2009

the biped jump higher or lower during airborne periods, see Freeform
Animation Between Footsteps
on page 4227.
Working with Existing Keys
Because keys are created for the spine, arms, and tail when footsteps are
activated, you will want to take care when creating new keyframes. As with
3ds Max animation, placing keyframes one or two frames apart creates jerking
or popping motions.
To avoid placing keyframes on upper body parts too close together, you can
do one of the following:
■
Turn on the 3ds Max Key Mode toggle, select the body part, and use
Next Key and Previous Key to move in time from one keyframe to another.
Animate only on existing keyframes.
■ Delete all the body part keys except the key at frame 0, and create entirely
new keys throughout the animation.
WARNING If you delete all keys, including the key at frame 0, be sure to set
a key at frame 0 before animating on other frames. character studio does not
automatically place a key at frame 0 when you animate on frames other than
0, as 3ds Max does.
Interdependencies Between Legs and Upper Body
When footstep animation is used, animation of the upper body and animation
of the legs are interdependent. Any time you change the position of the body's
center of mass, leg positions are automatically updated to ensure the feet still
move from footstep to footstep.
Interdependencies between the upper body and legs are updated after a key
has been set, sometimes causing the appearance of a pop in the leg position.
However, in playing the animation you will find the motion to be smooth.
When you set a leg key while the foot is on the ground, the location of the
foot is automatically recalculated based on the natural roll of the foot from
its point of initial contact with the ground. The pivot points are based on
collisions between the footstep plane, the two corners of the heel, and the
bones that connect the toes' links.
4210 | Chapter 17 character studio