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1028 Chapter 14: Character Studio
the last 30 percent of each motion to create
transitions.
The graph now shows arrows to and from each
clip, as well as from each clip to itself. If you
like, delete transitions that obviously don’t
belong, such as the ones from the stop and start
clips to themselves.
Alternatively, you can use Create
Transition to set up a custom graph.
7. Optimize the transitions. See Transit ion
Optimization Dialog (page 2–909)
.
When you solve the simulation, Crowd
automatically generates a motion flow script
for the biped, based on this graph. When you
have a graph w ith multiple clips, as in this case,
it chooses the start i ng clip for the script f rom
one or more clips you designate as random
start clips.
If you want to check the integrity of t r ansitions
before continuing, do so now. See
Customizing
Tr ansitions (page 2–885)
.
8. Click the Select Random Star t Clips
button, and then click a clip.
This tells the software to start the script with
this clip, and uses the default probability of 100
percentthattheclipwillbechosen.
If you want the various bipeds to start with
different clips, select multiple random start
clips by pressing and holding the CTRL key as
you click. T he default Random Star t Probability
setting of 100 for all clips means that the
software w i ll choose randomly among them for
astartingclipforeachbiped’sscript.
To change the likelihood of start ing with
specific clips, right-click a clip and modify its
Random Start Probability setting. For example,
say you want to st art each biped’s script with
any of three clips: clips A, B, and C. You want
clip A to be chosen twice as often as clip B or C.
In that case, using the Random Start Clips tool,
you’d first click clip A, and then CTRL+click
clips B and C. Then you’d right-click each in
turn, assigning a Random Start Probability of
60 to clip A, and 30 to both clips B a nd C.
Note: The Probability values are arbitrary; what
counts is their ratios. For example, values of
80/40/40 or 20/10/10 would work the same.
Note: You c an also set and change random
starting clips and start probabilities in the
Motion Flow graph after loading the MFE file
into the Shared Motion Flow dialog, described
later in this procedure.
Note: If a motion flow script already exists for a
biped, for example after you’ve solved a crowd
simulation, the software can use the first clip in
the script for subsequent solutions.
9. In the Motion Flow rollout, click the Sav e
File button, and save the graph in the MFE
format.
The next step in using bipeds in a c rowd
simulation is to create the simulation.
To set up the crowd simulation:
1.
Reset 3ds Max.
2. Set up a crowd simulation with any number
of delegates, using behaviors appropriate to
thecrowdsceneyouwanttocreate. Donot
use bipeds at first; work with delegates only to
rough out the motion of the crowd members.
Tip: When first starting out with motion
sy nthesis, use smaller crowds of eight or so
delegates.
3. Solve the simulation and adjust the settings as
necessar y to obtain the desired motion.
4. Merge bipeds and characters into the scene, and
associate each delegate with a different biped