Autodesk ®

VIZ 2008
Tutorial 8: Animation ®

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 For this web tutorial please find the Scene Files in \VIZ2008_Animation instead of
\tutorials. Download this folder using the following procedure:
1. At www.autodesk.com/viz-tutorials click Scene Files under Animation.
2. Unzip the EXE file to your computer.
By default the \VIZ2008_Animation folder is unzipped into
C:\VIZ2008_Scene_Files.

Animation Tutorials

Tutorial Files
Using the Limit Controller
All the files necessary for this tutorial can be found
In this tutorial, you will learn to limit the range of on the program disc in the \tutorials\controllers
a rotation by using the Limit controller. directory. Before starting the tutorials, copy the
\tutorials folder to your local program installation.

Using the Limit controller:

1. Open TreasureChest.max from the
\tutorials\controllers directory.
2. Select the Top object.

Features covered in this tutorial

• Assigning a controller to an animation track
• Setting minimum and maximum limits to a
controller range
Skill Level: Beginner
Time to complete: 15 min. 3. Rotate the object about its X axis and note that
there’s no limit to its rotation range. It can
rotate any extent in either direction.
346 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

4. Click Undo to restore the top to its

original orientation.
In the following steps you will apply the Limit
controller to restrict the Top’s range of motion
from 0 to –110 degrees.
5. Verify the top is still selected.
6. From the right-click quad menu, choose Curve
Editor.

8. From the right-click quad menu, choose Assign

Controller.

7. Expand the hierarchy and highlight the X

Rotation track.

9. From the Assign Float Controller dialog,

choose Float Limit and click OK.
 Animating with Set Key 347

13. Again rotate the Top about its X axis.

It cannot rotate beyond the specified limits.

Summary
In this tutorial, you learned to use the Limit
Controller to limit the range of another controller.
In this case, you limited the rotation controller
assigned to the lid of the treasure chest.

Animating with Set Key

Set Key mode is an animation mode in
Autodesk VIZ that allows the professional
animator to try out different poses on a character
or hierarchy, and then use those poses to create
keys on selected tracks. It differs from Auto Key
This opens the Float Limit Controller dialog. mode, where every transform and each change to
an object’s animatable parameters will result in
10. Set the Upper Limit value to 0.0 and Lower
animation. In Set Key mode, you have to take an
Limit to –110.0.
action (clicking the Set Key button) in order to set
a key. Nothing happens automatically.
Mechanical, forensic, and industrial animators
might find that Set Key animation provides a
precise and deliberate workflow to use instead of
Auto Key mode.
While Set Key mode is intended primarily for
use with character animation, this example uses
a simple chess set and the quickest checkmate, a
four-move game, to illustrate the typical Set Key
workflow.

11. Close the dialog.

12. Close Curve Editor.
348 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

This scene is a wooden chess set. It isn’t

animated yet.

Use Set Key mode to move your pawns:

1. Turn on Set Key mode by clicking the

Toggle Set Key Mode button

The Set Key Mode toggle turns red, as

does the time slider background and the active
viewport outline.
2. In the Perspective viewport, select the pawn
in front of the white knight at the lower-right
corner. If the transform gizmo isn’t already
displayed, right-click and choose Move from
the quad menu.
The moves you will animate are:
• White kingside knight’s pawn moves ahead two
squares.
• Black queen’s pawn moves ahead two squares.
• White kingside bishop’s pawn moves ahead two
squares.
• Black queen moves diagonally to checkmate
White king.
Skill Level: Beginner
Time to complete: 20 minutes

Tutorial Files
Files for this tutorial are found on the program
disc in the \tutorials\intro_to_animation directory.
Before doing the tutorials, copy the \tutorials Pawn selected and Set Key mode turned on
directory from the disc to your local program
installation. First, you will set a key to keep the pawn in
place at frame 0.
Procedures
Set up the lesson:
3. Click Set Keys.
• On the File menu, choose Open and navigate
to the \tutorials\intro_to_animation folder.
Highlight wood_chess_set.max and click Open.
 Animating with Set Key 349

The button turns red for a moment. A

key appears at frame 0 on the track bar.
Note: The Set Keys button also works in Auto
Key mode.
4. Move the time slider to frame 10.
5. Using the transform gizmo, move the pawn
ahead two squares.

3. Press K on the keyboard. This is the shortcut

for the Set Keys button.
A key appears in the track bar for the Black
pawn.
4. Move the time slider to frame 30.
5. Move the pawn ahead two squares.
6. Move the time slider to frame 35.
The pawn jumps back.
Pawn position at frame 10 The reason the pose was discarded is because
you didn’t set a key at frame 30. This is an
important difference between Set Key and Auto
Key. By doing this lesson, you just learned that
6. Click Set Keys to set a key at frame 10.
if you don’t set keys while using Set Key, you
A key appears in the track bar at frame 10. cannot retrieve your work.
7. Move the time slider back to frame 30 and
move the pawn into place again.

Now you’ll animate the first move by the Black

side.

Animate the Black king’s pawn:

1. Move to frame 20.
2. Select the Black king’s pawn.
350 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

Animation at frame 30 Animation at frame 50

Press K again to set the key. Move a pose in time:

8. Play the animation. You might get a pose completely set up, only to
discover that you are on the wrong frame. There’s
The White pawn moves, and then the Black
a simple trick that lets you move the pose to
pawn moves.
another frame in time.
Animate the bishop’s pawn: 1. At frame 50, select the Black queen, and press

1. Select the White kingside bishop’s pawn and go

K to set a key.
to frame 40. 2. Move the time slider to frame 55.
3. Move the queen diagonally four squares. Use
the corners of the transform gizmo to move in
both X and Y at the same time.

Select this pawn at frame 40.

2. Press K to set a key.

3. Move to frame 50. Now move the pawn two Move the queen using the corners of the XY transform
squares ahead and press K again. gizmo.
 Animating with Set Key 351

Tip: Before moving the queen, arc rotate the

viewport so you can see the transform gizmo 2. On the Track View toolbar, click Show
corners. You can also press + on the keyboard Keyable icons.
to enlarge the gizmo. The tracks for the White king show red
Let’s say you realize you need this pose to “keyable” icons in the controller window.
happen at frame 60, not frame 55. Here’s what 3. Click the red icons next to the Z position track
you do. and the Scale track.
4. Right-click the time slider frame indicator (it
The icons turn black to show they are inactive.
reads 55/100) and drag to frame 60.
Now you will not be able to key the Z position
Now you are at frame 60, and the queen hasn’t or the scale of the king. You can still key the
jumped back to the previous position. rotation and the XY position tracks for the king.
5. Click Set Keys or press K to set a key.

Set keyable tracks and key filters:

You’ve seen how to use Set Key in its simplest form.
Now you’ll add a level of complexity by selectively
determining which tracks will be keyed.
The Black queen has the White king in checkmate.
Traditionally the king is knocked over to end the
game.
You’ll set the Keyable tracks so that you can
animate the rotation of the king, along with its X
and Y positions, but not its Z position. You don’t
want the king dropping through the board. Keyable tracks turned off for Z position and scale

Note: When using Set Key animation, it’s useful

If you want to key the rotation and the position
first to determine which tracks will be keyed
tracks individually, you can use the Key Filters.
and which won’t. In simple transforms this isn’t
crucial, but if you’re using Set Key to keyframe 4. Go to frame 75 and with the White king
object parameters, this is extremely important. If selected, press K .
you don’t define which tracks are keyable, all the This creates a position and rotation key at
animatable object parameters will receive keys frame 75.
when you click Set Keys.
5. Move to frame 90, then click
1. Select the White king, then right-click and
Key Filters. This button is to the right of the Set
choose Curve Editor.
Key button.
The Curve Editor window is displayed, with
6. On the Set Key Filters dialog, turn off
the King’s tracks displayed at the top of the everything except Position.
controller window.
352 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

automatically replace a key that has already been

set.
You can use the Curve Editor to edit the rotation
of the White King.
1. In the Curve Editor controller window select
the KingW Y rotation track, so it is the only
track that is yellow. Now you can manipulate
the keys on the curve.
2. In the Key Window, move the key at frame 100
7. Move to frame 100, then move the White king downward to approximately -200.
off the board to the left. Rotate the king so it is
on its side, then click Set Keys to create a key.
8. Play the animation. The White king moves off
the board, but doesn’t rotate, since Key Filters
did not allow the rotation track to be keyed.
9. Click Key Filters and turn Rotation back on.
10. Move to frame 100 and rotate the White king,
and then set a key.
Move the key downward to -200.
11. Play the animation. Now the rotation has been
keyframed. In the viewport you can see the rotation change
for the White King object.
If you like, you can also keyframe the Black
Queen moving into the White King’s square.

Checkmate!

