3D Animation. Key Frame Animation 40374C

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1 3D Animation 40374C

2 3D Animation About the author Catherine Grundy is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton for the Computing, Mathematics and Information Sciences department, teaching Web Design principles. She previously taught at the University of Westminster and was course leader of an MA in Computer Games Graphics. Primary research interests have been directed towards Human Computer Interaction and studies in perception for art and design disciplines. She has also been academic leader for a knowledge transfer partnership with a leading London-based Design Consultancy. This is a high profile, government funded research activity linking academia with industry. She has also gained funding for the development of a web-based interactive gallery illustrating visual communication techniques and how they can improve usability. Product Manager: Stuart Gibson Design & Layout: Alex Miller Published by: ICS Ltd First Floor Skypark 5 45 Finnieston St Glasgow G3 8JU Version C

3 Learning Outcomes Describe the basic principles of key frame animation and the difference between Auto Key and Set Key methods Demonstrate an understanding of the different things that can be animated by producing a brief animated scene for each Use the Track Bar to clone, move, edit and delete keys Modify the timing of an animation Use the Track View-Dope Sheet and Curve Editor to improve animations Use Constraints to guide the motion of a model train, created in Unit 2, around a path Perfect the motion of the train wheels using a Controller C 3

4 3D Animation Course Route Map STUDY PERIOD A Background and Basic Principles of Animation 40374B Creating Basic Models 40374C STUDY PERIOD D Materials, Cameras, Lighting & Rendering 40374E Modelling Organic Objects STUDY PERIOD F Animating a Character 40374G Advanced Animation Techniques C

5 Contents Learning Outcomes 3 Course Route Map 4 Introduction 7 1 What Can We Animate? 9 2 The Nature of Key Frames 11 Using Set Key 3 Working with Keys on the Timeline 19 4 Using the Dope Sheet 27 5 Using the Curve Editor 31 6 Animation Controllers 39 Constraints Bibliography 49 Formative Assessment / C 5

6 3D Animation C

7 Introduction In this Unit we begin to get an understanding of the primary tools for animating in 3DS Max, using key frame techniques. First of all we consider the kind of things we can animate; these can vary from the geometry of an object to changes of lighting in a room. Then we move on to the two main key framing methods. We have already experimented with Auto Key, which allows us to create keys automatically when we change an aspect of our scene. We will contrast this with the Set Key method, where keys are created manually, and demonstrate the superior flexibility of using this technique. The next step will be to consider some of the more advanced tools that allow us to perfect our sequence, for example the Dope Sheet and Curve Editor. Finally, we come to two concepts that help to automate our work: Controllers, which are particular algorithms that store information about key frames and how the animation should behave between them, and Constraints; which add specific limitations to the transformation of our objects C 7

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9 1 What Can We Animate? The elements we can animate for a 3D model closely follow the series of processes we can use to modify our geometry that we went through in sequence for Unit 2. We can, for example, animate : parameters of an object that make up its form, i.e. the radius of a sphere, or the number of segments appearing. Shortly we will use this to make a blinking eye lid. modifiers; we will animate the bent box we created earlier and, later, make the Flowers we created in Unit 2 sway in the wind using a bend modifier. transformations i.e. movement, rotations and scaling. Earlier we moved an eye ball to create an animation and shortly we will use the non-uniform scale transformation to make it squash realistically. Besides changes to the object or character s model we can also animate its surface properties. We haven t yet covered materials, but it is possible to change the appearance of a surface over time by animating the properties of the material assigned to it. Similarly we can make changes in lighting over time and also particles. We could actually keep of all our objects exactly as they are and instead animate the view we have of them using a moving camera. This is usually described as a walk through or a fly through, depending on the viewer s perspective. Now we know what can be animated, we need to look more closely at the tools we use to create our changes over time. You might also find it useful to download the following jargon-buster to help you define some of the terms you will soon encounter: ftp://ftp.futurenet.co.uk/pub/arts/glossary.pdf 40374C 9

10 3D Animation Reading Animation Tools In Unit 2 we had a brief look at the interface of 3DS Max and this included the visible animation tools. Read your textbook to get a brief overview and reminder of the main features before we start our next scene. Read 3DS Max Revealed by Dutton and Doran, Chapter 1, Lesson 5 pages 1-32 to The main tools we will be using initially are shown below: The animation tools to the bottom right of the 3DS Max interface, including key commands to the left and playback controls to the right. The Track Bar visible at the bottom of the view port area, showing the timeline in frames for an animation C

