ABSTRACT
Spline curves, or just "splines" (or even just "curves"), are the lifeblood of computer animation. They're a surprisingly efficient and comprehensive method of representing motion. To track the spacing of a movement, many animators use dry erase markers right on their monitor. Tangents and the styles available in Maya are the other side of understanding splines. Maya's tangent handles offer the ultimate flexibility of any of the animation/graphics programs, so people should obviously take advantage of the power. As powerful as tangent handles can be, they do add another layer of complexity to spline editing. One thing many beginning animators don't realize at first is that reading splines is just recognizing common shapes. It basically sets keys to spline or flat tangents dynamically as edit keyframes, depending on the situation. AutoTangent isn't a tangent type, but rather an automation function. Keys at extremes are made flat, while transitional keys are smoothed to a spline tangent.
