Character Animation with 3DSMAX [10 mn de lecture - paru le 9/9/2004 11:15:25 AM - Public : Confirmé]

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Maxence MAMY Elève-Ingénieur Supinfo Paris Promotion SUPINFO 2004    Lui écrire    Tous les projets de cet auteur    Le mini-CV de cet auteur

1. Bases

In this chapter are explained some animation bases with 3DSMAX.

1.1. Time

Time is an indispensable constituent as soon as we animate whatever it is.

In 3DSMAX, it's represented by a gradual scale situated at the bottom of the screen.

Just close is a group of controle for animation playing with the possibility of reading forward, reward, advance frame by frame or of key in key by activating the Lock Key option (the one who's pushed), go to the first image or the last image.

To configure time, do a right click in this group of control or click the button of the parameters settings.

There are several standards of time in 3DSMAX. The standard NTSC which is the standard of the American televisions corresponds to a frequency of 60 Hz or 30 frames/second. It's the standard by default and the one who's generally used for video games. The standard PAL which is the European standard has a frequency of 50Hz or 25 frames/second. The standard Film which count 24 frames/second. It's possible to personalize the frame rate. I advise you for your animation to put the standard PAL or Film, what will allow you a considerable saving of time during the rendering and you won't see the difference (5 to 6 frames less per second).

It's also possible to set the speed of playback in the viewports as well as the direction of playback.

1.2. Keys

In the traditional animation (cartoons) world, it was necessary to draw every frame. Imagine the workload for films like Walt Disney kind which is about approximately one hour and a half. With a rate of 24 frames/second we arrive at figures as 129 600 drawings.

Fortunately, in 3DSMAX, it's not necessary to specify the poses of every element which compose your scene for every frame. We're going to specify only important pose : keys. Then the software calculate intermediary positions between both keys by interpolation.

Keys are shown in the time bar. There are several types of keys. The automatic keys which (when this mode is activated) are automatically created as soon as we modify an element of the scene. It's the classic method. There are also the defined keys which are created only when we confirm their creation, it's necessary to press on the button to define key. 3DSMAX place all the keys in the bar of animation. To avoid selecting the bad key inadvertently it's possible to filter keys.

1.3. Track view

1.3.1. Curves editor

The curves editor allow to visualise keys on editable curves. It's also possible to edit tangents.

1.3.2. Dope sheet

Keys are shown on intervals allowing movements synchronization

or on keys

1.4. Tips

Here are some tips which i hope help you to do animations more rich.

- Exaggerate the movements, to give more amplitude. Think of the cartoon movies of Walt Disney, always perennially fashionable.

- Anticipate the movements, for whatever it is we anticipate, the movement starting at the eyes, we begin by looking where we're going to, then the rest of the body follows.

- Make previews. The rendering calculation is very long and the animation display in the viewports slow or produced jerks if the number of polygons is raised (we arrive fast there), animation isn't real-time. To have an outline of the animation, it's possible to create a preview. Preview produces a video file of your animation as if it was played in the viewport and calculation is very fast.