I've install a flying ptero-bird in a scene, boned it and animated it. Now I've installed a second of the same bird. Rather than re-position the wings all over, I had hoped to be able to copy and paste keyframes from one bird timeline to the other. But when I select the keyframe markers, the copy/cut/paste options under EDIT are grayed out. Am I missing a step?

Duplicating the 1st bird should include it's animation. Then by clicking on the keyframes, including the 'time-zero' one, and then drag them to the time yo uwant them to be. Also, you can 'ALT-click-and-drag' the keyframes to duplicate them to where you need them WITHIN the same objects timeline. (The drag will only slide along that items line. You can't drag them to another objects timeline.) Hope this helps!

I've used the ALT-click-drag to duplicate frames and moved them along the same timeline. So far, so good. But the C2 manual specifically assures me that it is possibble to COPY, then PASTE frames frome one 'time track' to another, as long as those frames are applicable to the object that will receive them. In this case, it's not only applicable, it's the same model, same action. But when I select the frames I want, the COPY, CUT, and PASTE commands are grayed out.

I had hoped to be able to simply bone the bird, animate it, then duplicate it in the scene. But once the skeleton is attached, the DUPLICATE command is grayed out. Is there a way around this?

Previously, I had a problem with objects [city walls] flying around. Kixum solved it by suggesting that there were hidden keyframes within groups. So I hoped to make this work for me. I animated the bird in its original doc., moved the wings 10 times, and dragged it into the browser, and from there into the new scene. The bird move nicely from A to B, but the wings didn't move. Was I on the right track to begin with?

Lastly, I post this new pic. with a related problem. I have installed the same model of this bird [unboned] into the scene several times. On the first two tries, I boned and animated it and all was well. With the third copy of the bird [and this is my third try at the third bird] the mesh wants to distort. I'm sure I've set the influences the same as on the first two birds, but something's gone wrong. Any thoughts?

While I'd welcome an answer on the last question, I'd really like to know about how to duplicate a model that's already boned and animated. Thanks.

Actually, you might have to drag the bird to the browser and back to do the duplicate of model and bones. Or, maybe, if you duplicate the top bone it would duplicate the rest, including the model?? (Kinda guessing here...)

bluetone: I tried to duplicate the top bone. No go. The DUPLICATE command is still greyed out. I did build a whole new bird, boned and animated it, and dragged it into the browser. When I dragged it out into the scene, all the animation keyframes came with it, but the skeleton detached from the mesh. Upon re-attaching, the influences were all off and the bird was a distorted mess. I tried repeatedly to re-assert the influences and finally gave up around 3:00 in the morning. I kept the model/mesh in the scene and will attempt to re-bone it today. Thanks for trying.