2009

Clips are blended together to create the animation. Available states are speed,

acceleration, pitch, pitch velocity, heading velocity, or script (MAXScript).

Animation with Lateral Motion

For multi-legged creatures that walk, you can animate lateral motion as well

as the cyclic motion of the legs moving. This is done to ensure that the

creatures' feet do not slide as they move. The software then uses the lateral

motion information to create a state that perfectly matches the actual motion.

The software then strips the actual motion out. When a delegate approaches

the speed and heading recorded in that state, the appropriate motion clip is

triggered. This technique minimizes sliding feet.

Use the character studio crowd tools to create the initial motion for the

delegates. Use a seek or avoid behavior to steer birds, for example. Your object

with the loop animation is then copied and the copies are linked to the

delegates to create the complete animation. The delegate handles the path

and the clip controllers handle the looped animation.

You can create Master Motion Clip and Global Motion Clip in Track View by

assigning a controller to the available controller under Block Control. It is,

however, simpler to use the Crowd helper controls on the Global Clip

Controller rollout to apply and use the clip controllers.