3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [403]
You can use the Tracks⇒Note Track⇒Remove menu command to delete a selected note track.
FIGURE 37.23
The Notes dialog box lets you enter notes and position them next to keys.
Tutorial: Animating a hazard light
As an example of working with the Track View, you'll animate a flashing hazard light in this tutorial.
To animate a flashing hazard light using function curves, follow these steps:
1. Open the Hazard.max file from the Chap 37 directory on the CD.
This file contains a hazard barrier with a light.
2. Select Omni01, open the Track View–Curve Editor, and locate the Omni light's Multiplier track. (You can find this track under the Objects⇒Omni01⇒Object(Omni Light)⇒Multiplier menu command.) Click the Insert Keys button (or press the A key), and create a key on the dotted line (its current multiplier value) at frame 0 and at frame 15. Set the end key to a value of 1.2.
3. Select the first key and set its position to 0 by moving the key down or by typing 0 in the value display field. Click the Zoom Value Extends button to better see the shape of the curve. Click the Play button.
The light comes on slowly. It should be either on or off, so you need to change the tangent types to Stepped.
4. Select both keys, and click the Set Tangents to Stepped button. Click the Play button.
The light turns on at frame 15.
5. Select the first key, and choose the Move Keys Horizontal button from the Move Keys flyout. Hold down the Shift key and drag right to copy the key at frame 30.
The light now turns off at frame 30. You can continue to make the rest of the keys in that fashion, but using the Parameter Out of Range feature to complete the animation is easier.
6. With the Multiplier curve selected, click the Parameter Curves Out-of-Range Types button or Choose Out-of-Range Types from the Controller menu item. The Out-of-Range Types dialog box appears. Choose Cycle, and click OK.
Figure 37.24 shows the Stepped tangents.
7. Click Play.
The light flashes off and on. The animation would be more convincing if the light lens object appeared to turn off and on as well. Next, you animate the self-illumination of the lens material.
FIGURE 37.24
The curve with Stepped in and out tangents and a Cycle Parameter Out-of-Range type
8. With the Omni light's multiplier track still selected, right-click over the track in the controller pane and choose Copy. Locate and select the Light Lens material's Self-Illumination track. (You can find this track under the Scene Materials⇒Lens (Standard)⇒Shader Basic Parameters⇒Self-Illumination menu command.) Right-click, choose Paste, and paste as Copy.
9. Because the Self-Illumination should top out at 100 percent, not 120 percent, select the second key and change its value to 100. Click the Play button.
The Omni light and lens flash off and on together.
Figure 37.25 shows the hazard light as it repeatedly blinks on and off.
FIGURE 37.25
The hazard light flashing on
Tutorial: Animating a checkers move
As an example of working with function curves, you'll animate a checkers move in this tutorial. It is often easiest to block in the animation using keyframing and then to refine the animation in the Track View.
To animate a white checker making its moves, follow these steps:
1. Open the Checkers.max file from the Chap 37 directory on the CD.
This file contains a simple checkerboard with one white piece and three red pieces.
The white checker is on the wrong-colored square to start, so first you move it into place and then to each successive position.
2. Turn on Auto Key. Move the time slider to frame 25, and move the white checker to the square with the “1” text object (visible in the Top viewport). Move the time slider to 50, and move the white piece to the “2” position. At frame 75, move it to the “3” position, and at 100, move it to the “4” position.