11 2 The Nature of Key Frames An animation, by its very nature, illustrates changes occurring in a scene over time. The default way of measuring out the time span for a particular animation in 3DS Max, uses frames, shown along the timeline at the bottom of the programme. In Unit 1 we noted that a key frame identifies a point during an animation where something changes. A better way to consider a key frame is as a start or endpoint of a transition; they are the significant frames of a sequence. The distance between key frames, i.e. the number of normal frames in between, will indicate the time over which the transition takes place. A large number of frames indicate a longer transition. The following link is helpful in understanding the concept of key frame animation: There are two main ways of animating using key frames in 3DS Max. The first is using Auto Key where keys are created automatically when changes are made to a scene. The second is the Set Key method, which may be slower to implement, but gives an animator more control over the process. Most professional animators will use Set Key methods due to an increased ability to specify the properties of objects being animated. This method also allows key frames to be added where a transformation or change does not occur. We will illustrate important differences over the next series of exercises. First of all we will revisit Auto Key methods and consider three of the things we can animate: object parameters, modifiers and transforms. Activity 1 Animate object parameters with Auto Key There is a fun exercise included in Chapter 6, Lesson 1, starting on page 1-14 of, of your textbook, 3DS Max Revealed by Dutton and Doran. It involves animating blinking eyes for the pilot of a toy plane. You will need to follow the instructions in the textbook with regard to downloading the exercise files required. The example changes the slice settings of the eyelid spheres to achieve the blinking effect. If you don t remember what a slice is, review the last Unit section on creating a sphere C 11

12 3D Animation Activity 2 Animate a modifier using Auto Key We will now apply movement to the Bend modifier you applied earlier to create a Bent Box Open up the file you created in the last unit where you used a modifier to bend a box, or create a new one for practice The modifier has already been applied, so your work is cut out for you. Press the Auto Key button Pull the time slider to Frame 30 In the modifier panel, where the angle for the bend is specified, change the value to 0 (i.e. no bend) Change the value at frame 60 to 90 degrees again. Turn off Auto Key and play your animation. The last few frames are superfluous and the box doesn t do anything. We would like the animation to stop at frame 60. We can use the Time configuration panel to change this. Press the button that looks like this: In the End Time entry box add the value 60 and click OK. The animation now spans out over only 60 frames. We will understand more about how we make changes to our animation timings with this panel later C

13 Activity 3 Animate a transform with Auto Key for a squishy eyeball Lets put animating a transform into practice with our eyeball animation. We will apply a non-uniform scale to the ball shape over time. Open up eyeball01.max that you created earlier, or the one provided for you on the CD in the Unit 3 folder. Click on the Auto Key button. It should illuminate red. Drag the slider to frame 20 as before. This should be the position where it impacts with the ground. Click and hold down the Scale button on the Main toolbar. Move the mouse down to select the Squash tool (nonuniform scale) as in the picture. You should see the transform gizmo appear Place the mouse over the vertical axis, which should be labelled Z. If it isn t labelled Z don t worry. It might be that your view setting is not set to the same type, but this does not matter for now. Choose the vertical gizmo axis anyway and click and drag down on it until you see the ball squish. You might also need to use the move tool to realign the ball with the ground in the left view. Play the animation or scrub the timeline to see the result. Save your file with Save As and clicking the +sign creating Eyeball02.max Note: The sequence doesn t look quite right, because 3DS Max naturally assumes that the change from perfectly round to squashed will morph over the period between frame 0 to frame 20. Seeing this for yourself might help you to understand the principles behind the way that 3DS Max animates. To correct this problem we need to know more about Set Key methods C 13

14 3D Animation Video Animating Transforms For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Eye Squish.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Using Set Key To correct the eyeball problem, we need to use Set Key methods. The main advantages are that keys can be added without a change being required and that you can specify which parameters of an object you are changing. Before we start you should read more about the technique to clarify the difference. Reading Set Key Methods Read about Set Key methods in your textbook 3DS Max Revealed by Dutton and Doran, Chapter 6, Lesson 2, pages 2-18 to Pay particular attention to the ability to filter keys. You can also do the exercises on page 20 and 21 to reinforce these ideas C

15 Activity 4 Using Set Keys to make the eyeball squish Let s contrast our earlier attempt with using Set Key to specify some key frames without making changes. We can use this method to correct the timing problems we had with our squishy eyeball. Remember there are two different keys, one to start the Set Key mode and the Key button that actually creates the key frame. Open the original unchanged eyeball01.max. Select your eyeball and press the space bar to lock your selection. This avoids selecting the surrounding scenery during animating. Switch on Set Key mode by pressing the button Pull the Time slider along to the frame just before it impacts with the ground (should be frame 19) and click on the Key icon to set a key in that position Pull it further, to the frame three frames after the impact (frame 23) and click on the Key icon again You have now specified two points where the original fully round shape of the eye will persist. Although key frames have been added no change is stored in the information for these points C 15

