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Knot 1055
an object that you specif y as a terminator for the
chain.
3ds Max automatically determines the kinematic
chain when you select and transform an object
w ith the IK button turned on.
Knot
A va lue in an arr ay or "knot vector" associated
with a NURBS curve. The k nots specify the region
of influence of the CVs on the curve. You can’t see
or directly alter knots.
Launch Scr ipt
A launch script is a MAXScript script that you
run from the command line with the -U switch,
instead of from the Utilities command panel.
Youusealaunchscripttorunbatchoperationsin
the software. For example, you might have a batch
rendering in which the script opens a sequence of
files, sets up shots in each, and renders them, all
w ithout using the user interface.
Layer Track
A Motion Mixer track for a series of motions that
do not require t r ansitions between them. Compare
with a
Transition track (page 3–1121) ,which
allows you to stack clips on top of one another
and to create automatic transitions between them.
When a biped is added to the Motion Mixer, it is
automatically assigned a Layer track. See
Adding
Tracks to the Mixer (page 2–583)
.
Layers
Layersareliketransparentoverlays,andallowyou
to organize and group different types of scene
information.Theobjectsyoucreatehavecommon
properties including color, visibility, renderability,
and display. An object can assume these properties
from the lay er on which y ou create it.
Yo u c a n a d j u s t l a y e r p r o p e r t i e s f r o m t h e
Layers
toolbar (page 3–735)
and the Layer Manager.
See also
Using Layers to Organize a Scene (page 3–704)
Layer Manager (page 3–706)
Layer Proper ties Dialog (page 3–711)
Layers (Biped)
The Layers (page 2–827) feature lets you add layers
of animation above the original biped animation.
This is a powerful way to make global changes
to your character animation. For example, by
adding a layer and rotating the spine forward at
any frame, a run cycle becomes a crouched run.
The original biped motion is kept intact and can
be v iewed by switching b ack to the original layer.
You c an view layers individually or as a composite
of the animation in all layers. Layers behave like
a freeform animation; the biped can adopt any
position.
Layers allow yo u to easily adjust raw motion
capture data, which contains keys at every frame.
You add a layer and keyf r ame the biped.
Layout M ode
Layout mode is active while the Auto Key button
(page 3–760)
and Set Key button (page 3–761)
are both turned off. While you are in Layout
mode, you can transform objects and sub-object s,
and change the values of animatable parameters,
without generating animation keys.