8

Adjusting Body Keys in Track View 733
• Turn on the 3ds Max Key Mode toggle,
select the bo dy par t, and use Next Key and
Previous K ey to move in time from one
keyframe to another. Animate only on existing
keyframes.
• Deleteallthebodypartkeysexceptthekey
at frame 0, and create entirely new keys
throughout t he animation.
Wa rn in g: If you delete all keys, including the key
at frame 0, be s ure to set a key at frame 0 before
animating on other frames. char acter studio does
not automatically place a key at frame 0 when you
animate o n f rames other than 0, as 3ds Max does.
Inter dependencies B etween Legs and
Upper B ody
When footstep animation is used, animation of
the upper body and animation of the legs are
interdependent. Any time you change the position
ofthebody’scenterofmass,legpositionsare
automatically updated to ensure the feet still move
from footstep to footstep.
Interdependencies between the upper body
and legs are updated after a key has been set,
sometimes causing the appearance of a pop in the
leg position. Howev er, in playing the animation
you will find the motion to be smooth.
When you set a leg key while the foot is on the
ground, the location of the foot is automatically
recalculatedbasedonthenaturalrollofthefoot
from its point of initial contact with the ground.
The pivot points are based on collisions between
the footstep plane, the two corners of the heel, and
the bones that connect the toes’ link s.
This ability to preserve interdependent
relationshipsallowsyoueasilytoexperimentand
improvise with motion, since you are assured
that edits to one body part will not corrupt the
integrity of othe r parts.
In general, changes to the center of mass, spine,
andpelviscausethelegstoadjust. Changesto
thelegsdonotaffectthecenterofmass’svertical
position.
Adjusting B ody K eys in Track View
When you activate footsteps, keys are created
forbipedbodyparts.Afteractivatingfootsteps,
you can also create keys by turning on Auto Key
and animating body par ts. All these keys can b e
viewed in Track View – Dope Sheet mode.
In general, editing biped body keys in Track View
isthesameaseditingkeysofanysortin3dsMax,
with a few restrictions.
Before reading this section, please read
Understanding Footstep and Body Keys (page
2–725)
for terms and definitions used in this
section.
Note: The information in this section applies only
to biped body keys for the arms, legs, spine, neck,
and other par ts of the upper body. For rules for
editing footstep keys, see
Editing Footstep Timing
(page 2–727)
.
Locked Key s
Some biped keys are locked, meaning they cannot
be moved in time. Locked keys are colored red in
Tra ck View.
Locked keys for the COM B ody Vertical track are
created at each footstep’s lift and touch frames.
These are the only keys that are locked. These
keys can be moved in time by changing footstep
duration in Track View .
Althoughyoucannotmoveordeletealockedkey
in Track View, you can sometimes change the
animation on the frame by going to the frame,
turning on Auto Key and manually animating the
key.