Use the Curve Editor to edit rotation keys:

If you want to replace a key with a different
Rotation of White King object edited using Curve Editor
one, delete the key in the track bar, then use Set
Keys again to set a new key. Set Keys doesn’t
 Animating with Auto Key 353

3. Save your file as mycheckmate.max. If you had • Using tangent handles in the Function Curve
trouble, you can load quickest_checkmate.max Editor to control in-betweens.
to compare with your file. • Creating looping animation using Parameter
Out-of-Range Types.
Summary
• Animating using dummy objects.
In this tutorial you have learned to use Set Key
• Using Layout mode.
animation. You’ve learned to create keyframes
with the Set Keys button. You’ve learned to set Key • Applying Multiplier curves.
Filters and how to make tracks keyable in Track • Working with the Dope Sheet Editor to speed
View. You will find it useful to apply these lessons up animation and reverse time.
to animating complex structures.
• Using Weighted List controllers.

Tutorial Files
All the files necessary for this tutorial
Animating with Auto Key are provided on the program disc in the
\tutorials\intro_to_animation directory. Before
A bouncing ball is a common first project for new starting the tutorials, copy the \tutorials folder
animators. This classic example is an excellent from the disc to your local program installation.
tool for explaining basic animation processes in
Autodesk VIZ.
Creating Animation Using Auto
Key
In this lesson you’ll start learning how to animate
in Autodesk VIZ.

Animate the ball using the Move transform:

1. Choose File > Open to open bounce_start.max.
The file can be found in the\tutorials\intro_to_
animation directory.
Note: The following illustrations display the grid
differently than you will see in your viewports.
Skill Level: Beginner For ease of use, press G on the keyboard to
Time to complete: 1 hour 45 minutes hide the display of your grid.

Features Covered in This Tutorial

In these lessons you will learn:
• Creating animation using transforms.
• Copying keys in the track bar.
• Using ghosting to visualize in-betweens.
354 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

3. Click to select the ball in the Perspective

viewport.
It is displayed within white selection brackets,
indicating that it’s selected.
4. Right-click the sphere and choose Move from
the Transform quadrant of the quad menu.

The Transform gizmo appears in the viewport.

The Transform gizmo lets you easily perform
Perspective viewport: bounce_start.max constrained movements. As you move your
cursor over the Transform gizmo, the different
This file has the Perspective viewport on the axes and their labels turn yellow.
left. This is not the standard viewport layout;
the layout has been customized for this lesson.

2. Click Auto Key to turn on this feature.

The Auto Key button and the time

slider background turn red to indicate that
you are in animation mode. The viewport is
outlined in red, as well. Now, when you move,
rotate, or scale an object, you create keyframes
automatically.

5. Position the mouse cursor over the Z axis, and

when it turns yellow, click and drag upward to
raise the ball up in the air.
As you move the ball up in the air, notice the
Z value changing in the Coordinate Display
below the track bar.
The ball’s position at frame 0 is now fixed above
the box.
A Position key is created when you do this. The
key is displayed on the track bar.
Time Slider background turns red The track bar displays the keys for whatever is
selected in the viewport. The track bar is found
 Creating Animation Using Auto Key 355

directly beneath the time slider and above the

prompt area.

Frame 15: Ball is in contact with the box

You need to make the ball rise up to its original

Keyframe created in Auto Key Mode
position at frame 30. Instead of moving to
frame 30 and moving the ball back up in the air,
6. Move the time slider to frame 15.
you’ll use a different method.
To move the ball precisely down to the table
Tip: You can zero the Z coordinate (or any other
surface, put your cursor in the Coordinate
spinner) by right-clicking the spinner arrows.
display Z field, and change the value to 0.
7. Put your mouse over the time slider’s frame
indicator (the grey box that currently reads
Coordinate Display type-in for precision animation. 15/100 and right-click.
The Create Key dialog appears.
The box is built off the world origin, so a Z
8. In the Create Key dialog, change the Source to 0
position value of 0 will set the ball directly in
and the Destination to 30, then click OK.
contact with the box.
This copies the key from frame 0 to frame 30.
Note: The World Origin, (0,0,0) in XYZ
coordinates, is shown by the intersection of the 9. Click Play Animation to play the
dark lines on the Home grid. animation, or drag the time slider back and
forth between frames 0 and 30.
The ball moves down and up between frames 0
and 30, and stays up in the air between frames
30 and 100.

10. If you clicked Play Animation, click Stop

(the same button) to end the playback.
Next, you’ll set the length of the active time
segment to 30 frames.
356 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

determine the position in space of the in-between

11. In the time controls, click Time
frames. Ghosting will let you see where the
Configuration.
in-betweens are being positioned.
12. In the Time Configuration dialog > Animation
group, set End Time to 30. Don’t click the Using ghosting to visualize in-betweens:
Re-Scale Time button. Click OK. 1. Move the time slider to frame 15.
Autodesk VIZ lets you work in an active time 2. From the Views menu, click Show Ghosting to
segment that’s a part of a larger animation. turn on this feature.
Here you are making frames 0 through 30 the
active time segment. Notice that the time slider The ghosting feature shows object positions
now shows only these frames. The other frames before the current keyframe in an aqua color.
still exist, they just aren’t part of the active 3. Go to Customize menu > Preferences >
segment at the moment. Viewports tab, and set Ghosting Frames to 4
13. Play the animation.
and set Display Nth frame to 3. Click OK to
exit the dialog.
The ball goes up and down. Since the first and
last frames are the same, the animation appears The viewport displays the ghosting.
to cycle as it plays.
The ball moves, but it doesn’t have “bounce”
yet.
14. Stop the animation playback.
Autodesk VIZ made decisions on how the
in-betweens are being distributed. Right now
they are evenly distributed so the ball has no
acceleration. It doesn’t speed up or slow down;
it just floats along with no sense of weight.
You need to simulate the effect of gravity so that
the ball slows to a stop at the top of its bounce,
speeds up as it approaches the table, and then
bounces up again. To accomplish this, you’ll Ghosting shows the object positions on previous keyframes.
use the key interpolation curves available on
the Curve Editor. You’ll also use the Ghosting 4. Play the animation, and then stop.
feature to help visualize what the interpolation 5. Now, to control the in-betweens, right-click the
curves are doing. ball in the viewport and choose Curve Editor.
The Function Curve Editor is displayed across
the top two viewports.
Controlling In-Betweens
The Curve Editor is composed of two windows,
To make the ball bounce more convincingly, you’ll a Controller window on the left that shows the
change the interpolation on the key at frame 15. names of tracks, and a Keys window on the
You’ll use the tangency handles available in the right that shows keys and curves.
Curve Editor. The tangency of the curve will
 Controlling In-Betweens 357

6. In the Controller window on the left, click to

select only the Z position track. Shift key allows for manipulation of individual handles.

Note: If you don’t see the Z Position track, click

the plus icon to the left of the Sphere to expand You’ll change one more setting to make this tool
the Sphere’s tracks. If you don’t see a plus icon, more useful.
right-click and choose Manual Navigation,
Using Interactive Update:
hold down Alt and right-click, and then
choose Expand from the quad menu. 1. On the Track View Settings menu turn on
Interactive Update. Now move the time slider to
There are a lot of possible configurations in the frame 15, then manipulate the tangency handle
Curve Editor, so you may encounter variations while observing the effect in the ghosting. You
from the standard. can clearly see the changes as you work.
Now the only curve displayed in the Keys 2. Set the tangency handle so the in-betweens are
window is the one you want to work on. mostly drawn toward the raised position (see
the illustration that follows). With interactive
Function curve for bouncing ball Z position update on you can do this with very fine
control.
7. Move the Track View time slider (the double
aqua line in the Key window).
As you move back and forth the animation
plays in the viewport.
If you look carefully you’ll see a dark dot on the
curve at frame 15.
8. Drag around the dark dot (the position key)
to select it.
The selected key turns white on the curve.
To manipulate the curve you need to change the
tangency type so you have access to tangency
handles.
Interactive update and ghosting

9. On the Track View toolbar, click Set 3. Move the time slider to frame 30, then adjust
Tangents To Custom. the right tangency handle so it approximately
If you look carefully you’ll see a pair of black matches the left one.
tangency handles have appeared on the curve.
10. Hold down the Shift key and drag the left
handle on the left upwards in the Key window. By manipulating this handle you can get
Using the Shift key lets you manipulate the different effects. The upward movement of the
left handle independently from the right. ball as it bounces off the table will determine
the perception of the weight of the ball. The ball
The curve now looks like this:
will appear to be bouncy, like a tennis ball, if
358 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

the two handles are similar. The ball will appear Repeat keyframed motion:
to hang in space if enough of the in-betweens 1. Continue from the previous lesson, or open
are drawn close to the topmost position. bounce_repeat.max. This is a Autodesk VIZ
4. Turn off Views > Show Ghosting and scene with the ball bouncing once.
then play the animation. Concentrate on the 2. If the Curve Editor isn’t displayed already, select
movement of the ball. Adjust the curve handles the ball in the viewport, right-click, and choose
some more while the animation plays. Observe Curve Editor from the quad menu.
the effect. 3. In the Controller window, make sure that only
The ball leaves the table as quickly as it hit it, the Z Position track is selected.
then begins to slow down as it rises. Before you repeat the keyframes, you’ll extend
5. Play the animation, and then stop. the length of the animation.
The ball has bounce now. It looks like there is
4. Click Time Configuration. This button is
gravity at work here.
beneath the Go To End button in the animation
When you see something you like in the playback controls at the bottom-right corner of
viewport, it’s a reminder that you should save the interface (not Track View).
your work. It’s easy to forget while you’re being
5. Change the Animation End Time to 120.
creative.
This adds 90 blank frames onto the existing
6. Save your work as mybounce.max.
30 frames. It doesn’t stretch the 30 frames
You’ve made the ball bounce once. In the next over 120. The ball will still be bouncing once
section you’ll learn to repeat the bouncing of the between frames 0 and 30.
ball using Out-of-Range types in Track View.
6. Now, back in Track View, click the
Parameter Curve Out-Of-Range Types button
Adding Parameter Curve on the toolbar.
Out-of-Range Types
You can repeat a series of keys over and over in a
variety of ways, without having to make copies of
them and position them along the time line. In this
lesson, you’ll add Parameter Curve Out-Of-Range
Types to the ball’s position keys. Out-Of-Range
Types let you choose how you want the animation
to repeat beyond the range of the current keys.
They have the advantage that when you make
changes to the one set of keys, the changes are Parameter curve out-of-range type choices
reflected throughout the animation
7. Click both boxes under the Cycle graph to
Most of the tools in Track View are available both
choose Cycle for In and Out. Click OK.
from menu choices and from toolbars. This feature
is also on the Controllers menu.
 Animating with Dummy Objects 359

