8

Animating Legs and Feet 731
To edit the foots tep buf fer :
You can edit the footstep buffer only when
footsteps have been copied to the buffer, as
described in t he previous procedure.
1. On the Biped rollout > M odes group,
click Buffer Mode. This button is active only
when there are footsteps in the buffer.
The viewports now display the footsteps in the
footstep buffer, rather than the footsteps in the
currently ac tivated fo otstep sequence.
2. Editfootstepsormotionkeysasyounormally
would – by moving and r otating footsteps, or
turning on Auto Key and moving and rotating
parts of the biped skeleton.
Note: You can’t splice (copy and paste) footsteps
while in Buffer mode.
IfyouloadaBIPfilebyclickingLoadFileon
the Biped rollout w hile Buffer mode is active,
the footstep buffer is replaced with the mot ion
in the BIP file.
3. Click Buffer Mode to turn it off.
Now you ca n splice the edited buffer by pasting
footsteps.
To spl ice the footstep buffer:
1.
Click Paste Footsteps on the Footstep
Operations rollout.
The footsteps from the buffer appear in their
saturated colors.
2. UseSelectandMovefromthe3dsMax
toolbar to posit ion the first pasted footstep at
the point where you want to splice. When you
move the first pasted footstep over a n activated
footstep of the s ame side, r ight or left, the
activated footstep turns red to indicate splicing
is possible.
This step is usually easiest to do in a Top
view por t.
Note: If you deselect the pasted footsteps by
clicking elsewhere in a viewport, no p aste
occurs and the pasting process ends.
3. When you have moved the buffer footsteps to
the desired lo cation, release the mouse.
Thecontentsofthefootstepbufferareplaced
overtheactivefootsteps.Thefirstfootstepin
the buffer replaces the footstep that turned red,
and the rest of the buffer footsteps follow.
4. Thefootstepthatturnedredandtheremaining
original footsteps now appear in the viewpor ts.
They will be near the ac tivated footsteps, in
their saturated colors. They c an now be moved
andpastedontotheendofthesplicedmotion,
which will, in effect, perform an insert of
the buffer motion. The red footstep and is
following footsteps can also be pasted anywhere
in the footstep sequence. If you p asted onto the
last footstep, this step does not occur.
If you don’t want to append the leftover
footsteps, simply click anywhere in the
view por t to dismiss them.
Wa rn in g: If any footstep in the buffer overlaps in
time with a footstep previous to the one onto that
you are pasting, a message appears and the paste
will not be p erformed.
Tip:
Tocreateacycleofamotionwith
alternating footsteps, you must copy and paste
at least three footsteps.
See also
Footstep Operations Rollout (page 2–842)
Animating Legs and Feet
When you act ivate footsteps, keys are created for
the legs and feet according to the footstep pattern