Path Animation
Any object including lights deformers and cameras may be animated along a path.

Set up your options for animation:
Use Windows->Settings/Preferences->Preferences
     Choose the Settings section
          Select Time 30 fps
     Choose the Time Slider section
          Set Framerate 30 fps
          Set Playback Start/End between 1 and whatever length you prefer.
          Set Animation Start/End between 1 and whatever length you prefer.
          Set Playback speed:  30 fps x 1 (It may skip frames to play the correct speed)
          Click Save



Draw the Path
Draw a curve in any view. Create->Curve Tools->CV Curve Tool

Create an object such as a sphere to animate along the path. The object moves along the path from the pivot center.



Set the maximum playback on the time slider to 300, over to the right on the time slider.

Select the sphere and then select the path.

Switch the Menu Set to Animation in the top left corner of the Maya window


Choose Constrain->Motion Paths->Attach to Motion Path



Change the timing in the Graph Editor
Select the sphere

Open Windows->Animation Editors->Graph Editor
     Select View->Frame All
      Select the last keyframe and input a new time in the first box of Stats



Preview the animation:
Hit the play arrow on the time slider.



Bake the Animation for Unity etc
Select the object with animation.
Choose Key->Bake Simulation
The default settings will create keys for rotation, translation and scaling for every frame, using the time slider.
Also Select Edit->Delete by Type->Static Channels to clean up extra unused channels
Save your model, use the unity tutorial to connect the animation.



Render Settings
Turn off Color Management:
Select Windows->Settings/Preferences->Preferences
Select Color Management
Uncheck Enable Color Management
Select Save

Press this icon upper right or middle 
Under the Common tab:
Under the File Output arrow:
Choose Image format: Tif
Uncheck Dither

If you want to render your animation:
Choose Frame/Animation ext:    name.#.ext
Input End frame:  120

Under the  Image Size arrow:
choose 960x540

With these settings below, your scene will render faster with a preview quality.
Under the Arnold Renderer tab:
Under the Sampling arrow:
     Set Camera (AA) to 2      (default 3)
     Set Diffuse to 2      (default 2)
     Set Specular to 1      (default 2)
     Set Transmission to 0      (default 2)
     Set SSS to 0      (default 2)
     Set Volume Indirect to 0      (default 2)

Under the Ray Depth arrow
     Set Total to 1      (default 10)
     Set Diffuse to 1      (default 1)
     Set Specular to 1      (default 1)
     Set Transmisssion to 0      (default 8)
     Set Volume to 0      (default 0)
     Set Transparency Depth to 0      (default 10)
Click Close to close the window



Render an Animation Sequence
Change to the Rendering Module



Select Render->Render Sequence from the top menu bar.

You can always hit the Esc button to stop the render.



Where are the files?
The image is stored locally in the images folder on your computer. You can change the default location. File->Project Window

PC: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Documents\maya\projects\default\images

Mac: /users/$user/Documents/maya/projects/default/images



View the Animation with fcheck
PC: Use Start->Autodesk->fcheck from windows, or C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2020\bin\fcheck.exe
Mac: Use Applications\Autodesmaya2020\Fcheck
Select File->Open Animation  Select the first frame.


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