Set up the lesson:

1. On the File menu choose Open.
2. Navigate to the \tutorials\intro_to_animation
directory on your hard disk and open
bounce_dummy.max.
This file is similar to the bouncing ball created
8. Click Zoom Horizontal Extents on the in the last lesson. The only difference is that it
Navigation: Track View toolbar at the lower has a text object prepared for you in the scene
right corner of the Track View window. and it has a longer active time segment.
Tip: If you want to keep using your own
The Keys window zooms back so the entire
time segment is visible. The Parameter bouncing ball, you can merge the text object in
Out-of-Range curves are displayed as dotted from the bounce_dummy.max file using File >
lines. Merge. Or create your own.

3. If you didn’t open bounce_dummy.max.,

Parameter Out-of-Range curve you’ll need to extend the active time segment
to 240 frames. Click the Time Configuration
There are no keys beyond frame 30. Any change button and then in the Animation group change
made to the original keys will be reflected in End Time to 240.
the looping.
Create a dummy object:
Tip: You can create keys for the out-of-range
curves by choosing Utilities > Track View 1. Go to frame 0, if you’re not there already.
Utilities > Create Out of Range Keys. 2. Right-click the Top viewport to activate it, then
9. Play the animation. zoom in on the ball and the box.
The ball bounces over and over.
3. On the Create panel, click the
10. Save your work as mybounce_repeat.max helpers button, then on the Object Type rollout
Next, you will learn to link the ball to a dummy click Dummy.
object and then use the dummy to animate the 4. In the Top viewport, move the cursor over the
position of the ball. This allows you to keep the ball.
bouncing independent from the position, and
Tip: Move the Layers and Extras toolbars away
makes it easier to control the animation.
from the Top viewport
5. Press the mouse button and drag outwards to
Animating with Dummy Objects create a dummy object.

In this lesson, you will link the bouncing ball to a

helper object. Then you can animate the helper so
that the ball bounces across the top of some text.
This animation technique is useful because you
can control the ball’s bouncing and its traveling
motion independently.
360 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

You’ll see the dummy shift position so it is

aligned to the sphere.
Next, you’ll align the dummy’s pivot point with
its base, and you will position the dummy so
that it sits on top of the box. The idea is to
set up the dummy so that its pivot point will
match where the ball bounces. Then placing
the dummy on any frame in time will ensure
the correct alignment.

8. Select the dummy object, and go to the

Hierarchy panel.
Make the dummy in the Top viewport. Instead of moving the pivot, you will move the
object using Affect Object Only. This moves the
If you look in the Front viewport, you’ll see that object but leaves the pivot unmoved.
while the ball is up in the air, the dummy is
9. On the Adjust Pivot rollout, click Affect Object
positioned at the same level as the box.
Only to turn it on.
The pivot icon is displayed in the viewport.

Dummy created below the ball

Next you will align the dummy so that it is

centered over the sphere when viewed from
Pivot point tripod display
the top.
Now you can move the object to change its
6. On the toolbar, click Align. Then in the relationship with the pivot point.
Top viewport, click the Sphere.
The Align Selection dialog is displayed. 10. Turn on Select And Move, and raise
7. On the Align Selection dialog, turn on X the dummy cube so its base is level with the
Position and Y Position, but leave Z turned off. pivot tripod. Use the Transform gizmo so the
Click OK. dummy only moves up.
 Animating with Dummy Objects 361

You don’t want to move in any other axis, since

the dummy is already centered properly in the
other axes.
Tip: You can increase the size of the transform
gizmo by pressing the = key repeatedly until
the gizmo is the size you want.

Link the ball to the dummy

You just linked the ball to the dummy.

You can also create linkages in Schematic View.
For something this simple, it’s easier to link
directly in the viewport.
= key used to grow the transform gizmo When you’ve created a linkage, it’s a good idea
to test it out to make sure you did what you
11. Turn off Affect Object Only. think you did.
Now you will link the ball to the dummy. The Verify that you’ve created the hierarchy:
dummy will become the parent to the bouncing
ball.
1. On the toolbar, turn on Select Object.
Link the ball to the dummy: 2. Press H to select by object name.
1. In the Front viewport, zoom in so you can see 3. On the Select Objects dialog, turn on Display
the dummy and the ball. Subtree, it is isn’t already on.
The Sphere01 object should appear indented
2. On the main toolbar, turn on Select below Dummy01 in the list.
And Link. 4. Click Cancel to exit the Select Objects dialog.
3. Move the cursor over the ball, then press and 5. You can also test a linkage by transforming
hold the mouse button. the parent object. Rotating the dummy in the
The cursor changes to two interlinked boxes. viewport will affect he ball as well. If you do
this, then undo the transform once you’ve
4. Move the mouse to the dummy. A rubber-band
tested your linkage.
line follows the cursor. When the cursor passes
over the dummy, it changes again. One box is
white, showing you this object (the dummy)
will be the parent of the first object (the ball).
When the cursor has changed, release the
mouse button.
362 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

5. Use the time slider

to move to frame 15, or type 15 in the Go To
Frame field.
6. Move the dummy using the Transform gizmo
so the ball is touching the box.

Testing the linkage

Now you’re ready to animate the dummy. You’ll

use simple Auto Key animation first, just so you
can understand the process.
Dummy at frame 15
Animate the dummy:
1. Grab the divider lines between the viewports You just set two keys for the dummy, one at the
and drag them so the perspective viewport is start location at frame 0 and a second at frame
wide screen. 15.
2. Turn on Auto Key 7. Go to frame 30 and move the dummy again to
the right of the box, so the ball continues to
3. On the main toolbar, turn on Select And bounce away, rather than straight up in the air.
Move.
4. At frame 0, move the dummy so it is to the left
of the box in the Perspective viewport.

Dummy at frame 30

You’ve now set a third key at frame 30. If you

play the animation, you’ll see the ball bounce
Dummy at frame 0 off the box as if it had been tossed.
You can display the trajectory of the ball to help
visualize the animation. Here’s how.
 Animating with Dummy Objects 363

3. Watch the position of the trajectory and move

8. On the main toolbar, turn on Select the dummy until the bounce point of the
Object. trajectory intersects the top of the letter F.
You can use any transform tool for this,
but using Select Object ensures you don’t
accidentally transform the object.
9. Select the ball, and then right-click it.
10. Choose Properties from the quad menu.
11. In the Object Properties dialog, in the Display
Properties group, turn on Trajectory.

Layout Mode lets you move the animation in space.

Bounce the ball on the letters:

Now you’ll repeat what you’ve learned to create the
ball bouncing on the letters.
The ball bounces 8 times, making contact with
the letters at frames 15, 45, 75, 105, 135, 165, 195,
and 220.
Trajectory display for the ball
1. Turn on Auto Key.
12. Play the animation.
2. In the track bar, select the key at frame 30 and
You see the ball bouncing onto the box and off, delete it.
following the trajectory.
3. Move the time slider to frame 45 (or enter 45 in
the Current Frame field).
Try Layout mode:
4. Position the dummy so the ball bounces on the
If you turn off Auto Key and move the dummy,
double L’s in the word “Follow”.
you will be moving the entire animation in space.
When both Auto Key and Set Key are off, you are 5. Move the time slider, then the dummy so the
working in what is known as Layout mode. Here ball bounces on the following letters at these
you will use Layout mode, so that instead of the frames.
ball bouncing on the block, the ball bounces off • F at frame 15
the letter F.
• l l at frame 45
1. Turn off Auto Key Mode. • w at frame 75
The red disappears in the time slider • t h at frame 105
background and viewport outline.
• b at frame 135
2. Move the dummy object back toward the text.
• u at frame 165
• c at frame 195
364 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

• ba at frame 225 in a large change in the animation. You can

counteract this by zooming in on the multiplier
track.

4. On the Navigation: Track View toolbar

(at the lower right of the Keys window), click
the Zoom Region button. Drag a zoom region
window around the key at frame 240 on the
multiplier track.
5. On the Settings menu, turn on Interactive
Update.

