Anima

Here is a brief outline and example of how to create a control panel for animations in Maya 2013.

1. Create your panel using NURBS squares and circles as you see fit.
2. Lock your slider into the boundary you created using the Translate menu under Limit Information in the Attributes Editor.
3. Animate > Set Driven Key > Set.
4. Select your slider and click Load Driver
5. Select your objects to animate and click Load Driven
6. Select the slider in the Driver menu and the axis you are translating that slider on
7. Select the objects in the Driven menu and the axis you wish to animate them along
8. With your slider and objects in their starting position click Key at the bottom next to load driver and load driven
9. then move your slider to the other side of your box and move your objects where you want them to be animated to.
10. Click Key again
11. Move your slider back and forth to confirm you have the movement you are looking for.

NOTE: You can only key one attribute of the driver at a time, but you can have it effect multiple attributes of the driven.

Example of creating a control panel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNpyS1amZPA

Example of “Bee Control Panel”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESMglW3XH8I