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1170 Chapter 14: character studio
4.
On the Setup rollout (page 2–1188),click
Biped/Delegate Associations.
The Associate Bipeds with Delegates (page
2–1199) dialog appears.
5. Click Add under the Bipeds list, and choose the
bipeds to add to the list.
6. Click Add under the D elegates list, a nd choose
the delegates to asso ciate the bipeds with.
7. Turn on Set Delegates to Use Biped.
This will tur n on the Use Biped option for
each delegate, which is a requirement for biped
crowd simulations.
8. Choose Make Specified Associations to
associate each biped with its corresponding
delegate listed on the dialog. Alternatively,
choose Associate Delegates With Closest Biped
to associate each delegate with the biped nearest
to it in the scene.
9. Click Associate to make the associations, and
click Close.
Unlike regular objects, bipeds are not aligned
with delegates immediately. Each biped will
align with its respective delegate when the
simulation is solved.
Note: In order for a biped crowd simulation
to solve correctly, it must hav e a motion flow
network for the bipeds to follow. See Biped
Crowds (page 2–1172).
Cognitive Controller s
Youcanusethecognitivecontrollerfeatureto
cause crowd members to change behaviors during
a simulation depending on the circumstances. For
example, a character could wander randomly until
it comes within a certain distance of a target, at
which point it could head straight for the target.
In technical terms, cognitive controllers let
you influence crowd simulations with scripted
conditionals, effectively im plementing a form
of artificial intelligence. You use the Cognitive
Controller editor (page 2–1206),aflowchart-style
editor (much like the Motion Flow Graph dialog
(page 2–1045)) to set up a network of behaviors
and b ehavior combinations, known as states. Then
you then apply MAXScript-based transitions that
specify when delegates are to move from one state
to another. Even with a relatively simple setup, you
can c reate simulations that make your characters
appear to be living, conscious beings, making
decisionsastheymovethroughthescene.
You can find procedures describing various
examples of cognit ive-controller transitions in the
State Dialog (page 2–1207) topic:
Testing a particle system parameter (page 2–1209)
Test ing an obje ct p osi tion
Testing an atmospheric proper ty (page 2–1209)
Test ing t he dis tance b etw een two objects
Testing a modifier parameter
Testing another delegate’s behavior (page 2–1209)
Procedure
To set up a nd use a cognitive controller:
This procedure descr ibes a t ypical setup routine
for creating and using a cognitive controller. The
procedure assumes basic knowledge of crowd
simulation setup. For more information about
crowd setup, see Crowd Helper O b ject (page
2–1187) and Setup Rollout (page 2–1188).
1. Create a scene containing a crowd object and
one or more delegates. See Creating Crowd
Helpers (page 2–1157).
2. Create at least two behaviors. Se e Assigning
Behaviors (page 2–1159).