3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [400]
FIGURE 37.16
The Checkered River flows evenly.
FIGURE 37.17
The Param Curve Out-of-Range Types dialog box lets you select the type of out-of-range curve to use.
Note
You can also apply an out-of-range curve to a select range of frames using the Create Out-of-Range Keys utility. This utility is available via the Track View Utilities menu. •
By clicking the buttons below the types, you can specify a curve for the beginning and end. This Out-of-Range dialog box includes six options:
• Constant: Holds the value constant for all out-of-range frames
• Cycle: Repeats the track values as soon as the range ends
• Loop: Repeats the range values, like the Cycle option, except that the beginning and end points are interpolated to provide a smooth transition
• Ping Pong: Repeats the range values in reverse order after the range end is reached
• Linear: Projects the range values in a linear manner when out of range
• Relative Repeat: Repeats the range values offset by the distance between the start and end values
You can apply ease curves (choose Curves⇒Apply Ease Curve, or press Ctrl+E) to smooth the timing of a function curve. You can apply multiplier curves (Curves⇒Apply Multiplier Curve, Ctrl+M) to alter the scaling of a function curve. You can use ease and multiplier curves to automatically smooth or scale an animation's motion. Each of these buttons adds a new track and function curve to the selected controller track.
Ease and Multiplier curves add another layer of control on top of the existing animation and allow you to edit the existing animation curves without changing the original animation keys. For example, if you have a standard walk cycle, you can use an ease curve to add a limp to the walk cycle or you can reuse the walk cycle for a taller character by adding a multiplier curve.
Note
Not all controllers can have an ease or multiplier curve applied. •
You can delete these tracks and curves using the Curves⇒Remove menu command. You also can enable or disable these curves with the Curves⇒Enable Ease/Multiplier Curve Toggle menu command.
After you apply an ease or multiplier curve, you can assign the type of curve to use with the Ease Curve Out-of-Range Types button. This button opens the Ease Curve Out-of-Range Types dialog box, which includes the same curve types as the Out-of-Range curves, except for the addition of an Identity curve type.
Note
In the Ease Curve Out-of-Range Types dialog box is an Identity option that isn't present in the Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types dialog box. The Identity option begins or ends the curve with a linear slope that produces a gradual, constant rate increase. •
When editing ranges, you can make the range of a selected track smaller than the range of the whole animation. These tracks then go out of range at some point during the animation. The Ease/Multiplier Curve Out-of-Range Types buttons are used to tell the track how to handle its out-of-range time.
Tutorial: Animating a wind-up teapot
As an example of working with multiplier curves, you'll create a wind-up teapot that vibrates its way across a surface.
To animate the vibrations in the Track View, follow these steps:
1. Open the Wind-up teapot.max file from the Chap 37 directory on the CD.
This file contains a teapot with legs.
2. Click the Play button.
The teapot's key winds up to about frame 40 and then runs down again as the teapot moves around a bit. To add the random movement and rotation to make the vibrations, you use Noise controllers and Multiplier curves to limit the noise.
3. Open the Track View–Curve Editor, and navigate down to the Wind-up Key's X Rotation track, located at Objects, Teapot Group, Key, Rotation: Euler XYZ, X Rotation. Take a moment to observe the shape of the curve, shown in Figure 37.18.
The key is “wound up” in short spurts and then runs down, slowing until it stops. The vibration, then, should start midway and