16 3D Animation Now click on the key frame (20) where it does impact with the ground and add your squash transformation as before Click on the Key button once more to seal in those properties Click the Set Key mode button to stop animating Play the timeline using the Control panel Save the work as eyeball02.max to replace the other version. Your animation should look a lot more realistic now. Video Eye squash with Set Key Mode For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Eye Set Key.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Reading Xform Modifier You can also achieve the squash effect using a modifier which is added to the modifier stack and therefore can be effectively removed at any time. Read about the advantages of this in your textbook, Harnessing 3DS Max, Ross and Bousquet on page C

17 Activity 5 Using Set Key: Rotate the eyeball This activity should give you more practice at working with Set Key, which is useful as it takes a little time to get used to it. We will also add a Filter to the Keys. With your eyeball file still open, Click the Key Filters button Deselect the IK parameters box. This means that only keys for Position, Rotation and Scale will be set. Activate Set Key mode Place the time slider over frame 1 if it isn t already On the main toolbar choose the rotate tool and right click to open the dialogue box. In the absolute field add 20 degrees to both the X and Y fields Click on the key icon to set the parameters Move the Time Slider over the final frame, 40 In the Rotate dialogue box, change the absolute angle to 60 in both X and Y Turn off Set Key mode 40374C 17

18 3D Animation Play your animation to see the results Save as eyeball03.max using the plus sign in the Save As dialogue. Video Rotating Eyeball For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Eye Rotate.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder C

19 3 Working with Keys on the Timeline There are a lot of fundamental changes we can make to an animation, just by working with the Track Bar and editing the key frames appearing on it. To introduce you to more advanced ways of working with Keys, and to review the results of your activities, we will consider two more useful features on the Max interface. We have the Motion Panel, which is situated within the Command Panel; this will be very useful from now on for more complex animations. Within the panel, we have a button to toggle on Trajectories; a useful visual tool to get feedback about animation timings. Note: You need to have the animated object selected in a view port window for its keys to be revealed. Start by toggling on the Trajectories button in the Motion Panel and note the representation provided of the eyeball bounce C 19

20 3D Animation Moving a Key We do this by clicking on a key to select it (it turns white) and then dragging it to the new position. This will increase or reduce the time between significant changes, depending on which direction you move it. If there is an increase of space between key frames, the animation will be longer. Try this now: Track Bar: Select the eyeball to reveal the key frames. Move the key frame that represents the bounce point for your eyeball (at 20) to the left and right on the Track Bar and note the results when you play back. Trajectory: Check the eyeball is still selected and the Trajectory button is still highlighted. In the Motion Panel, press the sub object button next to the Selection level title. This allows you to modify the key frames interactively. In the view port, click on one of the larger white squares that represent the key frames, move them to a different position. Scrub along the Time slider to see how the position changes of the key frames have influenced the animation. Deleting a Key You do this by selecting it and pressing [Delete] Try this now: Select the second key frame on the Track Bar for your eyeball and hit delete. Note the results on playback. Deleting a Key Value Note that it is not always necessary to delete a whole key. You may just wish to delete certain values from it. For example, you might wish to delete any changes in position you have made in one particular axis. You need to right click the key on the Track Bar, navigate down to Delete Key and then choose the X, Y or Z position. You will still retain any changes that were made in the two other axes. Try this now: Remove the rotation in the X axis from your eyeball animation and play the result C

21 Copying a Key Sometimes you want to have exactly the same properties for the object, in two different places along the timeline. You can achieve this by cloning the Key on the Track Bar. Press and hold shift while you drag the key frame to the new location This time, don t save the changes you make to the eyeball. Video Key Edits For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Key Edits.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Activity 6 Animate a Modifier and Edit Keys: Flowers blowing in the wind. In the following exercise we will again apply animation to a modifier, and work with editing keys. The exercise will also help to recap on working in the modifier stack at sub object level. It also includes another interesting technique; we will animate all the elements of the flower so that they move together, without grouping them. This is possible because we add the same modifier across all the individual models and they behave as one. Note: Make sure you check that the Key Filter dialogue has Modifiers ticked. This is important for Set Key methods, otherwise your animation will not be saved. Open up the flower4mod.max file in the folder for Unit 3. In the Front view, select all of the flower elements using the Control and simultaneously pressing A. This selects all objects in the scene. We will use a bend modifier to make the flower appear to sway in the wind. You do this by clicking on the Modifier list drop-down menu in the Modifier Panel and choosing bend with all elements still selected. (recap this in Unit 2 if you don t remember how this is done.) 40374C 21

