8

630 Chapter 12: Animation
Inter face
Load File—Loads a Motion Mixer file ( .mix ).
These files include the following, which displa y
in the Motion Mixer window when a MIX file is
loaded:
•
Trackgro ups—Groups of tracks (page 3–1117)
for selected parts of the biped.
•
Tracks — Layer tracks (page 3–1055) and
transition t racks (page 3–1121) where clips and
transitions reside.
•
Clips—References to BIP animation files used
in the mix.
•
Trans iti ons—Connect ions between clips on
transition tracks.
Note: LoadingaMIXfiledoesnotautomatically
open the Motion Mixer. Click Mixer on the Biped
Ap ps rollout to open the Motion Mixer and see
the loaded mix.
Save File—Saves the currently selected biped’s
mix in the Motion Mixer to a MIX file.
Animation Utilities
3ds Max provides a number of utilities, available
from the
Utilities panel (page 3–821) ,toassistin
animating scenes:
•
Follow/Bank Uti lity (page 2–630) is an
alternative to the
Path constraint (page 2–380) .
•
MACUtilities Ut ility (page 2–642) lets
you convert an
imported TRC motion (page
3–626)
into CSM format so you can map it onto
abiped.
•
Camera Tracker Ut i lity (page 2–644)
sy nchronizes a background by matching the
movement of a 3ds Max camera to a real
camera.
•
Camera Tracker Ut i lity (page 2–644)
sy nchronizes a background by matching the
movement of a 3ds Max camera to a real
camera.
•
Dynamics Utilit y (page 2–663) generates
animation by simulating real-world physics.
•
Skin Utilities (page 2–678) provide a method
for copy ing skin data (envelopes and vertex
weights) from one model to another.
Follow/Bank Utility
Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Util ities
dialog > Follow/Bank
The Follow/Bank utility applies rotation keys to
an object that already has a m ot ion trajectory.
The settings are similar to those found in the Path
constraint. Use this when you have an object for
which you’ve already assigned motion and want
it to follow or bank along its trajectory, but don’t
want to use a Path constraint.
Theutilityalignstheobject’sXaxistothedirection
of motion. To change the orientation, change the