9

288 Chapter 12: Animation
through time and a center flyout for controlling
animation playback:
Go To Start (page 3–722)
Previous Frame/Key (page 3–723)
Play/Stop (page 3–723)
Next Frame/Key (page 3–724)
Go To End (page 3–724)
They work like VCR controls that you use to move
through f rames and to start and stop animation
playback.
Ch o o sin g a F ram e Rat e an d
Playback Speed
The frame rate of an animation is expressed in
frames per second (FPS). This is the number of
frames the sof tware displays and renders for every
second of real time.
Because the program stores your animation keys
using real t ime using an internal precision of
1/4800 of a second, you c an change the f rame rate
foryouranimationatanytimewithoutaffecting
your animation t iming.
For example, if you create three seconds of
animation using the NTSC video frame rate of 3 0
FPS,youwillhavea90-frameanimation.Ifyou
later discover you need to output to PAL video, at
25 fr ames per second, you can switch to that frame
rate, and your animation is now set to 75 frames of
output. No change in the timing of your animation
has o ccur red. Only the number of f rames that
3ds Max will display and render has changed .
Setting the Frame R ate
Yo u u s e t h e s e t t i n g s i n t h e Time Configuration
dialog (page 3–725) >FrameRategrouptoswitch
back and for th b e tween frame rates at any time.
NTSC: U.S. and Japanese v ideo standard of about
30 fr ames per second.
PAL: European video standard of 25 frames per
second.
Fi l m: Moviestandardof24framespersecond.
Custom: FrameratesetintheFPSparameter.
Configuring Animation Playback
You use settings in the Time Configuration dialog
(page 3–725) >Playbackgrouptospecifythe
playback sp eed, and the number of viewports that
play the animation.
Real Time: Animation plays at the selected
play back speed, skipping frames, if necessary, to
maintain the correct speed. Turn this off and the
animation will play every frame without trying to
maintain the correct speed. The different playback
speeds are also useful when using the Motion
Capture utilit y (page 2–655).
Active Viewport Only: Animation plays only
in the active viewport. Turn this off and the
animation wil l play in all four viewports at once.
Speed: Choose one of these options to multiply
the frame r ate by the selected speed.
Direction: When Real Time is off you have the
option to change the direction of the animation
play back. Choosing Reverse wi ll play the
animation from end to start. Choosing Pingpong
will play the animation from start to end, and then
end to start.
Loop: When Loop is turned off, the animation
will play once and stop.
Vi ewpor t Pl ayba ck S peed
Theabilityoftheprogramtoplayyouranimation
at a specified rate depends on many t hings,
including the complexity of the scene, the number
of objects moving in the scene, the geometry