3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [381]
When you select a waveform in the list, you can give it a name and edit its shape using the buttons and values. Preset waveform shapes include Sine, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, and Half Sine. You also can invert and flip these shapes.
FIGURE 35.27
The Waveform Controller dialog box lets you produce sinusoidal motions.
The Period value defines the number of frames required to complete one full pattern. The Amplitude value sets the height of the wave, and the Phase value determines its location at the start of the cycle. The Duty Cycle value is used only for the square wave to define how long it stays enabled.
You can use the Vertical Bias options to set the values range for the waveform. Options include Centered, which sets the center of the waveform at 0; Auto > 0, which causes all values to be positive; Auto < 0, which causes all values to be negative; and Manual, which lets you set a value for the center of the waveform.
The Effect option determines how different waveforms in the list are combined. They can be added, multiplied, clamped above, or clamped below. The Add option simply adds the waveform values together, and the Multiply option multiplies the separate values. The Clamp Above and Clamp Below options force the values of one curve to its maximum or minimum while not exceeding the values of the other curve. The Characteristic Graph shows the selected waveform, the output, or the final resulting curve. Figure 35.28 shows the Characteristic Graph for each Effect option when a sine wave and a square wave are combined.
FIGURE 35.28
Combining sine and square waves with the Add, Multiply, Clamp Above, and Clamp Below Effect options
Color RGB controller
You can use the Color RGB controller to animate colors. Color values are different from regular float values in that they include three values that represent the amounts of red, green, and blue (referred to as RGB values) present in the color. This data value type is known as Point3.
The Color RGB controller splits a track with color information into its component RGB tracks. You can use this controller to apply a different controller to each color component and also to animate any color swatch in Max.
Cubic Morph controller
You can assign the Cubic Morph controller to a morph compound object. You can find the track for this object under the Objects track. A subtrack of the morph object is the Morph track, which holds the morph keys.
The Cubic Morph controller uses Tension, Continuity, and Bias values to control how targets blend with one another. You can access these TCB values in the Key Info dialog box by right-clicking any morph key or by right-clicking the Morph track and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu.
Note
You also can access the TCB values by right-clicking the keys in the Track Bar. •
Barycentric Morph controller
The Barycentric Morph controller is automatically applied when a morph compound object is created. Keys are created for this controller based on the morph targets set in the Modify panel under the Current Targets rollout for the morph compound object. You can edit these keys using the Barycentric controller Key Info dialog box, which you can open by right-clicking a morph key in the Track View or in the Track Bar.
The main difference between the Cubic Morph controller and the Barycentric Morph controller is that the latter can have weights applied to the various morph keys.
The Barycentric Morph controller Key Info dialog box includes a list of morph targets. If a target is selected, its Percentage value sets the influence of the target. The Time value is the frame where this key is located. The TCB values and displayed curve control the Tension, Continuity, and Bias parameters for this controller. The Constrain to 100% option causes all weights