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638 Chapter 12: Animation
transition. For the destination clip, this option
freezes the biped at the End Frame position. If
Fixes is chosen for both the source a nd destination
clips, the transition is a gradual interpolation from
one frozen pose to another.
Set Start Frame—Copies the value in the Frame
fieldoftheGhostareatotheStartFramefieldin
theCliparea.Thepositionofthedestinationclip
changes to ma t ch the biped body in the destination
cliptothebipedbodyinthesourceclip.
Locate an appropriate start frame for the source
and destination clips by using the Frame spinner
and viewing the positions of both stick figures,
then click Set Start Frame.
The destination clip is rotated and positioned
to match both bipeds. Use the Angle spinner to
reorient the destination clip.
Fr ame—UsetheFramespinnertoscrubastick
figure back and forth, which al lows you to
determine a start frame for the source and
destination clips. Visual feedback of the stick
figures is a good way to judge which start frames
are needed for the source and dest ination clips.
Mixer Transition Editor Dialog
(Non-B iped Obj ect)
GraphEditorsmenu>MotionMixer... >Selecta
non-biped object clip transition. > Motion Mixer menu
bar > Transitions > Edit
The Mixer Transition Editor controls transitions
(page 3–1027) on transition tracks (page 3–1027).
Youcanusethisdialogtochangethestartandend
times of transitions, change the transition focus,
and perform other functions. Mix t ransition blend
objects are changeable from clip to clip, and any
new transition that results from cloning or adding
clips initially uses the blend options from the last
clip in time.
Theoptionsonthisdialogaremuchthesameas
for Bipeds, except that:
• Mix transitions for 3ds Max objects do not have
ghosting or playback controls.
• You can explicitly pick blend objects from any
object being mixed in the tr ack.
• The sub-blend capability provides further
tuning of the transition.
B lendi ng a nd S ub-Blend ing
Consider a character walking around a corner.
The trajectory of the character’s root describes
an arc, while the IK feet cycle along the ground.
This clip contains a few footsteps, and is u sed to
make a mixer cycle that should take the character
around in a circle. If you set the root and the feet
alltobevelocityblends,thetransitionwillresult
in the root continuing a round the corner while
the feet continue in w hatever direction they were
mov ing at transition time! That is, if the right foot
wasjustabouttohitthegroundwithitsheel,thus
pointing up a bit, it would transition upward into
the next cl ip instead of blending in the direction
that the root’s arc is taking. If you set the root
to b e a velocit y blend and then set the feet to be
sub-blends of the root, the t ransition results in the
root continuing on its arc around the corner but
w ith the feet blending in relation to it. That is, the
upward-pointing right foot motion will blend with
the foot motion in the new clip but in the direction
of the arc, not in its own upward direction.