22 3D Animation Note that after you deselect all objects, whatever individual element of the flower you subsequently pick on, a bend modifier has been added to its stack Press H and choose mainstem from the list. Check the bend modifier has been applied Pick View coordinates in the View area on the main tool bar Toggle on Set Key Press the key to set an initial frame at frame 0 Move the slider to 20 In the modifier roll-out for the bend, add a bend of 60 degrees and select the Z axis radio button Press the key to set a key frame Zoom out to see the whole flower The flower distorts a little oddly and it moves away from the ground and doesn t look rooted. We need to change the central point for the bend before we create the effect. Turn off Set Key mode In the modifier panel, click the plus sign next to the Bend modifier and select the word: Centre, it should highlight yellow. With select and move on the main tool bar. Move the centre for the bend down and to the left until it coincides with the point where our flower leaves the ground. It should appear like the illustration. Note: because you turned off Set Key animation the change in Centre applied to the object all along the timeline, otherwise it would have just applied to the current key frame. Turn on Set Key mode again Use the sub object level of the Bend modifier again to move the gizmo this time until you are happy with the bend and the flower does not look distorted. Then press the key again C

23 Click on the word Bend again at the top of the modifier stack so that all becomes grey (remember you can t select and work with other objects if you don t come out of the sub object level). Rewind and play the animation. The flower bends correctly now to the right but does not move back into position again, after the wind has blown it. Select the first key and hold down shift and drag to make a copy of it to the right and move it to position 40. You can choose instance as the copy type. When you play the animation, it should sway forwards and back. It then pauses for a few frames after the animation. Video Flowers blowing in the wind For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Daisy Edit.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Multiple Keys It is also possible to work with several keys at once. For this you have to click and drag a selection region over the desired keys on the Track Bar. You could move multiple keys by dragging them along, as for a single key, but different techniques are also possible, using what is called a Selection Range Bar beneath the Track Bar. To reveal it, right click on the Track Bar and choose Configure then Show Selection Range. You can then move the bar itself to move all the keys at once. You can also change the scale of that particular section of the animation; there are squares on the end of the Bar that you can drag. As you do so you will note a triangular arrow appearing and all of the keys selected will move, except the one at the opposite end. As you move them closer or further away they will retain exactly the same proportion of frames between the keys but the whole animation will be longer or shorter C 23

24 3D Animation Try this now: For your flower file, copy the bend key frame at frame 20 by shift dragging it to the right to make a copy at frame 30. This makes the wind look more as if it has gusted the flower for longer. Play the animation Drag to select the final two frames Activate Show selection range by right clicking the toolbar and selecting Configure (if its not already on) Drag the bar to the right and view the results. Editing Key Properties We can change the properties of a key frame using a dialogue box that describes them in more detail; you right click on the key on the Main Track Bar and then click the parameter for which you want the information details. This can be quite difficult to find if there are a lot of parameters available. The same information appears in the Motion Panel, too and this dialogue allows you to create keys as well as delete them. Open up eyeball03.max again In the Motion Panel, toggle Parameters on rather than Trajectories Toggle the position button on at the bottom of PRS Parameters if it isn t already on (rather than in the Create Key or Delete Key areas above it! ) You may need to expand it. Choose the Z Position axis button, in the Position XYZ rollout. You may need to expand it In the Key Info area (again you may need to expand it) use the left and right arrows to view the information about the Z position for the series of key frames. Note that these are key frames and not just frame positions C

25 Pull the Time slider along the Track Bar to position 35 In the Create Key section press the Position button to make a new key frame Change the value to 80 Note that the eyeball bounces a little higher before it goes off stage. You have probably noticed by now that creating a perfect animation can be quite fiddly and may require a lot of iteration. That means going back over your work and making a series of modifications to the original version until it looks the way you want it to. We can categorise the activities that need to be performed into two main areas changing timings changing parameters 3DS Max has a variety of different ways of achieving these tasks and we need to understand more about them. It will at first appear confusing, because there are many different ways of doing the same thing. However, with experience you will become familiar with which methods are better for a particular situation and also the way that you prefer to work. Timing We considered the fact that we can quickly change some properties about the timing of an animation, by simply adjusting the keys on the Track Bar. However, there are lots of more sophisticated ways of adjusting timings for the whole animation. You also need to understand the concept of appropriate frame rates when your animations are likely to be used for different media. For example the standard frame rate for video in the UK is 25 frames per second (fps). Animations for the Web, however, might only run at 12 fps. 3DS Max, incidentally, uses 30 frames per second as its default frame rate, which is only appropriate for making films for the United States! To modify these settings, we need to look at the Time Configuration panel accessed by the button to the bottom right of the interface, as signified by the clock symbol C 25

26 3D Animation Reading Configure animation timing Your textbook 3DS Max Revealed by Dutton and Doran has a good section on this subject; Lesson 3 of Chapter 6 starts on page 6-22 until page 6-31, You can also do the exercises to help your understanding C

