8
792 Chapter 14: Character Studio
Motion Flow Mode—Create scripts and
use editable transitions to combine
.bip
files
together to create character animation in
Motion
Flow mode (page 2–894)
. After creating a script
and editing transitions, use Save Segment on the
Biped rollout to store a script as one long .
bip
file. Save a .
mfe
file; this enables you to continue
Motion Flow work in progress.
Tip: UseMotionFlowmodetocutmotioncapture
files together.
Note: The
Motion Flow rollout (page 2–896)
appearswhenMotionFlowmodeisactive.
Mixer Mode— Activates any current
Mixer
(page 2–581)
animation on the Biped and displays
the
Mixer rollout (page 2–629)
.
Biped Playback—Plays the animation for all
bipeds unless they are excluded on the
Display
Preferences dialog (page 2–799)
.Thisplayback
mode usually gives real-time play back, which you
may not get if you use Play on the3ds Max toolbar.
Note: In Biped Playback mode, the biped is
displayed as bones only, with no other scene
objects visible.
Load File—The
Open dialog (page 2–797)
lets
you load .
bip
,.
fig
or .
stp
files.
Save File—Opens the
Save As dialog
,where
you can save Biped files (.
bip
), fig ure files (.
fig
),
and step files (.
stp
)files.
Co nvert—Convert a footstep animation
to a freeform animation. This works in both
directions. Displays the
Convert to Freeform
dialog (page 2–852)
or
Convert to Footsteps dialog
(page 2–852)
depending on the direction.
• Convert uses biped foot IK Blend va lues to
extrac t footsteps.
• Use Conver t to extract footsteps from an
animation saved using Save Segment in Motion
Flow mode.
• Convert the animation in either direction
depending on how you like to work. Convert to
freeform for unrestricted key edit ing. Convert
tofootstepstotakeadvatageoffootsteps.
Move All Mode—Allows the biped to be
movedandrotatedwithitsrelativeanimation
intact. You can transform the biped interactively
in the viewport or with the dialog box that opens
when the button is active.
When this button is act ive, the biped’s center
of mass enlarges to be more easily selected for
translat ion.
TheCollapsebuttonontheMoveAlldialogbox
allows you to reset the position and rotation values
in the Move All dialog to zero, but does not change
the position of the biped.
Modes group
Note: The Modes group is hidden by default. To
displayit,clickontheModes&Displayexpander
in the Biped rollout.
Buffer Mode—Edit seg ments of an animation
in Buffer mode. Copy footsteps and associated
biped keys into the buffer using Copy Footsteps on
the Footstep Operation rollout first, then tur n on
Buffer mode to view and edit the copied segment
of your animation.
Tip: Paste buffered motion back to the original
animation repeatedly to create looping motions.
Edit footstep and biped animation that have been
copied into the buffer using Copy Footsteps on the