Animation Notes Part 2

ANIMATION CONCEPTS Part II

BY :Rahul Singh

E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected] Blog Address: www.freewebs.com\3dcreative Note: No responsibilities of the writer if there is dramatic mistake. Refer to autodesk max and maya help for more extra resources.

Animation Concepts Animation is based on a principle of human vision. If you view a series of related still images in quick succession, you perceive them as continuous motion. Each individual image is referred to as a frame.

A frame is a single image in an animated film.

Traditional Animation Method Historically, the main difficulty in creating animation has been the effort required of the animator to produce a large number of frames. One minute of animation might require between 720 and 1800 separate images, depending on the quality of the animation. Creating images by hand is a big job. That’s where the technique of keyframing comes in. Most of the frames in an animation are routine, incremental changes from the previous frame directed toward some goal. Traditional animation studios realized they could increase the productivity of their master artists by having them draw only the important frames, called keyframes. Assistants could then figure out what belonged on the frames in between the keyframes. The in-between frames were called tweens. Once all of the keyframes and tweens were drawn, the images had to be inked or rendered to produce the final images. Even today, production of a traditional animation usually requires hundreds of artists to generate the thousands of images needed.

The frames marked 1,2, and 3 are key frames. The other frames are tweens.

The 3ds Max Method

This program is your animation assistant. As the master animator, you create the keyframes that record the beginning and end of each animated sequence. The values at these keyframes are called keys. The software calculates the interpolated values between each key to produce the completed animation. 3ds Max can animate just about any parameter in your scene. You can animate modifier parameters, such as a Bend angle or a Taper amount, material parameters, such as the color or transparency of an object, and much more. Once you have specified your animation parameters, the renderer takes over the job of shading and rendering each frame. The result is a high-quality animation.

The object's position at 1 and 2 are the keyframed models at different times. The computer generates the in-between frames.

Comparing Frames and Time Traditional animation methods, and early computer animation programs, are rigidly locked to the concept of producing animation frame by frame. This is okay if you always work in a single format or do not need to specify an animated effect at a precise time. Unfortunately, animation comes in many formats. Two of the more common formats are film at 24 frames per second (FPS) and NTSC video at 30 FPS. Also, the need for accurate time-based animation versus frame-based animation is critical as animation becomes more common for scientific and legal presentation.

Different animation formats have differing frame rates. 3ds Max is a time-based animation program. It measures time, and stores your animation values, with an internal precision of 1/4800 of a second. You can configure the program to display time in a format best suited for your work, including traditional frames format. See Time Configuration. Many of the examples in the following sections describe time using the frames method for the sake of tradition and familiarity. Keep in mind that you are really animating using a very precise time-based method, and frames aren’t created until you instruct the software to render your animation.

Identifying Animation Tools

You can locate the basic animation tools in the following areas of the interface: Track View—Provides detailed animation editing capabilities in several floating or dockable windows. See Track View. Track Bar—Provides quick access to keyframes and interpolation controls. Can be expanded for function curve editing. See Track Bar. Motion Panel—Use this panel to adjust transform controllers that affect all position, rotation, and scale animation. See Working with Controllers. Hierarchy Panel—Use this panel to adjust all parameters governing the linkage of two or more objects. These include inverse kinematics parameters and pivot point adjustments. See Hierarchy Panel.

Working with Controllers Everything you animate in 3ds Max is handled by a controller. A controller is a plug-in that handles the storage and interpolation of all animated values. The default controllers are • • •

Position: Position XYZ Rotation: Euler XYZ Scale: Bezier Scale

Although 3ds Max has many different types of controllers, much of the animation is handled by the Bezier controller. Bezier controllers interpolate between keyframes in a smooth curve. You can adjust the key interpolation of these interpolations through the keys on the track bar or in Track View. This is how you can control acceleration, hesitation and other types of motion. The default controller for Rotation is Euler XYZ, which breaks the rotation down into three individual Bezier Float tracks. The default controller for Position is Position X,Y,Z. The Scale controller default is Bezier. Note: If you load in files made in earlier versions of the software, their existing controllers will be maintained. Warning: Be aware that Euler rotations behave differently than TCB rotations. If you are used to using TCB controllers, you can reassign TCB Rotation as the controller and you will get the same behavior you are used to.

