Across the bottom of the 'Animation' interface, directly under the keyframing and timeline transport controls is located the Actor, Action and Pose control bar. These controls provide you with a streamlined method of animating in modo. An Actor needn't be a character either, it is simply a special type of 'Group, as created in the 'Groups' viewport, that stores Items and their associated Channels. This allows you to quickly assign keyframes for all associated Channels, then save the Channels values as alternate layers using the 'Action' function, where each 'Action' is an alternate of the entire timeline (Actions could also be considered separate takes of a scene). Additionally, the 'Pose' function stores specific keyframe values that can then be applied at any point along the timeline with a single click.
To create an 'Actor', make sure to select all the items you want to include and then LMB+click on the 'New' button next to the 'Actor' controls. This opens the 'Create Group' dialogue-
Make sure that the 'Type' option is set to 'Actor'. The 'Mode' menu lets you choose which items or channels will be added to the new 'Actor'. In this case, choose the 'From Selected Items' entry. What this means is that all selected items will be automatically added to the 'Actor' (Group) when it is created. LMB+click 'OK' to create the Actor. If you need to add more Items or Channels to an Actor, or remove Items from the Actor, this can be done from the 'Groups' viewport.
Setting Keyframes
With an 'Actor' defined, users can simply LMB+click on the 'Key' button to define keyframes for every animated channel belonging to each item in the 'Actor'. Make sure to define at least one keyframe for each channel you wish to work with before hand (For Characters this would typically be the position and rotation Channels). For information on creating keyframes, reference the 'Working with the Timeline' page of the documentation.
Action serve to store keyframes for the entire timeline per 'Actor', what this means is that each separate action can be either a completely separate animation, or a subtle reworking of an existing animation. In movie terms, each 'Action' is its own take of the scene. To create a new 'Action' layer make sure the 'Actor' control menu shows the particular Actor for which a new animation is desired. Next, LMB+click on the 'New' button next to the 'Actions' control opening the 'Group Layer' dialogue-
Enter a name for the animation and click OK to create the 'Action'. Now when you animate the items belonging to the current 'Actor' the animation will be stored in the current 'Action' as shown in the Action control menu. Note that if you're animating in a scene with multiple Actors, the current Actor will switch automatically when you select any item belonging to an 'Actor' and that Actor's last active 'Action' will become the current Action. Any number of alternate animations can be created for an 'Actor' by repeating the above steps. You can choose which action to view or edit by simply selecting it from the 'Action' control menu. Deleting an Action is done in the 'Groups' viewport by selecting the Action and pressing the 'Delete' key or choosing 'Delete' from the RMB+click context menu.
TIP: If you have an animation that you like but want to experiment with a bit, you can do this without affecting the original animation by duplicating the 'Action' in the Groups viewport and making your changes to the copy. To do this, go to the Groups viewport and expand the 'Actor'. Then expand the 'Actions' section and RMB+click on the Action and choose 'Duplicate' from the context menu. You can then compare the two animations by switching between them using the 'Action' control in the Animation interface.
A Pose stores a static snapshot of the current channel values of the Actor contents. For example, you might create Poses for a character's hand positions, such as "Point", "Fist", etc. These Poses can then be quickly applied to the Actor at any point in the timeline. To create a 'Pose' position the items you want to store prior to creating it, example- setting the fingers in a hand to a fist. Next LMB+click on the 'Store' button next to the 'Pose' control menu to bring up the 'Store Pose' dialog and enter a name for the Pose.
The 'Source Channels' menu allows you to choose which channels belonging to the Actor will be stored in the 'Pose'. If 'Transforms Only' is enabled, then only position, rotation and scale channels will be stored. Once you have made your choice, LMB+click OK to create the Pose.
Note: The items in the actor will not be affected when creating a Pose, their channel values are copied not cut. This allows further Poses to be created using the current values as a starting point.
Applying a Pose
Go to the position on the timeline where you want to apply the Pose and choose the desired 'Pose' from the popup menu and LMB+click on 'Set' button. Once the values are set, they can be treated like any other keyframe value.