27 4 Using the Dope Sheet The Track View-Dope Sheet allows you to change both the timings and parameters of your scene elements using one interface. The Dope Sheet gives you a picture of all of the key frames within your animation laid out in a spreadsheet-style presentation. To use it, click Graph Editors on the menu bar and then click Track View-Dope Sheet. Alternatively, you can click the button for the Curve Editor on the Main toolbar and choose the option at the top left for the Dope Sheet. The panel that appears provides you with a more detailed set of information. You can see at a glance where changes occur. The artefacts (objects, lights, cameras etc.) are listed down the left-hand side of the dialogue box and the key frames that indicate any changes associated with them are shown along a corresponding timeline that extends to the right. The individual timelines are called Tracks and are measured in frames. You can change timings for any of your artefacts by moving the positions of keys along each Track in the Track View, just like you can on the main Track Bar. So what is the main advantage of using the Dope Sheet? It allows you to see, at a glance, the changes in all of your artefacts and how their timings compare with each other. For example, you might want to synchronise the bounce of your eyeball, with a cloud of dust appearing from the floor, represented by particles. In the Dope Sheet you can check that the key frames for both 40374C 27

28 3D Animation events coincide. In the Track View you can quickly move key frames for both types of object to make sure they appear at the same point in time. A further difference is that for each artefact, we can click on a plus sign to give us more detail about the key frame properties. For example, to see the changes for a ball, we initially need to click on the + sign next to the word Objects. Scrolling down and clicking on the plus sign next to our ball reveals further detail about changes. For example, this is categorised into Transform, then broken down into position, rotation, scale, etc. If in turn, we click the plus sign for these individual transforms, we reveal the axes for which the changes occurred, e.g. any specific position changes in the X axis. These are called hierarchies and we describe Position changes as the child of Ball changes. Likewise we call Ball the parent of Position changes. It s important to note that any changes we make to a parent object s key frame will affect all of its children. For example, if you move a key frame along the associated timeline for Position, this will result in a change in timing for each of the X,Y, and Z positions. Activity 7 Dope Sheet Open up your eyeball03.max animation Go to Graph Editors then Dope Sheet Open up Objects, ball, then Transform in turn by clicking on the plus sign The panel should look like the illustration. Note that there are keys for each of the transformations, including: red keys for Position; green keys for Rotation and blue keys for Scale. You might remember from earlier that these colours are a kind of convention. They always represent those particular transforms C

29 Right click on the first Scale key and choose Properties from the Quad menu that appears Click backwards and forwards on the arrows at the top left to see how the Scale property changes along the animation, then close the panel Click on the position + sign in the Track View to reveal the three axes and right click on the Z position key Arrange your screen so that you can select the eye ball in the viewport and still see the Dope Sheet. Place the time slider over your fourth key frame to see the results of your next action Press the forward arrow in the properties box until you get to key frame 4 Change the value to 45 and note the eyeball lift at that frame. Video The Dope Sheet For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Dope Sheet.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder C 29

30 3D Animation Reading Edit Ranges using the Dope Sheet The textbook Harnessing 3DS Max by Ross and Bousquet has a useful description of how to use techniques with editing ranges inside the Dope Sheet. Read from page 484 to 486 and do the exercises to practice C

31 5 Using the Curve Editor Sometimes it is easier to get a picture of the animated transformations of an object when we express them as a curve over time. We mentioned earlier that the process by which 3DS Max defines the motion between your key frames is called interpolation. The Curve Editor gives you a direct visualisation of how interpolation has been applied. We used the mini Curve Editor in Unit 2 to change the speed of your eyeball using the handles attached to the key frames. The changes made the eyeball move more quickly or slowly at certain points just before and after the key frames. Clicking the button next to the main Track Bar accesses the mini Curve Editor. However, a larger version is available by selecting Graph Editors on the menu bar and then choosing Track View- Curve Editor. Alternatively, you can press the Curve Editor button on the Main toolbar (probably most commonly used) The process of changing an animation curve is actually very similar to the way you alter splines when you are creating 2D shapes in the Create Panel. Of course, understanding what a particular curve means for the changes of an object is easier if you have some kind of qualification in maths! But do not panic, with some practice the nature of the curves and the results of editing their points will become intuitive to you. The following example will help start the process. If you were to imagine a ball being thrown into the air you might be able to visualise its likely trajectory in the real world. The ball goes up rapidly at first, then the increase in height starts to slow down as the initial force of the throw starts to wear off, then the ball levels out at the top of an arc. Afterwards, it slowly decides it s going to fall, before the force of gravity makes it accelerate more quickly again towards the ground C 31