6. At frame 240, move the dummy so the ball

move away from the letters. 6. On the Track View toolbar click Move
Keys to turn it on, then move the multiplier key
7. Play the animation and observe the results.
downward, while observing the effect on the
8. Save your work as mybounce_text.max. If trajectory in the Perspective viewport.
you had any trouble, you can open the file
bounce_text.max to see the correct animation
so far.
Next you will learn to use a multiplier curve to
affect the height of the bouncing ball.
Lowering the multiplier curve shows effect on Z position
Add a multiplier curve: curve in Keys window

1. Select the ball in the viewport, right-click and

Don’t move it below the horizontal zero value,
choose Curve Editor.
or you will get some strange effects.
The Curve Editor window is displayed, if it
wasn’t already visible.
2. In the Controller window, click the Z Position
track.
3. On the Curves menu, choose Apply Multiplier
Curve. In the Controller window, click the plus
icon. Click the Multiplier Curve to highlight
it, and then hold down Ctrl and click the Z
Position track. This way you have only these
two curves displayed.
In the Controller window, the Multiplier curve Multiplier curve shown on trajectory

is added beneath the Z position track. It’s not

very noticeable in the Keys window on the right. Tip: You can type in precision values on the Key
Stats: Track View toolbar.
The scaling of the multiplier track is quite small,
so the slightest change to a key could result
 Using the Dope Sheet Editor 365

While working with Multiplier curves, if you’re

not sure you like the results, you can just turn 5. On the Display: Dope Sheet toolbar,
them off. Select the Multiplier curve in the click Modify Child Keys to turn it on.
Controller window, then on the Curves menu Now the changes you make to the dummy range
choose On/Off. will also be applied to the bouncing ball.
7. Click Zoom Horizontal Extents on in the 6. Click the end of the Dummy range and drag it
Navigation toolbar to see the entire curve again. to the left to around frame 100.

Using the Dope Sheet Editor

Track View also has a mode called Dope Sheet,
which lets you work with keys and ranges. In this
lesson, you’ll use the range function to make your
Range bars used to speed up the animation
animation go faster. You’ll also use the Time tools
to reverse your animation. This compresses the animation for the dummy
and the bouncing ball so it happens within 100
Speed up the animation:
frames.
The bouncing ball doesn’t have enough pep. To
Tip: You can raise the time ruler up from
speed up the animation, you’ll use Edit Ranges in
the bottom of the Keys window for greater
Dope Sheet mode.
precision.
1. Continue from before or open bounce_
7. Play the animation.
multiplied.max.
The animation plays faster. The ball continues
2. Select the dummy object in the viewport. Then,
bouncing at the end of the animation. There
on the Graph Editors menu, choose Track View
are several different ways you could correct this.
— Dope Sheet.
You could try to use an ease curve to stop the
animation, or create keys from the out-of-range
3. On the Keys: Dope Sheet toolbar, click curve, and then delete the keys. Or you can set
Edit Ranges. By default, the Keys: Dope Sheet the active time segment to 100 frames.
toolbar is on the top left.
The Keys window now displays the ranges for 8. Click the Time Configuration button
the animation. beneath the animation playback controls.

4. In the Controller window, highlight the item 9. Change the Animation End time to 100.
label Dummy01. This way you will adjust the
Reverse time:
ranges of all the dummy’s tracks at the same
time. You can reverse the animation by using the Time
tools available in Dope Sheet mode. It’s easy to do.
Before making changes to the dummy, you
want to make sure you also are making changes
to the bouncing ball as well. Since the bouncing 1. On the Keys Dope Sheet toolbar, click
ball is the child of the dummy, you’ll use the Edit Keys.
Modify Child Keys button.
366 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

The range bars are replaced with keys. controller you already have. Here you will add
2. On the Time menu, choose Select. a Noise controller to layer the animation of a
Ping-Pong ball.
When working with Time commands, you first
select the time, then make changes to it. 1. Choose File > Open to load pingpong_
volley.max.
3. In the Keys window, on the Dummy track, drag
from frame 0 to frame 100 to select the time. A Ping-Pong ball and table are visible.

The time is displayed as a light yellow band in Tip: If the texture on the table looks wrong,
the Dummy track. right-click the Perspective viewport label and
choose Texture Correction.

Time displayed as light yellow band

4. On the Time menu, choose Reverse

The animation plays backwards. The ball
bounces from right to left instead of left to
right, and the last bounce now happens on the
letter F instead of the double L in ball. Ping-Pong volley
Tip: You can easily reverse the playback of an
animation using controls found in the Time 2. Play the animation.
Configuration menu. But if you need to actually The Ping-Pong ball bounces over the net in a
reverse the keys, this is the technique to use. simulated volley. The last four bounces happen
in place. You can use weighted list controllers
to remove those last four bounces, and replace
Using Weighted List Controllers them with a rolling motion. A Noise controller
can be added to get rid of the bouncing, and
There are many different animation controllers in
instead you will have the ball wobble around
Autodesk VIZ. Each one has its own attributes,
on the table, then stop.
strengths, and uses. Each one has techniques
associated with it. Controllers can be combined 3. Select the Ping-Pong ball.
using weighted list controllers. By changing or 4. Open the Motion panel and expand the Assign
animating the weights of controllers in a list, you Controller rollout.
can adjust each controller’s effect, and animate in
Notice that the Assign Controller rollout
a nonlinear way. Here, you’ll learn to animate the
displays the Position controller as a Bezier
weights and to see what they can do.
Position for the Ping-Pong ball. Use the pan
Use the Weighted List controller: hand in the window to read the label.

With the Position List controller, you can add There are at least three different places where
other controllers on top of the Bezier Position you can assign a controller to an object: in
Track View windows, on the Motion panel,
 Using Weighted List Controllers 367

or from the Animation menu. You’ll use the The new Noise Position track appears below
Animation menu to assign the controller, and the Bezier Position track. The old animation
the Motion panel to edit the weights. has not been replaced; instead, the new Noise
5. On the Animation menu (not on the Motion controller has been added to it.
panel), choose Position Controllers > Noise. If you play the animation, the ball flies all over
The viewport trajectory changes into a frenzied the place. It is following the position controller
red spline. Don’t worry, this is correct. tracks and the noise controller tracks. This
probably isn’t what you want here. You will
need to adjust the noise parameters and the
weighting of the controllers.

Adjust the Noise Frequency and Strength:

1. In the Assign Controllers window, highlight
and then right-click the Noise Position entry
and choose Properties.
The Noise Controller properties dialog is
displayed
2. Change the Frequency to something very small,
Noise controller: A frantic trajectory
like 0.009.
Note: When you assign a controller from the 3. Change the Z Strength to 0.0.
Animation menu, a weighted list controller is
Important: If you miss this step, the tutorial won’t
automatically added to your object.
work. The Z strength counteracts the up-and-down
6. On the Motion panel, in the Assign Controllers bouncing movement.
rollout, expand the position list, and then the
4. Change the X Strength and Y Strength to 1.0.
Noise Controller.
This creates the motion of the ball wobbling
You can see that Noise Strength is indented
around on the table surface.
beneath the Noise Position. If you scroll down
a little, you can see that the Weight is listed as
well.

Noise Controller Properties dialog

368 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

5. Play the animation 9. In the Position List, select the Bezier Position
The Noise is now less jittery, in fact barely layer, then right-click the Weight spinner to set
visible. You need to weight the controllers so the the value to 0 and set a key.
noise doesn’t affect the bouncing until frame This removes the bouncing from this point on.
201, and to turn off the position controller after
frame 200. 10. In the animation playback controls, click
Go To Start .
Animate the weights: 11. Select the Noise Position in the Position list,
then set the Weight value to 0.
1. Turn on Auto Key.
12. Play the animation.
The Auto Key button turns red.
2. Move to frame 200.
You’ll set keys at frames 200 and 201 for the
Bezier Position. You’ll also set keys at frames
200, 201 and 0 for the Noise.
3. Open the Position List rollout, then in the
window select the Bezier Position layer.
4. Locate the Weight field, then Shift +right-click
the spinner arrows.
The spinner is outlined in red, showing a Ball stops bouncing after frame 200, rolls around table
keyframe has been placed there.
Tip: You can set keys this way in both Set Key The Ping-Pong ball bounces across the table,
and Auto Key modes. then stops bouncing, but still rolls around a bit.
5. Select the Noise Position layer in the Position 13. If for some reason the ball is rolling around
List rollout. in the air, instead of on the table, go to frame
201 and move the dummy object down until
6. Right-click the spinner.
the ball comes into contact with the table.
The Weight value is reset to 0, and a key is set. Use this technique to correct any other errant
Tip: Right-click any spinner to reset the value to movement.
0 and set a key. Shift +right-click any spinner 14. To stop the ball’s movement altogether, go to
to add a key without changing the value. frame 250 and keyframe the Noise weight to
7. Move to frame 201. 0. Play the animation. The ball stops moving
completely at frame 250.
Tip: You can use the . key on the keyboard to
move ahead one frame at a time. You can also 15. Turn off Auto Key.
click the arrows on either side of the frame
16. Save your work as mypingpong_layered_
indicator on the time slider.
animation.max.
8. With Noise still selected, enter 100 in the
Weight field,
 Animating for Design Visualization 369

You can open pingpong_layered_animation.max design will impact its surroundings at a specific
to compare your work with a completed tutorial location during a precise day of the year. Shadow
file. studies can be of major importance in urban plan
approval.

