Should i be animating all the character's animation in one maya scene file??

[blu_comet]

Hey guys, i'm new around here and this is my first time working on a mod in UT2004. So i'm in-experience of incorporating maya with UT2004 as far as things go, so please bear with me.

<-------Skip this paragraph if you're not a board moderator->
To board moderator - I know i'm creating a lot of topics on this board at the moment, but please bear with me, i have a lot of questions to ask and i think it's best if i divided all the topics into smaller threads so that anyone who know the answer can help me out, i don't want to scare people away with endless lines of text with a big topic... thanks for understanding!!!
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I'm working on an action rpg mod in UT2004, in my game, i have 1 character that is being control by the player, so when ever the player press a certain key, it will do an animation corresponding to the key. E.g if the player tab the space bar, my character will jump up and, 'f key' to attack and 'up, down, left, right' keys to move around..

So here is my question, i know i will need to animate all this animation in maya and then get it into UT. what i want to know is, should i be animating all the animations (walk/jump/attack/run) in one maya scene file??? or should i be doing it separately??? like each animation will have their own scene file???
Also, when the player press a certain key, how do i tell UT2004 engine to play that certain character's animation??
Is there any good tutorials on this topic? and if you guy know the answer, ?? i would really appreciate it if you guys be a bit more detail with your explanations..

And a Big THANK YOU and HUGS to anyone who can help me!! thanks!! :D:D;););):):)

[[s§s]Bison_Boy]

once you figure this out, please post a short mini tut - I've never been able to figure this out eather

[blu_comet]

Hopefully someone know the answers and can help us out soon!!! :)

[SuperApe]

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: There is more than one way to import meshes and animations, and you can manage the animation set after import, using the animation browser itself. But, for a couple of different reasons, it's usually better to keep it all in one animation file per character:

- You can save a single static (or generic, idle, prone) pose that you can at any time copy/paste within the animation file you're working in, to keep your anim set always going from/to a consistent pose.

- You are automatically keeping the same timing, setting and rig for the character. No chance of a sizing, timing or inconsistent rig problem.

- You can easily refer to other animations in the set to keep your character's actions consistent and believable.

Hope that helps.

(Tutorial is available on the UnrealWiki:Legacy content, just search for "Maya character import")