3ds Max has a specialized type of controller, called a constraint, that is commonly used to help automate the animation process. A constraint can be used to control an object’s position, rotation, or scale through a binding relationship with another object. You apply constraints and controllers using commands on the Animation menu. When you assign a controller from this menu, a weighted list controller is automatically applied, with the controller you've selected appearing first in the list. The weighted list controller gives you the ability to blend controllers, similar to a nonlinear animation system. If you assign a controller through the Motion panel or Track View, it replaces the existing controller, rather than creating a list controller. You can do that manually if you are working in the Motion panel or Track View

Understanding Controllers Controllers are plug-ins that handle all of the animation tasks in 3ds Max, including: • • •

Storing animation key values. Storing procedural animation settings. Interpolating between animation key values.

Most animatable parameters don't receive a controller until you animate them. As soon as you change an animatable parameter at any frame other than 0 with the Auto Key button on, or click in its track using Curve Editor > Add Keys, a default controller is assigned to the parameter.

Accessing Controllers There are two places where you work directly with controllers: •

Track View: Controllers are indicated in the Hierarchy list by the various controller icons. Each controller has its own individual icon. Using Track View, in either Curve Editor or Dope Sheet mode, you can view and work with the controllers for all objects and all parameters. See Track View.

•

Motion panel: Contains special tools for working with transform controllers. The Motion panel contains many of the same controller functions as the Curve Editor, plus controls necessary for working with special controllers such as IK Solvers. Using the Motion panel you can view and work with the transform controllers of a single selected object. See Motion Panel.

Categories of Controllers

There are two main categories of controllers. These categories are easy to identify when looking at the Track View - Curve Editor Hierarchy list. Single-Parameter Controllers: Control animation values of a single parameter. Regardless of whether the parameter has a single component, such as the number of sides of a cylinder, or multiple components, such as the RGB values of a color, the controller is handling a single parameter. Compound Controllers: Combine or manage multiple controllers. Compound controllers include high-level Transform controllers, such as PRS, the Euler XYZ Rotation controller, the Transform Script controller, and the List controller. A compound controller appears in the Hierarchy list as a controller icon with subordinatelevel branches of other controllers.

Controllers and Constraints In addition to controllers, the software can animate using constraints. These items are located in the Animation > Constraints menu. The constraints include the following: Attachment, Surface, Path, Link, Position, Orientation, and LookAt. When you assign a controller in the Motion panel or in Track View, you will see these constraints appearing in the list of available controllers. You can assign them the same as the other controllers, but they are also assignable from the Animation > Constraints submenu. For more information, see Animation Constraints. Note: If you assign a controller using the Animation > Controller submenu, a list controller is automatically applied to the object, with the selected controller applied beneath the list controller. This is different than controllers that are applied via the Motion panel.

Viewing Controller Types You can view the controller type assigned to a parameter in both the Curve Editor and in the Motion panel. Before you can view the controller types in Track View, you must do the following: 1.

On the Curve Editor toolbar, click the Filters icon. Then in the Filters dialog > Show group, turn on Controller Types. You can then see the name of the Controller type in the Hierarchy view.

2.

Assign controllers to parameters. You can do this on the Assign Controller rollout of the Motion panel, or through the right-click menu in the Hierarchy list in Track View.

The Parameters mode of the Motion panel always displays the transform controller types for the selected object.

Reading Controller Types You can tell a lot about how a parameter is animated by looking at the controller type. Parameter Name: Is always visible and is always to the right of the controller icon. It tells you what is animated. Interpolation Type: Usually follows the parameter name. It tells how animation values are calculated. The label Diffuse: Bezier Color indicates a Diffuse color parameter using Bezier interpolation with Color data. Data Type: Usually follows the interpolation type. It tells what type of data is used. The label Height: Linear Float indicates a Height parameter using Linear interpolation with a floating point value.