Animating for Design

Visualization
Animated design visualizations can enable you
to present your clients with more informative,
lifelike, and detailed renderings than are possible
with still images. Because of its wide range of
animation tools, Autodesk VIZ is ideal for creating
such visualizations.

Shadow study

When making a client presentation of any major

building proposal, you can add animated elements
to give added realism to your movie. Elevators can
rise in a hotel atrium, planes can land and take off
from airport runways. Doors can open before you,
cars can park or drive by. This type of animation
is quick and easy to do, and can add a high-tech
luster to the visualization of your design.

Flyaround house exterior

One of the most exciting aspects of Autodesk VIZ

is the capacity to create animation. You can move
your camera around, over or through your scene
and film a movie of what your camera sees. Or you
can use animation simply to explore your design,
to look at what you had in your mind and make
it better. And of course, ultimately, to show it to
others.
In addition to animation of cameras, you can Elevators animated
animate other objects in your scene. Animate the
In these lessons, you will focus on the basics of
time of day in the Daylight system to produce
camera animation. You will create a camera in
shadow studies, to accurately determine how your
a variety of ways, then animate a camera flying
370 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

around the exterior of a house. You will learn to

animate the camera moving through the interior, Creating the Camera for a
and also create a shadow study of a cityscape by Flyaround
animating the Daylight system.
There are two different types of cameras you can
create, the Free camera and the Target camera. A
Free camera has a single icon to animate, while the
Target camera has two: the camera and its target.
You can switch between camera types, changing a
Free camera to a Target and back again.
You can also import cameras from AutoCAD
Architecture files.

Create a target camera:

Creating a camera in Autodesk VIZ is simple. Just
follow these few steps:
Interior walkthrough
1. From the \tutorials\full_house folder, open
Skill level: Beginner full_house_start_camera_animation.max.
Time to complete: 5+ hours (includes rendering The house model appears in the four viewports.
time to create several animations.)

Features Covered in This Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
• Create a target camera.
• Switch between a target and free camera.
• Create a camera from a view.
• Animate a camera flyaround of an exterior.
• Animate a camera walkthrough of an interior.
• Animate a daylight system to create a shadow
study.
House seen in four viewports
• Render an Animation

Tutorial Files 2. On the Viewport Navigation controls,

click the Zoom Mode button. In the Top
All the files necessary to do the tutorials
viewport, press and drag to zoom back a bit
can be found on the program disc in the
until you can see the Daylight system icon.
\tutorials\full_house folder, unless otherwise
specified. Before doing the tutorials, copy the This gives you more room to create your
\tutorials directory from the disc to your local camera.
program installation.
 Creating the Camera for a Flyaround 371

have changed. There are different controls for

cameras than for the Perspective viewport.
The viewport now shows what the camera
“sees.”

6. Click the Dolly Camera button and then

drag upward in the Camera viewport; this
zooms in to better view the house.

Top viewport

3. From the Create menu, choose Cameras >

Target Camera.
A Target camera has two components, the
camera and the point it looks at, the target.
4. In the Top viewport, click to the left of the
daylight icon, then drag toward the center of
the house. When your cursor is approximately Camera viewport
over the center of the house, release the mouse
button to set the target point. 7. To see the house from a bird’s eye
perspective, use the Orbit camera button in
the viewport navigation controls. You can also
use the same command to rotate the camera
around the house at street level. Watch the
other viewports to observe the movement of
the camera in space.
Tip: To undo camera moves in the Camera
viewport, press Ctrl+Z rather than Shift+Z .
8. When you have a camera view you like, save
your work. Choose File > Save Copy As and
then name your scene my_camera_view01.max.
Add a target camera with the target inside the house. Take note of where you save your work.

5. Right-click the Perspective viewport to make it Change a target camera into a free camera:
active, then press the C key on the keyboard.
1. Open \tutorial\full_house\full_house_start_
This is a keyboard shortcut for Camera View.
switch_camera.max.
The Perspective viewport is replaced with
2. If the Camera isn’t still selected, select the
the Camera viewport. Notice in the bottom
Camera. The easiest way to do this is to press
right that the Viewport navigation controls
372 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

H on the keyboard, then choose Camera02 If you do change the height of the free camera, you
from the list. will discover it is no longer directed toward the
The camera icon turns white in the viewports. center of the house. Here’s a quick trick to avoid
that.
3. On the Modify panel, on the Parameters rollout
locate the Type: field. Click the drop-down Adjust the height of a camera:
arrow and choose Free Camera.
1. Continue from before. Select the camera if
it isn’t already selected, then right-click and
choose Move from the quad menu.
2. Move the Free camera in the Left viewport,
raising it up slightly higher than the roof.

Notice that the house slips out of sight in the

Camera viewport.

The Camera icon changes in the Top viewport.

There is no longer a target or a line connecting
the camera and the target.
Tip: You can switch back and forth between free
and target cameras, as needed.
3. Undo the camera move by choosing Edit >
You set the height of the camera as part of the Undo Move.
creation process (based on the active grid), but
you are also free to change the height of the camera Tip: You can also use Ctrl+Z to undo the last
at any time after that. action.
 Creating the Camera for a Flyaround 373

4. On the Parameters rollout, switch the camera animate from there. You can create a new camera
Type back to Target Camera. from the view in a few simple steps.
5. Use the Transform gizmo to move the Target 1. From the \tutorial\full_house directory, open
camera up in the air. full_house_start_camera_animation.max.
The virtual house model is displayed in the
viewports. This is the same file with which you
began the tutorial.

Use the Target to determine what the camera looks at.

Notice that now the Camera viewport maintains

focus on the model of the house. The camera
persists in “looking at” the target.
View from the Perspective viewport

2. Right-click anywhere in the Perspective

viewport to activate that view.
The viewport is highlighted with a yellow
outline when it is active.
3. From the Views menu, choose Create Camera
From View.
The Perspective viewport label changes
to Camera01, otherwise the view appears
unchanged. The new camera is now visible in
the other viewports.
6. Switch the type back to Free Camera once the
4. On the Parameters rollout, change the camera
camera is in the air.
back to a Free camera.
7. Save your work as my_free_camera.max.
5. Save your file as my_camera_from_view.max.

Create a camera from a view:

Summary
The Perspective and User viewports in
Autodesk VIZ are similar to camera views, except You have learned how to create cameras in
that they can’t be animated. Sometimes you find Autodesk VIZ. You can adjust the camera using
a particular Perspective view that you like, then the Dolly camera and Orbit camera commands.
realize you have not made a camera and so can’t You have also learned to switch between target and
374 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

free camera types, and how to create a camera

directly from a perspective viewport.

Animating the Camera

Once you have created a camera, you can fly that
camera around the exterior of your design to view
it from all sides. You can adjust the height of the
camera to see the building from above, from a
bird’s eye view, or you can create your flyaround at
ground level mimicking a human perspective.
When the camera animation is complete, you can Affect Pivot Only allows you to change the pivot
render what the camera sees into a movie or a for the free camera. In this lesson you’ll move
sequence of still images. You can also stop the the pivot point to the same location where the
camera at any point and render a high resolution camera target was (when the camera was a
image for print or other presentation purposes. Target camera). You’ll use the Local coordinate
In this lesson you will animate a free camera. You system to move the pivot in one direction only.
will set the free camera pivot point to be inside 3. Right-click the pivot tripod in the viewport and
the model of the house, then rotate the camera to choose Move from the quad menu.
create the flyaround. The Select and Move button is activated on the
Main toolbar.
Set up the scene:
• From the \tutorials\full_house folder open
full_house_start_camera_flyaround.max.

Adjust the free camera pivot:

1. Right-click the Camera viewport label, and
then choose Select Camera from the menu.
This is a fast way to select a camera.
2. On the Hierarchy Panel, with Pivot selected,
turn on Affect Pivot Only in the Adjust Pivot
rollout.
Select and Move Transform gizmo
The pivot tripod appears.

4. On the Main toolbar, change the Reference

Coordinate System field (to the right of the
Select and Scale button) so it reads Local. By
default, the Reference Coordinate System is set
to View.
 Animating the Camera 375

Notice that the Transform gizmo changes 8. Change the Reference Coordinate system from
orientation. It now matches that orientation of Local to World on the Main toolbar.
the pivot tripod. Notice that the Transform gizmo reorients itself
to align with the viewports.

