8

864 Chapter 14: Character Studio
Loadi ng and S av i ng Bi ped Ass ets wit h
Euler Curv es
When you load an external biped asset file (BIP)
onto a biped, they each might contain different
animation cont rollers (for example, a Euler asset
loaded onto a quaternion biped). When this
happens, the biped animations are converted to
match the controller from the biped asset file.
When you save a biped asset file, it stores both
Euler tangents and quaternion TCB control values.
Note: While this doesn’t affect overall performance,
itmayslightlyimpactthebipedassetfilesize.
Wo rkb ench User In te rface
Animation Work bench
Select a biped body part. > Motion panel > Biped Apps >
Workbench
The Animation Workbench is a tool for working
w ith biped function c urves. It is a customized
version of Track View, with many of the same
toolbars and buttons, plus some new ones.
In addition to the standard Track View features,
the workbench has tools to help you select curves,
analyze them for errors, and automatically fix those
errors based on various settings. This is especially
useful when working with motion-capture data, or
other animation that has many keys.
Of course, you can also display and m anipulate
function cur ves for bipeds in the standard
3ds Max Track View and expanded track bar, as
well. However, you have access to the automatic
error-analysis tools only in the Workbench
The Animation Workbench displays rotation
cur ves in local biped space for both quaternion
and euler rotat ions. This improves the speed of
curvemanipulationsincethewholebipeddoesn’t
need to be calculated in order to draw a single
curve.
Note: This does not affect position curves, which
are still evaluated in world space.
Note: Cur ve display will only change for certain
objects in COM space: base of spine, neck,
clavicles, upper arms, upper thighs, and feet.
Procedures
To display the local rotation curve of an animated
spine link :
1.
Create a biped and select its upper spine link.
2. Setakeyatframe0.
3. Go to frame 10 and rotate the spine link
30 degrees in the local Z axis.
4. Open the animation workbench.