2009

Parts to Analyze These options choose which parts to analyze:
■ Display Curve Part When this is turned on, the curve displayed is
analyzed.
■ Selected Parts When this is turned on, the parts selected in the list or
viewport are analyzed. Use this when you want to analyze an entire biped
without displaying all of the curves in Curve View.
Time to Analyze Sets the range to be analyzed. You can choose either:
■ Entire Animation Analyzes the entire animation.
NOTE This is independent of the active 3ds Max time segment.
■ Active Time Segment Choose this to use the active time segment, as set
by the 3ds Max Time Configuration dialog.
■ From / To These values let you specify a range with a particular start and
end frame.
Analyzers group
Analyzers drop-down list Lets you choose which analyzer will be used to
evaluate the curves. Each analyzer can present its own individual settings. The
default choices are Noise Detector and Spike Detector.
■ Noise Detector Finds any large change in the animation, either rotational
or positional as determined by the standard deviation value. Can operate
on specific curves as determined by the selection in the Property drop-down
list, regardless of what’s currently visible in the Workbench.
NOTE It's important to understand that noise isn't always bad. For example,
in an animation of a person waving his hand, then suddenly punching: the
movement from the wave to the punch, plus the pullback from the punch
might be analyzed as noise, but it is noise that you want. The Workbench will
identify the magnitude of these changes by showing you the acceleration and
the jerk curves. By being selective with the fixers, you can smooth out only
what you want to improve, and maintain the rest.
■ Spike Detector Finds any large change in the animation that also contains
a change in direction (in quaternion space or position space). Can operate
on all curves in the animation, regardless of what’s currently visible in the
Workbench. The analysis can be adjusted for Standard Deviation, which
is the degree to which the animation departs from its overall pattern.
4496 | Chapter 17 character studio