9

Expose Transform H elper 17
of different objects to it. When you rotate the
dummy, all of its linked children rotate with it. A
dummyisoftenusedthiswaytoanimatelinked
motion.
Another common usage of a dummy object is in
the animation of target cameras. You can create a
dummyandpositionatargetcamerawithinthe
dummy object. Then you c an l ink both the camera
and its target to the dummy, and animate the
dummy with a path constraint. The target camera
will follow the dummy along the path.
Dummy objects are always created as cubes. You
can change the propor tions of dummies by using
non-uniform scaling, but avoid this on dummies
that are within a hierarchical linkage; this can
introduce unexpected results.
Procedure
To create a dummy object:
• Click Dummy and drag a cube to any
convenient size.
Inter face
Dummy objects don’t have any parameter rollouts
or settings.
Expose Tra nsform Helper
Create menu > Helpers > Standard > ExposeTm
The Expose Transform helper exposes values of
non-keyed objects for use in expressions and
scripts. This lets riggers and animators access a
select set of transforms for an object, and between
an object and its p arent, such as a bone in an IK
chain.Forexample,usingtheExposeTransform
helper, you could write a script or use parameter
wiring that tests the angle of an charac ter’s
arm bone that’s controlled by IK (thus, has no
keys), and once it exceeds a specific value, rotate
the corresponding clavicle bone to deform the
shoulder area.
In the viewports, the Expose Transform helper
object looks just lik e a Point helper (page 2–23).
Procedure
To use the Transform helper:
1.
Click ExposeTm and choose the appearance
characteristics from the Display rollout.
2. Adjustthesizeofthehelperobjectbyusing
theSizespinnerontheDisplayrollout.
Default=20.0
3. Click anywhere i n your s cene to add the helper
object.
The helper object’s position has no bearing on
its functionality.
4. On the Modify panel > Parameters rollout,
click the Expose Node button (default label:
None) and select the object whose transform
values you want to expose.
Theobject’snameappearsonthebutton,and
its transform values appear in the fields on the
Expose Values rollout.
5. Optionally, turn off Parent and choose a Local
Reference Node object.
This option is used by the Local Euler Angles,
Distance To Reference, and Angle parameters.
If the object has no parent and you don’t specify
aLocalReferenceNodeobject,thesefieldsuse
theworldcenter(0,0,0)asthereferencenode.
6. To use a transform value in a script or
expression, first click the M button next to the
parameter value.
This copies the transform name, using
MAXScript notation, to the copy buffer.
7. Paste the contents of the buffer to your script
or expression.