5. Press the + key on the keyboard to increase

World coordinate system
the size of the Transform gizmo so it is easier
to work with. Animate a free camera flyaround:
6. Using the Transform gizmo, move the pivot Now, you will keyframe the rotation of the camera
tripod in the local Z direction only until it to create a flyaround.
is aligned with the end of the camera cone.
1. In the Top viewport, select the Camera if it isn’t
The following illustration shows the correct
already selected.
position of the pivot.
You make animation in Autodesk VIZ by
setting keyframes. You can create keyframes
several different ways. First, you will learn to
create keyframes using the time slider.
2. Make sure the time slider is at frame 0. The
frame indicator should read 0/100. Right-click
directly on the frame indicator.
The Create Key dialog appears.
3. In the Create Key dialog, turn off Position and
Scale. Leave the source and destination frames
set to 0, then click OK.
Pivot point moved using local transform

7. On the Hierarchy panel, turn off Affect Pivot

Only.
The Pivot tripod disappears in the view. Only
the Transform gizmo remains.
376 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

A key appears in the track bar. This means In the Camera viewport, you can see the left
there is a Rotation keyframe defined for the side of the house.
camera at frame 0.
Next, you will create keyframes using the Auto
Key button.

4. Turn on the Auto Key button.

Now you are in Auto Key mode. The button
turns red to remind you that you are creating
animation now.
5. Right-click in the active viewport and choose
Rotate from the quad menu.
6. Move the time slider to frame 25. Drag the
slider and watch its readout change as you so so. You will repeat this process to add a keyframe
When it reads 25/100, release the mouse button. at frame 50.
Tip: Now turn on Angle Snap to make rotating 8. Move the time slider to frame 50, then rotate
the camera easier. Press the A key on the the camera exactly -120 degrees.
keyboard to turn it on.
7. Move the cursor over the Transform gizmo
in the Top viewport, then rotate the camera
about the Z axis exactly -120.00. Watch the
Coordinate display below the viewports and
when it reads -120.00, release the mouse
button.

In the Top viewport, the camera is now to the

left of the house.
Camera at frame 50 in Top viewport

Camera at frame 25 in the Top viewport

 Animating the Camera 377

controller. This type of controller allows

rotation keys of up to 180 degrees only. This is
the reason you have set three keys in order to
create 360 degrees of rotation.
Next, you’ll adjust the animation range so the
animation loops continuously.

Change the animation range:

1. Stop the animation playback and drag a
selection window around the keys in the track
bar.
Camera view at frame 50
The keys turn white to show they are selected.
You’ll repeat this process again at frame 75. 2. Right-click the track bar and choose Configure
Again, you’ll set the rotation to be -120 degrees. > Show Selection Range.
9. Move the time slider to frame 75, and rotate A range bar appears below the track bar.
the camera -120 degrees as shown in the 3. Click and drag the right edge of the selection
Coordinate display. range from frame 75 to frame 100.
This stretches the animation range from 75
frames to 100 frames.

Animation range bar used to extend the animation

4. In the Animation playback controls, click

the Play button.
Now the animation appears to loop, since the
camera is in the same position at frame 100 as
at frame 0.

10. Turn off Auto Key and activate the Camera There is one other thing you will need to do. It’s
viewport. not obvious from the viewport playback, but the
animation slows down as it approaches the last
11. In the Animation playback controls, click frame. You need to correct the key interpolation
the Play button. by choosing a different tangent type for the key
The camera viewport displays the flyaround at frame 100.
animation. The camera flies around the house
for 75 frames, then pauses for 25 frames. Adjust key interpolation:

Note: The camera rotation is governed by a 1. Stop the animation playback and click in the
Rotation controller. In Autodesk VIZ the track bar so no keys are selected.
default Rotation controller is an Euler XYZ The selection range bar disappears from view.
378 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

2. Select the keyframe at 100, then right-click.

From the menu that appears, choose Camera01:
Z Rotation.
The Key Info dialog appears.

Choose Linear tangency, the highlighted button in this

expanded flyout.
The In and Out tangency types control the
keyframe interpolation which creates the
4. Click the Copy tangency arrow (the right
illusion of motion. You will change the In and
pointing one between In and Out tangency
Out interpolation from Bezier to Linear.
types). This copies the linear type to the Out
Warning: There are no tooltips available for the type. Click the Copy tangency arrow at the
Tangency types. Use the illustration to confirm the right of the Out type as well. This will copy the
correct choice. tangency from here to the next key.
3. Click and hold the In: tangency type flyout (the
one on the left) and choose Linear tangency.
See the illustration that follows to confirm you
have the correct one.

Linear In and Out tangency at the fourth keyframe

5. Click the right Key selector arrow at the top left

of the dialog to choose the key at frame 0. The
 Animating the Camera 379

first keyframe values are displayed now in the This will let you identify errors quickly.
Key Info dialog. Click the Copy tangency right 4. In the Rendering Level group, choose Facets
arrow to copy the In type to the Out type. and Highlight.
Since the house is made up of flat planes you
don’t need to choose Smooth+Highlights.
5. Click Create to create the Preview.
The Preview renders, and then plays back in the
Windows Media Player. The house appears to
spin rapidly in the viewport.
Tip: You can adjust the quality of your preview
by choosing Choose Codec in the Output
group. In the Video Compression dialog that
appears, you can choose between different
codecs and adjust their quality, then click OK.
6. Create another preview. This time, change the
Frame Rate Playback FPS to 15. Also, change
the Percent Of Output In Image Size to 100
Copy linear tangency at the first keyframe
percent.
Play the animation and observe the difference. Now the speed of the animation is slower.
If you activate the Top viewport you can see the 7. To save your preview, from the Animation
camera rotation appears seamless now. menu, choose Rename Preview. Name your
6. Save your work as my_flyaround01.max. animation my_flyaround.avi.
If you had any problems, you can open If you are using your flyaround for the purposes
\tutorialsr\full_house\full_house_end_camera_ of exploring your design, this preview rendering
flyaround.max to see the correctly animated file. may be all that you need. For presentation
purposes you can render the flyaround to an
Create a preview: AVI file or a sequence of high-resolution TGA
Before you consider rendering your animation, it’s still images. See Rendering an Animation (page
a good idea to make a preview, which is a kind of 391).
a test rendering. It generally renders at a lower
resolution, so rendering is faster and it lets you Summary
spot errors.
You have created a camera flyaround animation
1. Make sure the Camera viewport is active, then by rotating the camera, setting three rotation keys
choose Animation > Make Preview. to achieve 360 degrees of movement. You have
The Make Preview dialog appears. learned to change the range of the animation using
the selection range in the track bar, and to use the
2. In the Preview Range group, make sure that
Key Info dialog to smooth the looping motion.
Active Time Segment is turned on.
Lastly, you have learned to create a preview of your
3. In the Display In Preview group, turn on Frame animation.
Numbers.
380 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

Extend the animation range:

Creating a Walkthrough
1. Click the Time Configuration button next
After you have created a camera, you can “fly” to the Current Frame field.
that camera through the interior of your design.
You can use the camera to explore your virtual 2. On the Time Configuration dialog, in the
conception, and see if you actually designed what Animation group change the length of the
you thought you designed. You can also present animation to 770, then click OK. This will
your walkthroughs to your clients and colleagues. provide sufficient frames for your walkthrough
animation.
There are a variety of methods you can use to
The time slider frame indicator now displays
create a walkthrough animation. In this chapter
770 frames.
we’ll teach you a simple method of moving the
camera through the scene while in Auto Key mode. Dolly the camera and target to create keys:
One viewport is set to display what the camera
sees, another viewport is used to move and rotate 1. Turn on the Auto Key button
your camera through your model over time. With
2. Make sure the Camera viewport is active,
the Auto Key button turned on you just move
then on the Dolly flyout, click the Dolly Camera
ahead in time, then move the camera through
+ Target button.
space. Repeating this process will achieve an
animated camera animation. This button lets you click and drag in the
Camera viewport and move both the camera
Once the rough movement of the camera is and its target together in a straight line.
created, you can display the trajectory of the
camera as a line in the viewport, and then finesse 3. Click and drag in the camera viewport to zoom
the motion using the keys on the trajectory. You back slightly. Then, right-click the viewport
can draw a spline for the path of camera motion, label and choose Select Camera.
then use that spline as a template for the trajectory
keys.

Set up the lesson:

1. Start Autodesk VIZ.
2. From the \tutorials\full_house directory, open
full_house_start_walkin.max.
Tip: If you get a Units mismatch dialog, choose
Adopt Unit Scale and click OK.
This file has a camera ready for you to animate.
But first you will create a sufficient number of Camera view at frame 0
frames to hold your animation
4. Move the time slider to frame 90. You can
do this by highlighting the number in the
Current Frame indicator in the lower right
 Creating a Walkthrough 381

of the interface, just to the left of the Time to move it, so that you are looking at the stairs
Configuration button and typing 90. across from the foyer.
5. Dolly the camera and target by clicking and
Animate the camera and target using transforms:
dragging in the Camera viewport. See the
illustration that follows. 1. Move the time slider to frame 270, then
right-click the Camera viewport label, and
Notice that a key now appears at frame 90.
choose Select Camera Target.
2. Right-click the Top viewport to activate it, then
right-click again, and choose Move from the
quad menu. Use the Transform gizmo to move
the camera target into the hallway.

Camera view at frame 90

You’ll repeat this process again.

