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836 Chapter 14: Character Studio
to scale a complete character (a complete
character has a biped and mesh attached w ith
Physique).
• Reverse-Knee Char a cters. If your character
mesh has reverse knees, rotate the biped calves
or thighs along the local X axis 180 degrees in
Figure mode; the biped local X axis is along the
length of the limb. character studio assumes
you want a reverse knees character if the ca lves
or thighs are rotated past 90 deg rees in the
localXaxis.WhenFiguremodeisturnedoff,
the biped walks, runs, and jumps with reverse
knees.
Notes on Fitting the B iped to a Mesh in
Fi gure Mo de
These are quick notes designed to give you a
general sense of the issues involve d when a biped
is fitted to a mesh.
• Use the Structure rollout to set the number of
toes and fingers; specify the number of links
perfingerandtoe.Onetoewithonetoelinkis
often sufficient if your character wears shoes,
or if animating individual toes will not b e
necessary.
• Put the lowest biped spine object at the
character’s belt-line.
• Scale the biped fingers to slig htly protr ude from
the character’s hand.
• Rubber Band mo de and sca le are used to size
the biped limbs to fit the biped to a mesh.
•Usetheoptionsfromthe
Twist Links group
(page 2–839)
to transfer twisting animation in
the biped’s associated mesh.
• Use Props to represent weapons or tools
attached to your character.
•UseSelectAndLinkonthe3dsMaxtoolbarto
link non-deformable (mechanical) objects to
the biped. Do this after Physique is applied to
prevent Physique from generating extra links
(Envelopes). Superflous envelopes (links) can
be turned off in Physique however, so this is not
critical.
Note: Objectslikeeyeballsandweaponsshould
be linked to the biped after Physique is applied;
otherwise links (E nvelopes) will extend to these
objectswhenPhysiqueisapplied.
• Reposition and use Ponytails on the Structure
rollout to animate a character’s jaw, ears, hat,
hair and p ony t ai ls.
•Asaved.
fig filecanbereloadedifthebipedis
repositioned in Figure mode b y mistake.
Move the first link on each finger to position the
fingers relative to the mesh; use lo cal and world
coordinate systems for this. Scale the finger links
to position the joints. After positioning the thumb,
rotate the first thumb link around the local X-axis
untilthelocalZ-axiscreatesanaturalrotation