9

Animation Concepts 277
The frames marked 1,2, and 3 are key frames. The other frames
are tweens.
The 3ds M ax Method
This program is your animation assistant. As the
master animator, you create the keyframes that
record the beginning and end of each animated
sequence. The values at these keyframes are called
keys. The software calculates the interpolated
values b e tween each key to produce the completed
animation.
3ds Max can animate just about any parameter in
your scene. You can animate mo difier parameters,
suchasaBendangleoraTaperamount,material
parameters, such as the color or transparency of
an object, and much more.
Once you have specified your animation
parameters, the renderer takes over the job of
shading and rendering each frame. The result is a
high-quality animation.
The object’s position at 1 and 2 are the keyframed models
at different times. The computer generates the in-betwe en
frames.
Compar i ng Fra mes a nd T ime
Traditional animation methods, and early
computer animation programs, are rigidly locked
to the concept of producing animation frame by
frame. This is okay if you always work in a single
format or do not need to specify an animated
effect at a precise time.
Unfortunately, animation comes in many formats.
Two of the more common formats are film at 24
frames per second (FPS) and NTSC video (page
3–980) at 30 FPS. Also, the need for accurate
time-based animation versus frame-based
animationiscriticalasanimationbecomesmore
common for scientific and legal presentation.