2009

direction (Update). Changes to existing wires are only applied when you click
Update.
Disconnect The Disconnect button is enabled when you’ve
selected parameters with an existing wire between them. It will remove the
wire controller(s) and replace them with the Master parameter’s animation
track (if two-way) or with default controllers (if one-way).
Master parameters
The Parameter Wire system provides a way for the pair of wired parameters
to be animated as a single system. It does this by setting up a subcontroller
on one of the parameters; any animation on this controller drives the Wire
Controller pair. The animation subcontroller is always assigned to the master
parameter of the wired pair. By default, this is the parameter that is clicked
first in the wiring interaction. The master parameter can also be designated
with the Master radio buttons beneath the tree views.
The animation subcontroller appears as a nested track inside the master
parameter’s track in Track View and its values directly drive and match the
master parameter values. If the subcontroller is keyframable (which is the
default when a two-way wiring is first established) it can be keyframed by
adjustments of either of the wired parameters. This means that if you keyframe
the wired pair by adjusting the non-master parameter, the values keyframed
into the animation subcontroller are derived from the master parameter transfer
expression. Since the wired pair can be animated through either parameter,
the choice of master parameter is essentially just a convention.
Transfer Expression boxes
Underneath the parameter trees are the transfer expression text boxes. These
expressions determine how changes to each parameter affect the other and
are usually inverses of one another.
For more information on expression syntax, see the topic “Script Controllers”
in the MAXScript Reference.
When the parameters are first wired, the default expressions are simple 1-to-1
links between the parameters. These expressions can be edited into any valid
script fragment that will yield a result of the correct type for its parameter.
For example, if you link a parameter such as height (which contains a float
value) to a parameter such as position (which contains a point3 value), your
expressions must include conversions that produce the same output value
type.
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