9

868 Chapter 14: character studio
Note:
State names appear only on footsteps that
have been previously activated. If active footsteps
have been deact ivated and edited, the state names
that appear will correspond to states the legs were
in before deactivation. For this reason, leg states
displayed between deactivation and reactivation
might not be accurate.
Regardless of the footstep pattern, activating
footsteps will a lways cause leg keys to be generated
at each lift and touch frame. Although you can
alter these keys to some degree by going to a
touch or lif t keyframe, turning on Auto Key and
changing the leg positions or rotations, you cannot
delete these keys.
To change the foot/leg animation after footsteps
are activated, seeAnimating Legs and Feet (page
2–874) and Adjusting Body Keys in Track View
(page 2–875).
Body Keys
When foosteps are act ivated, keys are also
generated for the center of mass (COM) object, the
blue tetrahedron at the center of the biped’s pelvis.
The position and rotation of the COM determines
the horizontal and vertical position of the biped
body, as well as its rotation.
Unlikeotherbipedpartsor3dsMaxobjects,the
COMhasthreeseparateanimationtracks,two
for motion and one for rotation. You select these
tracks by clicking the appropriate button on the
Track Selection rollout (page 2–945):
•
Body Horizontal
•
Body Vertical
•
BodyRotation(displayskeysfortheBody
Turning track)
Keys for these tracks are generated automatically
when you activate footsteps. You can v iew the
keys for each t rack on the Track Bar by turning off
Footstep Mode and clicking the corresponding
button listed above. These tracks are also visible in
Track View’s Dope Sheet mode.
Note: When you select the COM, only the keys
corresponding to the selected track are displayed.
If you select the COM and do not select a track,
no keys are displayed on the Track Bar, even if
the COM is animated. You can find out which
COM track is selected by checking the status of the
buttons displayed above. When a button is turned
on, the track is selected.
You can animate the C OM or change existing keys
after footsteps are activated. To change COM keys
after footsteps are activated, seeAn imating the
Upper Body (page 2–874) and Adjusting Body Keys
in Track View (page 2–875).
Editing Footstep Motion
Thetopicsinthissectiondealwiththeeditingof
footstep motion when animating bipeds. They are:
Editing Footstep Placement (page 2–869)
Editing Footstep Timing (page 2–869)
Editing Active Footsteps (page 2–871)
Splicing Footsteps (page 2–872)
Animating Legs and Feet (page 2–874)
Animating the Upper Body (page 2–874)
Adjusting Body Keys in Track View (page 2–875)
Shifting the Biped’s Balance (page 2–876)
Adjusting Vertical Motion (page 2–878)
Saving Footstep Animation (page 2–882)