9

Animation Utilities 653
Inter face
Load File—Loads a Motion Mixer file (.mix).
These files include the following, which display
in the Motion Mixer window when a MIX file is
loaded:
•
Tra ckgrou ps—Groups of tracks (page 3–1023)
for selected parts of the biped.
•
Tra cks—Layer t racks (page 3–961) and
transition tracks (page 3–1027) where clips and
transitions reside.
•
Clips—References to BIP animation files used
in the mix.
•
Tra nsi tions —Connect ions between clips on
transition tracks.
Note: LoadingaMIXfiledoesnotautomatically
open the Motion Mixer. Click Mixer on the Biped
Ap ps rollout to open the Motion Mixer and see
the loaded mix.
Save File—Saves the currently selected biped’s
mix in the Motion Mixer to a MIX file.
Animation Utilities
3ds Max provides a number of utilities, available
from the Utilities panel (page 3–778), to assist in
animating scenes:
• Follow/Bank Utilit y (page 2–653) is an
alternative to the Path constraint (page 2–398).
• MACUtilities Utility (page 2–665) lets you
convert an imported TRC motion (page 3–577)
into CSM format so you can map it onto a
biped.
• Camera Tracker Utility (page 2–667)
sy nchronizes a background by matching the
movement of a 3ds Max camera to a real
camera.
• Camera Tracker Utility (page 2–667)
sy nchronizes a background by matching the
movement of a 3ds Max camera to a real
camera.
• Dynamics Utility (page 2–686) generates
animation by simulating real-world physics.
• Skin Utilities (page 2–700) provide a method
for copying skin data (envelopes and vertex
weights) from one model to another.
Follow/Bank Utility
Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Utilities
dialog > Follow/Bank
The Follow/Bank utility applies rotation keys to
an object that already has a mot ion trajectory.
The sett ings are simi lar to those found in the Path
constraint. Use this when you have an object for
which you’ve already assigned motion and want
it to follow or bank along its trajectory, but don’t
want to use a Path constraint.
Theutilityalignstheobject’sXaxistothedirection
of motion. To change the orientation, change the