6. Move to frame 180 and dolly the camera and
target again so you are standing in the doorway.
Top viewport at frame 270

Camera view at frame 180

Camera viewport at frame 270

The next step is a little tricky. You will move

3. Repeat the process to position the camera icon
to frame 270, but instead of using the dolly
(not the target). Select the camera icon using
command, you will select the camera target in
the right-click method, then use the Transform
the Top viewport and use the Transform gizmo
gizmo to move it in the top view, watching the
Camera viewport at the same time.
382 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

The target should be positioned approximately

to match the illustration below. There is a red
line drawn through the scene that you can use
as a guide for the movement of the camera, if
you like.

Camera viewport at frame 450.

7. Move to frame 540 and position the camera

and target so you see the large picture window.

4. Use this method to keyframe the camera and

its target throughout the remainder of the
animation.
5. Move to frame 360 and position the camera so
it matches the view in the following illustration.

Camera viewport at frame 540

8. Move to frame 630 and reposition the camera

and target so you see the fireplace and
bookshelves.

Camera viewport at frame 360

6. Move to frame 450 and position the camera so

it displays the piano seen from the hallway.
 Creating a Walkthrough 383

Camera viewport at frame 630 Camera and target position as seen in Top viewport at
frame 720
9. At frame 720, again move the camera and target
so you are looking back at the doorway and 10. Turn off Auto Key mode.
the piano.
Play the animation and save your work:
1. With the Camera viewport active, move the
time slider to frame 0, then click the Play button
in the Animation playback controls. Watch
your animation play in the viewport.
2. Choose File > Save Copy As and save your
scene as my_walkin.max. Then you can create
a Preview, using the same method described
in the previous lesson, Animating the Camera
(page 374).
If you have any problems, you can open
Camera viewport at frame 720. \tutorials\full_house\full_house_end_
walkin.max for comparison.
Zoom or pan the Top viewport as needed. The
camera and its target should be positioned Create a walkthrough using path constraints:
to match this illustration at the end of your There is another method you can use to create a
animation: walkthrough animation. You can draw a spline
path through the house for the camera to follow.
In this procedure you will create a dummy object
and link the camera to the dummy. Then you will
apply a path constraint to the dummy to animate
the camera.
1. Open full_house_start_walkin_path.max.
This is the same file as you’ve been working with
before, except it has the camera path added.
384 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

2. Activate the Top viewport, if it isn’t already

highlighted.
3. On the toolbar click Select by Name.
The Select Objects dialog appears. There are
lots of objects in the list, too many to navigate
easily.
4. In the List Types group, click None, then turn
on Shapes.
The list is smaller now.
5. Locate the object named camera path and select
it in the list, then click Select.
6. Right-click in the Top Viewport and choose
Hide Unselected. Press G on the keyboard to
hide the display of the grid.
You can now see the camera path clearly. You’ll work without the clutter of the rest of the
scene objects for awhile, just to learn how to do
this kind of animation.
Next you’ll make a dummy object. This is a
helper object that doesn’t render, but can be
used as an aid to animation.

9. On the Create panel, click the Helpers

button. On the Object Type rollout, click the
Dummy button.
10. Zoom in so you have a close-up view of the
camera.
11. In the Top viewport drag out a dummy over the
camera and its target. Start on the line between
the camera and the target and drag out the
dummy.

Now you’ll unhide the Camera.

7. Right-click again and choose Unhide by Name.
8. In the Select Objects dialog List Types group,
click None, then turn on Cameras. Camera03 is
visible in the list. Highlight it and click Unhide.
 Creating a Walkthrough 385

14. On the toolbar click Select and Link.

Click the line between the camera and its target,
then drag to the dummy object.
Tip: A quick way to select both the camera and
its target is to click the line between them.
15. Release the mouse button when the cursor is
over the dummy object. This designates that it
will be the parent of the camera and its target.
To test that you have done this successfully,
click Select and Move on the toolbar, then move
the dummy. The camera and target should
move with the dummy.

You need to position the dummy so that the

camera target is aligned with the front of the
dummy.
12. Move the dummy so that the camera target is
lined up with one edge. If necessary click the
Scale tool on the toolbar and scale the dummy
using the transform gizmo. Move and scale the
dummy until it is close to the illustration.
You also need to move the dummy so it is
vertically centered over the camera.
13. In the Front or Left viewport move the dummy
so the camera is centered inside the dummy.

Next you will apply a path constraint to the

dummy.
16. Select the dummy in the viewport, then on
the Animation menu choose Constraints >
Path Constraint. Drag from the dummy to the
camera path.

Next you will link the camera and its target to

the dummy object.
386 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

Now the camera rotates as it moves along the

path, but it is not pointing the correct direction
to start.

The camera jumps to the path.

18. Move the time slider to frame 0.

19. Rotate the dummy approximately -98 degrees,
so the camera is looked down the path. Again
play the animation.
Now the camera is following the path and
rotating.
If you watch the camera movement, you’ll see
the camera jerks a little around frame 69. You
can correct this by moving the offending vertex
on the path.
20. Select the camera path object, then on the
Modify panel turn on Vertex. Select the vertex
that is causing the jerk (see the illustration).
Press the play button, and watch the camera. Move the vertex so the curve is smoother.
The camera follows the path. The camera
doesn’t rotate while following the path,
however.
17. On the Path Parameters rollout in the Path
Options group. Turn on Follow. Play the
animation again.
 Creating a Walkthrough 387

Move the red vertex so the curve is smoother

21. Right-click and choose Unhide All. At the

Unhide All dialog, choose Yes.
This makes hidden layers visible.
22. Activate the Camera viewport, and press the
> key repeatedly to advance a frame at a time
through the animation.
You can see the camera moves from the living
room to the dining room then up the stairs to
the second floor.

If your camera should pass through any walls

or other objects you can adjust the camera path
to correct this, or if you prefer you can turn
on Auto Key and simply move the camera to
compensate. Having the camera on a dummy
allows you this second level of control. Be
careful however, when you set a key, the changes
will affect more than just the one frame you
have changed. Be judicious in your corrections
and you can create a smooth animation in this
way.
388 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

Reset System Unit Mismatch message, choose Adopt Unit Scale,

You may need to reset your system unit now, if you the second choice.
chose to Adopt Unit Scale when you loaded an Also, if you encounter the Missing External
earlier file. Follow these steps to reset it now. Files dialog, just click the Continue button.
1. On the Customize menu choose Units Setup. This is a scene of nine city blocks, with a
The Units Setup dialog appears. skyscraper at the center. The scene contains a
Daylight system. The Daylight system is set
2. Click System Unit Setup on the Units Setup
to position the scene at the latitude of San
dialog. Francisco, California, and the sun is set at 0700
The System Unit Setup dialog is displayed. hours, about the time of dawn on a winter day.
3. In the System Unit Scale group box, click the
drop-down arrow to display the system unit
scale list. Choose Inches from the list and click
OK.
Now the System Unit is set in Inches, rather
than in Meters. This is the program default.
4. Click OK again to exit the Units Setup dialog.
Note: Doing a File > Reset will not reset your
system unit. Remember to do this manually
instead.

Summary
You have created a camera walkthrough animation Animate the daylight:
of the interior of a house. You have learned to
animate the camera using Dolly Camera And 1. Make sure Select Object is active on the
Target, as well as using the Move transform for the toolbar.
individual camera objects. You’ve also learned to 2. In the Left viewport, click the sun object in the
animate a camera along a path using a dummy. viewport to select it.
Daylight01 appears in the name field on the
command panel.
Creating an Animated Shadow
Study 3. Open the Motion panel.
4. On the Motion panel, scroll if necessary to the
In addition to animating a camera, you can
Control Parameters rollout.
animate the Daylight system’s time of day. This is a
good way to create a shadow study. 5. Turn on Auto Key.

Set up the scene: The button, the track bar, and the
• From the \tutorials\high_rise\ folder, open border of the active viewport all turn red.
cityscape.max. If you encounter a File Unit
 Creating an Animated Shadow Study 389

6. Drag the time slider to frame 5, and then on the Important: Save Copy As does not open the copy.
Control Parameters rollout, change the Hours The active file is still cityscape.max.
value to 8. Tip: Always save your scene file before you
The spinner arrows of the Hours, Minutes, render.
and Seconds fields are now bracketed in red,
indicating that you have set a key to animate Render the animation:
the time of day. Rendering the animation takes about half an hour
7. Drag the time slider to frame 10, and then on a high-speed system. If you want, you can skip
change Hours to 9 . these steps and just view the file shadow_study.avi,
provided with the other tutorial files. See “View
8. Continue dragging the time slider in five-frame
the animation,” below.
increments, then increasing the time of day by
one hour at each increment. Stop when the time 1. Choose Rendering > Render.
is 17 hours (5 P.M.). This should be at frame 50. The Render Scene dialog is displayed, with the
You have set 10 keyframes (and Autodesk VIZ Render panel active.
has automatically set one at frame 0, as well) to 2. On the Common Parameters rollout, in the
track the course of the sun through a day. Drag Time Output group, choose Active Time
the time slider and watch the Left viewport. Segment: 0 To 50.
The sun moves smoothly: Autodesk VIZ
In the Output Size group, make sure that the
interpolates from one keyframe to the next so
resolution is 640x480.
each frame is different, even if it doesn’t have a
key on it. A smaller size would render more quickly, but
the shadows don’t show up as well.
Set the animation range: 3. On the Render Output rollout, click the Files
As the animation only lasts 51 frames (0 to 50), button.
you don’t need the full default range of 101 frames. A Render Output File dialog is displayed.
1. Click Time Configuration. 4. Enter a name for the animation, and choose
one of the animation formats from the Save As
The Time Configuration dialog is displayed.
Type drop-down list, and then click Save.
(This button is at the extreme lower right of the
You can render an animation to either the AVI
Autodesk VIZ window.)
or MOV (QuickTime®) formats. After you click
2. In the Animation group, change the value of Save, you see a format-specific dialog that asks
End Time to 50, and then click OK. you to specify the animation’s compression.
Now the range of frames is no greater than the You can accept the default values, and then
length of the animation. click OK.
Note: In practice, it’s a good idea to avoid
Save your work:
rendering directly to movie formats such as
• Choose File > Save Copy As. In the file dialog, AVI or MOV. Instead render to sequentially
name the file my_shadows.max, and then click numbered still image frames, and then convert
Save. them to a movie format as a second step.
This has practical value if you need to correct
390 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