32 3D Animation Time If we decide that the Z axis is the one that expresses height, then the curve that represents the change of Z position in time would most likely look like the appearance of the airborne ball in the graph above. If the X axis is the one that expresses the forwards direction of the ball, then the ball actually moves forward at a constant rate, so this would be a straight line increasing in value. Because there is no sideways movement, the Y value will be zero throughout. Let s have a look at a representation of the motion in 3DS Max to see how it would appear in the Curve Editor. Activity 8 The trajectory of a ball Create a sphere in the Top view and zero it by right clicking the spinners in the Move dialogue box (try to remember how this is revealed or review Unit 2 if you can t) Switch on Auto Key. Move the Time Slider to frame 40 Right click in the Front View Change the view at the top on the Main toolbar to World In the move dialogue box, offset value boxes change the value of x to 100 and z to 100. Move the Time slider to frame 80 Enter the absolute values x=200 and z=0 Switch off Auto Key Go to the Motion Panel within the Command Panel Turn on Trajectories by toggling the button on. Note that the motion appears almost ball-like but not quite C

33 If you play the animation the motion doesn t quite have the correct timings Open up the Curve Editor using the button on the main tool bar Within Sphere 01, click on the X Position in the Track View area. The red curve appears, which represents the X value. Note that it isn t the straight line we expected Choose the points and press the Set Tangents to Linear button to straighten it out Now choose the Z position in the Track view and note the blue curve that appears. It is very similar to the appearance of the trajectory itself. Select the first point and then press the Set tangents to Fast button Do the same to the last point on the curve Note how the trajectory changes Play your animation It s almost there but the ball would probably hover more in the air If you set the tangent type to Custom in the Curve Editor, you can play with the tangents and spread them out to make a wider curve a the top. This should achieve the desired results C 33

34 3D Animation Play the animation again. Video Ball Trajectory, using the Curve Editor For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Curves.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Reading Dope Sheet and Curve Editor There are a lot of buttons associated with the Track View, Dope Sheet and Curve Editor. Your textbook 3D Animation with 3DS Max, by Steven Till has a useful reference for these and provides you with an alternative exercise or two to reinforce your understanding. It starts with a useful recap about Trajectories initially on page 35 and continues until page 53. A section on Sound is also included which gives you a better understanding of how the Dope Sheet helps to synchronise events C

35 Activity 9 Create a Boiling Rock In this exercise, we use the Parameter curve out of range feature on the Track View, Curve Editor toolbar. This is a feature that tells the programme what to do when the existing animation curve has finished; in this case we tell it to loop the movement, but there are a range of other options. We also stop the animation speeding up and slowing down by changing the nature of the tangents emerging from the key frames. We do this by using the button presets, which add typical tangent examples, rather than pulling the handles. 1 Open up Rock.max 2 Select the rock - In the Modify Panel select the Noise Modifier that was applied earlier and highlight the gizmo sub object. 3 Toggle on Set Key mode 4 Press the key to set the first key frame for position 5 Move the time slider to frame 40, and 6 With the move tool, in the Front view, move the gizmo up in y to the top of the view, like the illustration 7 Press the Key button to set the key again 8 Deselect Set Key mode 9 Drag shift to copy the first key to frame Play the animation and note that the speeding up and slowing down 3DS Max assigns by default between frames does not look quite right. We also want the animation to loop perpetually. 11 First of all we limit your animation to 80 frames. See if you can remember how, if not review Animating a Modifier near the beginning of the Unit 12 Next we want to make the animation keep repeating, using loop 13 Open up the Curve Editor as before 14 Scroll down to where you can see Modified Object in the Track View 15 Expand the Noise Modifier 16 Choose Gizmo: Y position 40374C 35

36 3D Animation 17 Press the Parameter Out of Range button, which looks like this: 18 Choose the loop option and click it 19 You should see a dotted line repeat the curve to the right of your existing one 20 Now we will even out the timing: Select each point, and from set of buttons that display tangents on a red line choose the one that appears as a straight line. 21 The repeated curve should turn into a zig-zag If you play your animation, it should now look like a rock that is wobbling at a constant rate C

37 Video Boiling rock For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Rock Curves.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Reading Curve Editor and Ghosting The tutorials that ship with 3DS Max 9 contain good animation examples. From the Help menu, choose Tutorials. Then open up the Animation section in the left - hand panel followed by Bouncing a Ball. For some more ways of working with the Curve Editor and also another interesting visualisation method, called Ghosting, review the section labelled Controlling in Betweens in particular. Continue with the exercises. They will also introduce you to the concept of Dummy objects, we will use these in later Units C 37

