2009
TIP Physique skin deformation can slow down playback of your Biped animation.
To improve performance, you can hide the skin object temporarily or reduce its
resolution in the modifier stack.
You can also choose to develop Biped animations in a separate scene entirely,
and apply them to your final skinned character when you are satisfied with
your final motion.
A
biped on page 4147 character is essentially an integrated hierarchy of bones
that you can position freely using keyframes, IK goals, and footsteps. You can
position a biped character using all the rotation and transformation tools
found in 3ds Max.
Many of the 3ds Max coordinate systems can be used to position the biped.
Local coordinates are useful to move a limb along its axis (the local X axis is
always the axis along the biped limb); world coordinates are handy when
there is any confusion regarding which way is up. You can use world
coordinates as a home base. In 3ds Max, the world Z axis is always up.
NOTE Rotations always occur about the local axis.
Use Freeform Techniques
Biped provides a variety of methods for creating character motion easily. You
can use a purely traditional approach by manually creating keyframes in
freeform mode for different poses, letting the computer interpolate between
joint positions and IK goals.
Use a Footstep-Driven Technique
You can also choose a partially assisted approach by using footsteps and Biped
dynamics to help you create a default walk, run, or jump cycle. You can then
adjust the biped keyframes and footsteps individually.
When using footsteps,
biped dynamics on page 7923 helps you by simulating
gravity and balance.
■ Gravity can help in a jumping motion to accelerate a character during the
falling period and to bend the legs naturally on landing.
■ Balance enables retaining the character balance by adjusting its position
when the spine is rotated and keyframed.
■ Dynamics can be turned off on a per-key basis or for the entire animation.
The animator can override center of mass keyframes created using Dynamics
calculation at any time. Simply set the dynamic properties of these keys
Understanding character studio Workflow | 4143