Got a keyframe question.

Forgive my ignorance on this, but I don't have time to search through the archived posts, although I did do a little and snagged some interesting info from Ockham. It relates to my situation, which is this:

I am animating a walking figure holding a clipboard. I have him moving from a casual standing position to a similar one at the end, but with his hands holding the board at waist level. The animation works quite nicely, aside from a few frames where the clipboard collides with the figure's thigh -- and the BIG problem, which is that after Frame 1 the figure's right hand ignores the fact that it's holding a clipboard and begins acting as if it isn't holding anything, just swinging freely at the figure's side.

The question is, how to I retain the keframed hand position throughout the walk?

Now, in replying to someone who was looking to fine-tune a walking figure, Ockham said:

"The Walk Designer sets every single frame
separately. If you look at the keygraph,
you'll see that each frame has a key-mark
on it. This is different from the usual
situation you were expecting, in which
you set a couple of frames and let the
interpolation fill in between.

"So, if you want to move the arms in a
more loose way, you'll either have to

(1) alter each frame separately, or

(2) draw a rectangle around the relevant
arm joints, across the frames you want
to change, and hit the minus sign at
lower right to open up the keyframes
for this joint. Then you can move them
with the usual interpolation. This will,
of course, get rid of the motions that
Walk Designer gave to these joints."

Can I take this to mean that I must capture the entire range of all the right hand elements, then hit the minus sign and mass-edit the keyframes for the hand?

Or is there some easier way I am missing?

Thanks in advance, everyone!

Yes you'll need to delete all the individual key frames for the right arm, then animate it. Not as daunting as it may sound since you will probably only need to key frame a forward and back swing, or just have him hold the clipboard up front.

It sounds like you are not using the animation pallet. (if you are, sorry, but if your not, it can save you hours.)

Thanks, Phil. Do you mean everything from the forearm down, or do I include the shoulder?

Collar, Shoulder, Forearm.... keep as much as is useful, pitch the rest :)