38 3D Animation C

39 6 Animation Controllers When you create an animation, 3DS Max will assign what is called a Controller. Controllers are a set of predefined programmes, sometimes called procedures, which describe the way objects are interpolated between keys, and store the value of the keys. When we created our eyeball bounce, we noted that 3DS Max had assigned a particular type of curve between the points. We pulled the handles to create desired speed changes. We were able to do this because the default controller assigned to the animated position change was a Bezier Float controller. This particular type allows you the most control; we can change the nature of the tangents across points with the press of a button. For example, we turned the default tangents into fast tangents ; you probably also noted that there are also a range of choices for the key points. Stepped curves that create abrupt changes are also possible. A Bezier Float controller was applied to all three axes, X,Y and Z, separately using another controller that is higher in the hierarchy, the Position XYZ Controller. You can change the default controller to another type when you want different ways to consider the interpolation; or you can add controllers on top of existing ones. You can assign Controllers from both the Curve Editor and also the Motion Panel. With the object selected, open the Motion Panel and in the Assign Controller rollout, select a track. Use the Assign Controller pull-down menu and choose an option for a controller. From the Main Toolbar, press the Curve Editor button (or from the menu, using Graph Editors-Track view-curve Editor). Select a track and in the Track View toolbar go to the Controller menu and assign then pick a controller in the dialogue. Reading For a useful list of all available controllers have a look at: C 39

40 3D Animation We are going to use the train model we created earlier to demonstrate many of the following concepts. There are, however, a few changes that need to be made to your original set of models, to make them easier to animate. Going through these will help you understand more about: grouping elements, freezing things, and also importing external 3DS models (note the reading exercise indicated shortly to help you understand how to combine scenes and objects). Alternatively, you can use the here s one I prepared earlier version: Trainready.max. I will summarise what to do: Import the eye model that we worked with in earlier exercises (the non-animated version) and furnish the front of the train with two eyes by cloning the original Group all of the train parts together by pressing H and selecting them all from the menu, then choosing Group from the top pull-down menu Import the rails I made for you, the file is LoftRails.max. (Alternatively you can try to make your own using a lofting technique, a box shaped profile and the old rail path. However, we don t explicitly cover this in the course as it s a relatively advanced modelling method) Group all of the track parts together using the same process as the train Right click on the track group and choose Freeze selected from the Quad menu to stop it accidentally being selected and moved. Note: I also added an image map to the wheels in my version, so that you can see the rotation we apply more easily (you don t know how to do this yet, but will later) so: Import the wheels with the image map that I created; file name, wheels.max C

41 Reading Combining Scenes For more information about how to combine objects from different Max files refer to Harnessing 3DS Max, Ross and Bousquet pages 510 to 513. Activity 10 Rotating Wheel This activity is why we did not group the wheels with the rest of the train, but instead linked them to it. Although we want them to follow the train, we now want to make them rotate independently. Select the first wheel Set the view to local Activate Set Key mode At frame 0 set a key Move the time slider to frame 10 Right click the rotate transform tool button to get the dialogue appearing In the offset side of the dialogue add 360 in the Z value area Make your animation 10 frames long as you did before Play the animation.note that the wheel rotates but not at an even pace In the Motion Panel, Press the Rotation button in the PRS (Position, Rotation, Scale) Parameters rollout area In the list that appears in the Assign Controller window, expand the Rotation Euler XYZ, and select Y Rotation: Bezier Float Click the Assign Controller button and select Linear Float If you play it again note that it rotates evenly this time Save the animation as Train01.max by choosing Save As and clicking the plus sign in the box C 41

42 3D Animation Video Rotating Wheel For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Rotating Wheel.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Test Understanding Parameters out of Range Make your wheel animation loop by using the Curve Editor and method we covered earlier. Dope Sheet Practice 1 Our train wheels also give us a good opportunity to demonstrate a useful way we can work with the Dope sheet. Open up Train01.max again. 2 In the Track View, find the Train Wheel you worked on (TrainWheel3) 3 Open up the Transform area and then Rotation 4 Click on the Y rotation and then right click and choose Copy from the Quad menu 5 Open up the Transform area in the same way for TrainWheel2 6 Click on the Y rotation to select it and then right click and choose Paste from the Quad menu 7 You have copied all the animation values across 8 Test understanding by doing the same thing with TrainWheel 9 Save as the same name C

43 Constraints Constraints, as the name suggests, limit our animation in some way to particular predefined parameters; they help to speed up the animation process for us. Using constraints usually involves synchronising the transformations of one object with those of another. We have one constrained object and a target object. For example, we can add constraints that keep the motion of one object linked to that of another, maintain the orientation of something by specifying that it point in the direction of something else, or define the position of one element on the surface of a target element. There are many examples. For a full list see: Sometimes we need to create invisible objects in 3DS Max to use as a target; these are often called dummy objects. For example, if we have many models that we want to move in synchronisation from a central point, there may not be a suitable central object. Instead we have to create one that doesn t render. One of the most useful constraints depends on creating a preformed path to define the movement of an object. The most obvious example is probably a train moving around a track, which would naturally be constrained to a line of motion as it trundles along. Luckily we have our great model that we created earlier to demonstrate this process! The next step is to get our train moving around the track: 1 We want our train going round the track animation to last longer than 10 frames, so we will make it 100 frames in the Time configuration box again. Note that because the wheel animations are looped they will still continue rotating at their original speed. 2 Select the train and from the top Animation menu choose Constraints-Path Constraint. 3 A dotted line should now follow your mouse about. You could try to click on the track path in the viewport at this point, but you are more likely to hit something else, so press H. 4 From the list choose Trackshape C 43

