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740 Chapter 14: Character Studio
3.
Move to the Vertical track keyframe you want
toadjust,eitheraTouchorLiftkey.
The Ballistic Tension parameter is available
only on Touch and Lift keys.
4. In the Key Info rollout, expa nd the Body bar to
access the Ballistic Tension parameter.
5. Adjust the Ba llistic Tension value.
Adjusting the ballist ic tension changes the
amount of crouch before a jump, and the
amount of dampening that occurs after landing.
To change D ynamics B lend for multiple B ody Vertical
keys:
1.
Choose Graphs Editors menu > Track View
– Dope Sheet.
2. Select all the Body Vert ical keys you want to
change.
3. Right-click over one of the selected keys to
display the TCB dialog.
4. Change the value of D ynamics Blend in the
TCB dialog. This changes it for all selected keys.
Note: This only affects the biped during
airborne periods in a footstep animation.
Changing Dynamics Blend keys in a walk
motion does not affect t he motion.
Saving Footstep Animation
After you have animated the biped with footsteps,
there are two ways you can save the data.
• A BIP file saves both the footsteps and any
animationontheupperbody.Youcansavethe
entire footstep sequence, or just a portion of it.
• An.STPfilesavesjustthefootstepdata.These
files, in ASCII format, are sometimes used by
game developers to save just the leg and foot
motion data
Tosaveaeithertypeoffile,clickSaveFile
in the Biped rollout. Choose the desired file type
fromtheSaveastypepulldown.
For more detailed information on these file
form ats and how to work with them, see
Loading
and Saving BIP Animation (page 2–774)
and
Loading and Saving STP Files (page 2–779) .
Foots teps a nd Fr eefor m
Animation
character studio provides two distinct modes of
animation,
footstep and freeform .
Footstep animation (page 3–1037) was orig inally
designed for bipedal characters, that is, characters
that walk on two legs. It uses a struc tured system
of dynamics and balance to create secondary
motion in the upper body, i ncluding arm swinging
and tail swaying that is automatically applied when
footsteps are used. By using default footsteps, you
are assured that the biped’s foot doesn’t slide or
pass through the ground, and that the foot easily
rolls from heel to the ball of the foot as is common
inatypicalwalk.
Freeform animation (page 3–1037) provides
a more traditional method of animating to
thosefamiliarwith3dsMax,orothercharacter
animation systems. Keys are set by using the
character studio Set Key tools found in the
Key Info rollout (page 2–809) ,orbyturning
onAutoKeymode,movingthetimesliderand
transforming the biped parts.
Freeform animation includes preset key typ es
called planted, sliding, and f ree keys; these m a ke
itveryquicktolockabiped’sfootorhandin
space and get results similar to those of footstep
animation.