9

896 Chapter 14: character studio
2.
Select and rotate a single spine, neck, or tail
link. The other links in the spine, neck, or tail
rotate to match the single link’s rotation.
3. On the B end L inks rollout, turn on Twist
Links Mode.
4. Rotate the link in local X. The other links in the
spine, neck, or tai l twist properly to match the
single link’s rotation in X.
Tip: You can use Bend Links mode either to pose
thebipedortoanimatethespine,neck,ortail
while in Key frame mode (page 3–960).
Tip: You can also use the other Twist Links tools
in the Bend Links rollout (page 2–952) to further
control the links’ rotation.
Usi ng Control ler s
character studio lets you add 3ds Max controllers
tothebipedobjecttracks. Thisallowsyouto
mix the biped animation with standard 3ds Max
animation techniques.
Why Add Controllers
Addingcontrollerstobipedbodypartslets
you create animation that is difficult to do with
character studio alone. For example, you can
create “stretchy” cartoon arm or leg animation by
adding a Scale controller to animate the bipeds
arms and legs. You could make a character shak ing
by using a Noise controller for its limb rotations or
foraScalecontrolleronthespineobjectstomake
a character breathing. An Audio controller could
be used to synchronize movement with s ound.
Biped SubAnims
Different cont rollers can be added together,
blended or sequenced in a list called a Biped
SubAnim. Thesearethesameastheweighted
list controllers in 3ds Max. By animating the
controller weights you can increase or decrease the
effects of the different controllers. You can enable,
disableorcollapsethelistcontrolleranimation
tracks. If you collapse the track, you can then
bring them into the Motion Mixer , Motion Flow,
orLayereditororexportthemtoagameengine.
Note: Biped SubAnims exhibits different behaviors
based on whether you assign a controller or a
constraint as the SubAnim. A SubAnim with
a controller assigned will layer the controller
animation with the existing biped animation. If
you use a constraint, however, this will replace the
existing Biped Animation.
Tip: SubAnims are best used when combined
w ith freeform animation. You can use them with
footstep animations but you may experience
unexpected results. If this happens, simply convert
the footstep animation to freeform before applying
the SubAnims.
Assigning SubAnims
BipedSubAnimscanbeappliedseveraldifferent
ways. You can assign controllers to the Biped
SubAnim in the Assign Controller (page 2–934)
rollout of the Motion panel.
Controllers can also be added in the Animation
Workbench (page 2–1012) using the Controller
button to display the controller list. Right-click
and choose Assign Controller from the rig ht-click
menu. You can assign controllers to multiple
objectsbyusingtheSubAnimsfilter.
Procedures
To ad d a controller to a biped object:
1.
Select the biped object that you want to control,
and set a key for that object.
2. In the Motion panel, expand the Assign
Controller rollout.
The Biped SubAnim entry is displayed in the
list window.