******************************   DESCRIPTION     ******************************** 

the shaker is a single node which was written primarily to create the effect of camera 
shake. However, it may be used in various other ways, shaking objects, swaying objects 
(e.g. in the wind) or driving other animation (e.g. wavering colour of a shader) 

******************************   INSTRUCTIONS     ******************************** 
 
 
 

The principal controls: 

make the shaker node the parent of your camera (or object etc..). This scene file 
should create the shaker control window for easy adjustmnent and animation (all 
attributes are in the attribute editor as well, under 'extra'). If you lose the control 
window, call the procedure by typing shakecontrol in the maya command line. 

1. The principal control Shake_intensity simulates random translation and rotation by 
generating a gaussian random number of a second normal random number. In this way, 
the object's shake will follow a gaussian, bell shaped distribution giving most movement 
within a certain range and only few occurences of large deviation. 

2. Jitter_intensity creates a more standard random movement using the rand (x,y) function 

3. Wander_intensity will generate cumulative translation so that your grouped 
geometry will not come back to the same resting place (e.g. camera not firmly attached) 
and will actually wander 

4. Destabilise_intensity will simulate a slower, gradual random movement and rotation by 
using the noise (time) function. This was primarily created to introduce more offset 
for the overall camera shake as if the camera holder was actually shifting position 
globally over time as a result of the main shake. On its own it creates a very nice effect 
and could find many more uses (e.g. swaying objects in the wind, max headroom ??) 
 
 
 

The fine controls: 

the above 4 primary controls can be intensity adjusted at the channel level 
(wander produces no rotation). shake in the z axis may for example, not be 
required etc... 

the destabilise fine controls multiply the 'time' i.e. noise (time * x) so 
time is effectively compressed, giving a higher rate of change of movement. 
The principal intensity controls the magnitude of movement. 
 
 
 
 

NB: 

Particular attention should obviously be paid to the pivot point of the shaker node. 
Whilst it will be often favourable to match  this to your camera or object's pivot 
point, offsetting can produce interesting results. 

Once the shaker has been configured, it is best to bake simulation on the xyz trans and 
rotation channels then delete all expressions. 

With destabilistaion on, wander intensity will produce very large wanders !! They do not really work together.