8

Working with Footstep Animation 715
Dope Sheet Editor. There, each footstep appears as
ablockoftime,witheachblockrepresentingthe
time when the foot is planted in a footstep.
Footstep keys in Track View
Footsteps are appropriate for animation where the
biped is on the ground or uses the ground a great
deal, such as walking, standing, jumping, running,
dancing, and athletic motion. For movement that
does not require the biped to interact with the
ground, such as swimming or flying,
freeform
animation (page 2–743)
is more appropriate.
Footsteps are used to lock the foot to the ground,
you c an create the same result in freeform
animation by simply created planted keys for the
feet.
Wo rkflow
In general, you compose a footstep pattern with
these actions:
1.
Select the biped and access the Motion
panel.
2.
Click Biped rollout > Footstep Mode.
3.
In the Footstep Creation rollout,
click Walk, Run or Jump to cho ose the gait (a
method or p attern of moving on foot). T he gait
sets the init ia l timing for footsteps you create.
When you first create them, footsteps are
inactive. They exist in the scene but don’t yet
control the biped’s motion.
4. Create the f ootstep pattern in viewports. You
cancreatefootstepsinafewdifferentways,each
available in the Footstep Creation rollout:
Automatically create a number of
footstepswithCreateMultipleFootsteps,or
Individually place each footstep
withCreateFootsteps(append)orCreate
Footsteps (at current fra me). Use Auto Grid
to create footsteps on a surface of a mesh.
5. Edit footstep placement by moving or rotating
footstep icons in viewports.
6. Edit footstep timing in the Track View - Dope
Sheet mode.
7. Activate the footsteps to create keys for the
biped.Thebipedwillnowmovethroughthe
footsteps using the placement and timing you
set up.
8. Play the mot ion to test it out, looking only at
the leg and foot motion and disregarding the
upper body for now. If the footstep motion isn’t
right, deactivate the footsteps, make changes
to footstep placement or timing, react ivate the
footsteps and play it again. Do this until the
foot and leg motions are correct.
When footsteps are act ivated, keys are created
foreachofthetracksofthefigure:thehead,
spine, pelvis, ar ms, legs, and, if appropriate, tail
and ponytai ls. These keys form an initial sketch
of your animation. The defaul t keys, when
interpolated (page 3–1052) ,formthebasic,
minimal motion required to animate the figure
according to the footstep pattern. Most likely
youwillwanttoadjustorreplacethesekeys.
9. Edit the animation of the upper body using
ordinary 3ds Max animation metho ds: Turn on
Auto Key and move or rotate the biped parts.