Animation Controllers Track View > Select a track in the Track View hierarchy. > Track View menu bar > Controller menu > Assign > Choose a controller in the dialog. Animation menu > Constraints/Transform Controllers/Position Controllers/Rotation Controllers/Scale Controllers> Choose a controller. Select an object. > Motion panel > Assign Controller rollout > Select a track. > Assign Controller > Choose a controller in the dialog. Controllers, like constraints, handle the animation tasks in a scene, including: • • •

Storing animation key values Storing procedural animation settings Interpolating between animation key values

An object or parameter doesn't receive a controller until you animate it. As soon as you change an animatable parameter with Auto Key on, or add a key in Track View - Dope Sheet, the software assigns a controller to the parameter. The software chooses a default type for the controller, depending on the animation. You can change the default controller to another type. The animation controllers are organized in the following categories: • • • • • •

Float controllers: for animating floating-point values Point3 controllers: for animating three-component values such as colors or 3D points Position controllers: for animating positions of objects and selection sets Rotation controllers: for animating rotation of objects and selection sets Scale controllers: for animating the scale of objects and selection sets Transform controllers: for animating general transforms (position, rotation, and scale) of objects and selection sets

To change an assigned controller, use Controller > Assign in Track View or in the Motion panel. The controllers and constraints are: Attachment Constraint Audio Controller Bezier Controllers Barycentric Morph Controller Block Controller Boolean Controller Color RGB Controller (Point3 XYZ Controller) Euler XYZ Rotation Controller Expression Controller Inverse Kinematics (IK) Layer Controller Limit Controller

Linear Controller List Controller Link Constraint LookAt Constraint Motion Capture Controller Master Point Controller Noise Controller On/Off Controller Orientation Constraint Path Constraint Position Constraint Position XYZ Controller PRS Controller Reaction Controllers Scale XYZ Controller Script Controller Slave Parameters Dialog (Block Controller) Smooth Rotation Controller Spring Controller Surface Constraint TCB Controllers Transform Script Controller Waveform Controller

Track View Main toolbar > Curve Editor (Open) Graph Editors menu > New Track View Graph Editors menu > Track View - Curve Editor Graph Editors menu > Track View - Dope Sheet Graph Editors menu > Saved Track View > Choose a saved Track View. Viewport right-click menu > Views > Track > Choose New or a saved Track View. With Track View, you can view and edit all the keys that you create. You can also assign animation controllers to interpolate or control all the keys and parameters for the objects in your scene. Track View uses two different modes, Curve Editor and Dope Sheet. Curve Editor mode lets you display the animation as function curves. Dope Sheet mode displays the animation as a spreadsheet of keys and ranges. Keys are color-coded for easy identification. Some of the functions in Track View, such as moving and deleting keys, are also available on the track bar near the time slider, which can be expanded to show curves as well. You can dock the Curve Editor and Dope Sheet windows beneath the viewports at the bottom of the interface, or use them as floating windows. Track View layouts can be named and stored in the Track View buffer and reused. Track View layouts are stored with the MAX file.

Track View — Curve Editor

Track View — Dope Sheet (Edit Keys)

Typical Uses for Track View

Track View can perform a variety of scene management and animation control tasks. Use Track View to: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Display a list of objects in your scene and their parameters. Change key values. Change key timing. Change controller ranges (see procedure). Change interpolation between keys. Edit ranges of multiple keys. Edit blocks of time. Add sound to your scene. Create and manage notes about the scene. Change the behavior of the animation outside the range of keys. Change controllers for animated parameters Select objects, vertices, and hierarchies. Navigate the modifier stack in the Modify panel by clicking the modifier items in the Track View Hierarchy. Note: Tracks are created for animated vertices in Track View. A Bezier Point3 controller is the default vertex interpolation controller.