44 3D Animation 5 The train should move to sit at some point on the track and if you scrub along the Timeline it goes round, but is sitting with the track through its middle and sometimes moves at 90 degrees to the track direction. 6 First lets correct the height: Choose the Move tool from the Main tool bar. 7 In the hierarchy panel, toggle on Affect Pivot only. 8 Align the pivot with the bottom of the train. It should sit at the correct height on the track. 9 To align the train direction: open up the Motion Panel and scroll down until you see the Path parameters rollout area. Click on the plus to reveal it. 10 Tick the box that says Follow. 11 Play the animation. The train should now move correctly. 12 Save as Trainready C

45 Video Constraining the train around a path For a better understanding of this exercise, you can watch the video sequence Train Constraint.avi from your CD in the Unit 3 folder. Look at Constraint and Dummies One way of maintaining a particular orientation for an object is to request that it look at a secondary object. This is obviously going to be especially useful for making eyes that look in a certain direction (there are other orientation constraints that behave slightly differently). Reading Look at Constraint and Dummies. There is an excellent example in your textbook using the animation of a plane. It provides further practice at using a path constraint and also illustrates the use of a Look At constraint using dummies. This is in your Dutton and Doran textbook, page 6-60 to C 45

46 3D Animation Activity 11 Bumpy train, adding a noise controller. In this exercise, we will revisit the subject of controllers briefly as our train going around a track provides a good opportunity to add a noise controller. The example shows you how to add another controller on top of the default one and to adjust weightings between controllers. 1 Open up your animated train again, or use Trainready01.max from your CD. 2 First of all slow down the speed of your animation by opening up the Time configuration panel and then choosing 1/4 time. If you can t remember how, recap on reading for the Time section of this Unit. 3 Enlarge the perspective view 4 Select the train and open up the Motion Panel 5 Click the plus sign to reveal the Assign Controller area, if it s not already open 6 Click the plus sign next to where it says Position XYZ 7 Click on the Z position so that it turns yellow 8 Press the Assign Controller button and select Noise Float 9 A Noise dialogue box should appear 10 Provide the values and settings shown in the illustration, Strength 10 Frequency 4 11 Play the animation and note that nothing changes C

47 Note: This is because the path constraint does not allow the train to deviate even slightly in the Z direction. We can remedy this by modifying weightings between the two controllers. 12 Scroll down to see the Position List at the bottom of the rollout. Click the plus to reveal it if necessary. 13 Click on Path Constraint. It should turn grey 14 In the Weight value box add 99 instead of 100% Play your animation again and it should bounce along quite happily. That concludes most of the introductory methods for creating animations with key frames. The following assessment will test your understanding of the main principles C 47

48 3D Animation! Key Learning Points There are a variety of different artefacts we can animate in 3DS Max, including basic object parameters; modifiers; transforms; lights; cameras and surface properties including materials. There are two primary ways of creating key frames for our animations in 3DS Max, Auto Key which is quicker and Set Key which provides more flexibility and therefore is more widely used professionally. The Track Bar and Timeline at the bottom of the interface allow us to quickly add key frames and make changes to their properties and timings. Through the Motion Panel we can view the Trajectories described by the motion of objects and access many other attributes of an animation. We can use several more sophisticated tools within the 3DS Max programme to help us to visualise and refine animations, including the Dope Sheet, and the Curve Editor. The Dope Sheet allows us to see the timing of events across a range of objects and artefacts at a glance; the Curve Editor helps us to get a snapshot of the interpolation between key frames for a given aspect of the animation and Trajectories help us to see the motion of an object in a viewport. Controllers can be added which automate the process of animation by specifying interpolation between key frames and their tangents. Constraints will limit the transformation of a source object to reflect the properties of a target object in order to create particular animated effects C

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51 Formative Assessment /03 It s very straightforward to complete this Test Paper online by logging on to the ICS Student Community at From here you will be able to submit your answers and see your results straight away helping you progress faster through your course. For detailed instructions on using this service, please refer to your Getting Started Unit contained within your course materials. 1 Which type of key frame animation method is most flexible? a b c d Auto Key Set Key Key Filters Trajectories 2 Which of the following can be animated? a b c d Twist modifier Scale Camera All of the above 3 When you right click on a key in the Dope Sheet, how do you change the frame number on the timeline that the key appears? a b c d Press the arrow in the top left Change the value in the Time textbox Change the number in the Value textbox You can t 4 What device is the best for viewing the interpolation your animation has between key frames? a b c d The Curve Editor The Dope Sheet Trajectories The track bar 40374C 51