2009

Use the Motion Mixer to Mix Animations
You can use the
Motion mixer on page 3699 to combine motions on a biped.
For example, you could combine a walking motion with a cheering motion,
and cause the biped to walk while cheering.
Use Motion Flow to Combine Animations
After you have created and modified various animation sequences, and stored
them in biped motion files (BIP format), you can use
Motion Flow mode on
page 4545 to combine various motion files into longer animations that can be
quickly previewed and edited. Motion Flow mode automatically places the
animations end-to-end, allowing you to mix and match both freeform and
footstep-driven motion files. Transitions between successive motions are
automatically created for you, to provide a first-pass blending between
overlapping frames of animation.
The Motion Flow transitions use
velocity interpolation on page 8164 to create
seamless transitions between clips. You can use the
Transition Editor on page
4558 to modify a variety of blending parameters, including transition start frame,
length, and angle between clips.
Refining Your Character
Great character animation is the result of many refinements that tune the
overall personality of your character. You will find the need to refine
progressively both the skinning behavior and the animation timing of your
character. Biped and Physique make this iteration process straightforward by
using the 3ds Max modifier stack and undo methods.
In addition, the ability of Biped to map motions between characters makes it
easy to interchange great animations with existing characters, and tune their
behaviors to achieve true integration of motion with character motivation
and personality.
Use Crowds to Animate Groups of Characters
Once you've created animation sequences for characters or other models (such
as a bird flapping its wings), you can replicate the models or characters and
apply the motions to these groups using the
Crowd system on page 4761. You
can also combine them with a wide range of supplied behaviors to create
lifelike activities in crowds, such as people streaming through a doorway,
street traffic, or birds and fish flocking and avoiding obstacles. You can use
Motion Flow mode to create motion clip networks. These allow characters to
perform animation sequences appropriate to their current movement and
4146 | Chapter 17 character studio