for a better workflow.

This might not sound like a big deal but over time every second you lose by not having a workflow that aids your speed or particular interest at the moment (or just using defaults in general) adds up. I'm sure I touch on the subject of key layout too much but it's something I really believe can help any animator.

The main thing I noticed among other animators was that when I asked them to show me how they start and stop their animation playback they all moved their mouse to the lower right corner of the screen and hit the play button. I was baffled. This is the slowest way to perform that action and a major productivity killer. Not only do they have to remove their mouse from the viewport, they also have to take their eyes off of their animation, carefully move the mouse to the corner of the screen, and focus on something other than their work (Note that Maya does have a hotkey for a playback toggle, Alt+v, but even using two buttons seems tedious to me).

When I asked about scrubbing, the same thing occurred. They moved their mouse down, away from their scene, onto the timeline and left-click-dragged. Again, this causes you to remove the mouse and the eyes from the scene. What this way of working essentially does is remove your focus from your work and slows down anything else you might want to accomplish.

For the few folks that said there wasn't a difference between pushing a play button and having a hotkey I made a point to show them that when you have keys to use both the playback toggle and the scrub tool (timedraggertoolactivate) you can also quickly do those other things with your mouse still in the viewport, such as stopping playback, rotating the view, adjusting animation, and then playing the animation again.

Maya has a lot of default key settings I've removed or abandoned but the biggest improvement I think I've discovered (for animation) is that you don't have to hold down any key to perform an action. For example, holding Alt and using mouse buttons is the prime way to navigate the viewport. Instead, assigning the individual tools, tumble and track, to a key allows me to simply click a button and have the tool active. I don't ever have to hold down a button at any time(yes, I never hold Alt in Maya).

The same idea applies to the time drag tool(k), which I simply turn on and leave on because I've removed the "off" function. There is no holding down a button while I left click and drag. When I no longer need to scrub I switch to another tool, such as move, rotate, or even use my playback options, which is what an animator will typically do anyhow. The real benefit of all of these options is that my mouse, and specifically my eyes, never leave the scene. I am always looking directly at the animation and not trying to locate some other button elsewhere in the UI, and because of the flexibility I'm also able to switch to any other tool I might need to on the fly, stopping and starting my playback at will.

Upon suggesting this type of custom layout I was confronted with the idea that sometimes you will have to work on another person's computer, using default settings, so that's what you should use. Sure, that happens, but I'd argue that in order to get to the point of creating a custom setting it's pretty apparent you need to know the basics anyhow and you definitely should(You have to know the rules before you can break them). In a network setting it's also very easy to save and load your personal preferences very easily. I also understand that in a teaching scenario you might want to use the basics so everyone is on the same page. Again, that's fine, but one of the best lessons I ever got from a mentor was to make the program work for me.

One last thing I've learned about animating in 3d is that real estate is important. The amount of space you have on screen to view your animation is a huge deal. Maya 2012's new UI allows the removal of several key elements that I've now put on a second monitor. This includes the channel box and several other tear away menus. The result (pic soon) is a very basic, simple, and clean viewport that leaves the maximum amount of room to see my animation in the greatest amount of space.

I guess I'm kind of taking back what I've said about there being no "Wrong Way" to animate because working smarter is indeed better. It won't help your curves but it will make you a hell of a lot faster.