Procedures To change the frames in which a controller takes effect: When you apply a controller or constraint to an object's motion, the frame range over which controller takes effect is determined by the current active time segment. If you then change the active time segment or the animation length, the duration of the controller's influence doesn't change. Sometimes applying a controller (such as Path Constraint) automatically sets keys that you can use to change this range. But others, such as Noise controllers, don't set keys. In such cases, follow this procedure: 1. Select the object, and then right-click it and choose Curve Editor from the menu. 2. Expand the object hierarchy to find the track or tracks to adjust. 3. From the Modes menu, choose Dope Sheet. 4. On the Dope Sheet, click the Edit Ranges button. 5. Adjust the range duration by dragging its endpoints, or its position in the animation by dragging between endpoints. For more information, see Dope Sheet. To select keys in Track View (either mode), do any of the following: • •

Click the key to select an individual key. Drag a selection rectangle around keys to select multiple keys.

•

Hold down the Ctrl key and click to create discontinuous multiple key selections.

Note: If you are in Dope Sheet – Edit Ranges mode, you can use Select Time to select multiple keys. To delete keys in Track View (either mode): 1. Select keys on the curve, or on the dope sheet. 2. Press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete the selected keys. To force Track View to always display on a second monitor: If you are running a dual-monitor setup, you can force Track View to display on the righthand monitor by editing a script. 1. Right-click the Curve Editor (Open) icon in the main toolbar, and then choose Edit Macro Script. The MAXScript script that opens the Track View – Function Curve Editor appears. 2. Locate the line that reads: if (trackviews.open "Track View - Curve Editor" layoutName:"Function Curve Layout") == true then 3. Replace that line with this one: max_window = getMaxWindowSize() --get Desktop size if (trackviews.open "Track View - Curve Editor" layoutName:"Function Curve Layout" pos:[max_window.x/2,0] height:max_window.y width:(max_window.x/2) ) == true then 4. Save the script and restart 3ds Max. This should open the Track View in a new session over the right half of the desktop. Assuming that a dual-monitor setup reports twice the width, this will force the Track View on the second monitor. On a single monitor, it opens it over the right half of the monitor. Of course, you could enter your own numbers like pos:[1024,0] height:768 width:1024 in case you are running two monitors at 1024x768. To open Track View in a viewport: •

Right-click a viewport label, and then from the menu that opens choose Views > Track > New, or click the name of a saved Track View.

Hierarchies and Kinematics When animating characters, mechanical assemblies, or complex motion, you can simplify the process by linking objects together to form a hierarchy or chain. In a linked chain, the animation of one member can affect some or all of the others, making it possible to animate a number of objects or bones at once. The term kinematics describes the movement or animation of the chain. There are two types of kinematics: With forward kinematics (FK) , you manipulate the top of the hierarchy to animate the entire chain. With inverse kinematics (IK), you manipulate an object at the bottom of the hierarchy to animate the entire chain. Frequently, IK is also used to make an object “stick” to the ground or another surface, while allowing the chain to rotate off the pivot of that object. Forward kinematics is the most straightforward method for animating hierarchies. Inverse kinematics requires more setup than forward kinematics, but is more intuitive for complex tasks such as character animation .

Animation Constraints Animation constraints are used to help automate the animation process. They can be used to control an object’s position, rotation, or scale through a binding relationship with another object. A constraint requires one object and at least one target object. The target imposes specific limits on the constrained object. For example, if you want to quickly animate an airplane flying a predefined path, you could use a path constraint to restrict the airplane’s motion to a spline path. The constraint’s binding relationship with its targets can be animated on or off over a period of time. Common uses for constraints:

• • • • • • • •

Linking one object to another over a period of time, such as a character’s hand picking up a baseball bat Linking an object’s position or rotation to one or several objects Keeping an object’s position between two or more objects Constraining an object along a path or between multiple paths Constraining an object along a surface Making an object point toward another object’s pivot point Controlling the “look at” direction of a character’s eyes Keeping an object’s orientation in relation to another

There are seven types of constraints: • • • • • • •

Tip:

Attachment constraint attaches an object’s position to a face on another object Surface constraint restricts an object’s position along the surface of another object Path constraint restricts an object’s movement along a path Position constraint causes the constrained object to follow the position of another object Link constraint links the constrained object from one object to another LookAt constraint constrains an object’s orientation so that it’s always looking at another object Orientation constraint causes the rotation of the constrained object to follow the rotation of another object You can use Schematic View to see all the Constraint relationships in a scene.