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930 Chapter 14: character studio
In Place Mode
Create or select a biped. > Motion pane l > Biped rollout
> Expand rollout > Modes group > In Place b u tton on In
Place flyout
In Place mode (page 3–956) allows you to display
biped motion as if it were occurring on a treadmill.
Regardless of the distance the biped covers under
control of the current motion file, the biped st ays
within the active viewport when you’ve tur ned on
In Place Mode.
In Place playback prevents lateral (XY) movement
of the biped center of mass during animation
playback; vertical motion along the Z-axis is
preserved.Bipedlimbs,footsteps,andcenterof
masskeyscanbeadjustedinthismode.When
thecenterofmassismovedontheXYaxesinthis
mode, the footsteps move.
Use this feature to view biped playback without
requiring a follow camera. In this viewing mode,
visible footsteps appear to slide under the biped.
For export to games, this feature is valuable,
as many game engines intelligently move the
character’s center of mass laterally according to
game play. In Place mode makes it easy to view,
tune, and export animation in a manner that is
complementarytogameengineplayback.
Note: Trajectories do not display using In Place
mode.
InPlaceModeOptions
The In Place Mode button is the default button on a
three-button flyout. There are two further options:
•
In Pla ce X Mode—Locks center of mass
X-axis motion. Use this for game export where
the character stays in place but the swinging
motion of the hips and upper body along the
Y-axis is preserved.
• In Place Y Mode—Locks center of mass
Y-axis motion. Use this for game export where
the character stays in place but the swinging
motion of the hips and upper body along the
X-axis is preserved.
Using I n Pl ace Mode to Ad just K ey f ra mes
InPlaceModeisagoodwaytoadjustkeysona
biped t hat already has anim ation applied to it.
Rather than scrolling the view at different frames
tokeeparunningbipedvisible,turnonInPlace
Mode.Nowwhenyouscrubthetimeslider,oruse
the Next Key and Previous Key buttons, the biped
remainsvisible.Akeythatneedsadjustmentcan
be quickly spotted and corrected.
Tip: Judging lateral center-of-mass motion using
InPlacemodeisdifficult.InPlacemodelimits
center-of-mass motion on the XY axes; all sense
of body momentum on these axes is suspended
duringplayback. YoumightwanttoturnoffIn
Place playback to gain a sense of lateral momentum
when setting or adjusting hor izontal keys (Body
Horizontal Track) for the center of mass.
Procedure
To use I n Place mode to adjust key fra mes:
1.
Select a biped that has animation, and
go to the Motion panel.
2. On the Biped rollout, click
the bar at the bottom to expand the rollout.
(If the rollout is a lready expanded, the bar
showsaminussignattheleft,insteadofaplus.)
3. In the Modes group , click In Place Mode
to turn it on.
4. At the bottom of the3ds Max window,
turn on Auto Key.