mistakes in individual frames, without having

to re-render the entire animation.
5. Open the Assign Renderer rollout and confirm
that the Default Scanline Renderer is the
production renderer. If you see mental ray
renderer click Choose Renderer and change the
renderer back to the Default Scanline Renderer.
Note: The mental ray renderer does not support
the IES Sun lighting.
6. Leave the other Render Scene settings as they
are, make sure Camera02 is the active viewport,
and then click Render.
Autodesk VIZ renders the animation. This
takes a while (about a half hour on the
high-speed system), so this is a good point to
take a break.

View the animation:

1. When rendering is done, choose File > View
Image File.
A View File dialog appears.
2. Choose the file you just rendered, and then
click Open.
Tip: You can also choose shadow_study.avi,
which is provided with the other tutorial files.
Depending on the movie type, a Media Player
or a QuickTime viewer is displayed, which lets
you play the animation.

Summary
You can create a shadow study by animating the
time of day of a Daylight system. To do so, use the
Auto Key button, and change the hour at regular
intervals of frames. (The longer the interval, the
slower the animation will play.)
 Rendering an Animation 391

from 730 frames to 257 frames to shorten the

Rendering an Animation total rendering time.
There are some specific techniques to learn for
Render to an image sequence:
rendering your animation into a movie file. You
can render directly to a movie format such as 1. If the Camera viewport isn’t active, right-click
AVI, or you can render a sequence of still image in it to activate it.
files to file formats such as TGA and then use the 2. From the Rendering menu, choose Render.
RAM Player to save them into a movie. The latter
Next, you’ll define the animation range.
method is the recommended choice. It’s a few steps
more than rendering directly into a movie, but it 3. On the Common tab of the Render Scene
gives you more control over file size and quality of dialog, in the Time Output group, choose
output, plus if you have frames with artifacts or Active Time Segment.
other errors, you can repair or remove them. This option automatically renders all currently
Warning: The next lesson will take a long time to render. playable frames. Alternatively, you could
Depending on the speed of your PC, it can take several choose Range or Frames and set the frame
hours or more to render the individual frames. range to render.
4. In the Render Output group, click the Files
Set up the scene: button.
• From the \tutorials\full_house directory, open The Render Output File dialog opens.
full_house_walkin_start_render.max.
5. Navigate to a directory where you want to save
If you get a Units Mismatch dialog, choose your work. You can use the Create New Folder
Adopt The File’s Unit Scale and click OK. In button to establish a new location, if necessary.
general, when encountering this dialog, choose
Adopt Unit Scale. Warning: Make sure you don’t choose a directory on
a DVD drive or some other write-protected location.
This is a large file, so it will take a while to load. Also make sure you choose a location with plenty of
This file has stored all the radiosity rendering free space.
information, so the render times will be quicker.
Next you’ll define the type of still image file to
render.
6. In the Save As Type field, click the drop-down
arrow and choose Targa Image File, (*.tga ...).
This is a high-quality file type, good for this
kind of rendering.
7. In the File name field, type my_walkin.tga,
then click Save.
After you click Save, you see a format-specific
dialog that asks you to specify attribute and
information settings. You can accept the default
values, and then click OK.
This file is similar to the one created in the
earlier walkthrough lesson. It has been reduced
392 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

When you render an still-image sequence, If you did see the Raytrace Messages dialog,
as in this case, the software automatically click the Raytracer tab of the Render Scene
appends the first part of the file name with a dialog, and then turn off Show Messages.
four-digit frame number. So the first frame 9. Allow at least four frames to render.
will be my_walkin0000.tga, the second will be
10. At this point, you can go away and return once
my_walkin0001.tga, and so on.
your rendering is complete.
8. Make sure Save File is turned on in the Render
Tip: You could also sit and watch the rendering
Output rollout, and that the Viewport field at
the bottom of the Render Scene dialog reads for errors or improvements. In the real world,
Camera03 (not Top, Front, or Left), then click this can be a good idea; to study what you are
Render. creating.
When the rendering is finished, the target
directory contains the 258 output files.

Convert an image sequence into a movie:

1. From the Rendering menu, choose RAM Player.
The RAM Player loads still image sequences
into memory and plays them so you can watch
them as a movie. It actually lets you load two
different sequences and then compare them
visually, but you won’t use that functionality
here. You’ll simply use the RAM Player to save
the files into an AVI file.
The Rendering dialog appears, or you may first
2. On the RAM Player toolbar, click Open
see a Raytrace Messages dialog. Wait for a short
Channel A.
while as the first frame is rendered. You will see
the Last Frame Time, Elapsed Time, and Time 3. In the Open File Channel A dialog, navigate to
Remaining values change after the first frame the sequence of TGA image files. Highlight the
finishes. name of the first file in the sequence, then turn
on Sequence, and click Open.

Now the RAM Player will load the sequential

image files, rather than just the first one.
The Image File List dialog appears. Here you
can use the Every Nth and Multiplier fields
if you need to speed up or slow down your
animation. If your animation is too slow,
change Every Nth to 2 or 3. If your animation is
too fast, increase the Multiplier.
 Walkthrough Assistant 393

4. Click OK. 9. Click OK to continue.

The RAM Player Configuration dialog appears. 10. When the file conversion is finished, close the
Here you can observe and adjust your memory RAM Player, and then from the File menu,
usage. Loading this sequence takes about 57 choose View Image File. Play your finished AVI
MB. There are also tools here to resize your file and observe the results.
animation, specify a range of frames to use, and
split the alpha (transparency) information into Summary
a separate file.
You have learned how to render your animation
5. Increase the Memory Usage to its maximum for to a sequence of still image files. This allows
your system, then click OK. you better control for later correction of your
The RAM Player loads the file into memory. animation. You also learned how to assemble the
In the Loading dialog, observe how much still image sequence into a movie file, such as AVI
memory is being used and remains available. or QuickTime, using the RAM Player.
If it looks like you are about to run out memory,
click Stop Loading. If you have a low-memory
system, reduce the number of frames to load
and try again.
Working with the
6. On the RAM Player toolbar, click the Play Walkthrough Assistant
button and watch the movie play.

Walkthrough Assistant
Instead of manually manipulating the camera,
you can make animating much easier by using
the Walkthrough Assistant. The Walkthrough
Assistant allows you to “fly” your camera to
explore your virtual designs. Although the tool’s
name implies interior usage, the Walkthrough
Assistant is actually suitable for both interior and
7. On the RAM Player toolbar, click the Save exterior scenes.
Channel A button. In essence, it simplifies the tasks of creating a
The Save File dialog appears. camera, constraining that camera to a path of your
8. Choose AVI as the file type, and give the
choice, and then makes it easy to edit and animate
animation the name my_walkin.avi. Click various aspects of the camera such as tilt, pan
Save. and lens values. All manipulation is centralized
in the same dialog so you do not have to browse
The Video Compression dialog through various panels to make changes to camera
appears. Here, you can choose a codec parameters.
(compression/decompression type) and adjust
the quality of the file. To reduce file size, lower
the quality.
394 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

but you will first need to create a sufficient number

of frames to hold your animation.

Set up for this lesson:

• From the \tutorials\intro_to_animation folder,
open great_wall_start.max.
Tip: If the Units Mismatch dialog displays,
choose Adopt The File’s Unit Scale and then
click OK.

Calculate the number of frames:

Skill level: Beginner 1. In the right viewport, select the blue spline
that represents the camera path. Alternatively,
Time to complete: 1+ hours (includes rendering press H to open the Select Objects dialog, and
time to create an animation.) double-click Camera Path.

Features Covered in This Tutorial 2. From the Utility panel, click the Measure
In this tutorial, you will learn how to: tool.
• Create a target camera This tool reports the length of the camera path
• Adjust camera head tilt and angle is roughly 900 feet.

• Use Set Key to animate a camera Note: For a comfortable walking pace, which
is useful in architectural walkthroughs, you’ll
• Render an animation to a sequence of still need about a second for every 3 feet of distance.
image files For a jog or a fast run, you can go as far as 9 feet
• Create a movie file of your animation for a second. In NTSC format, that translates
into 30 frames for every 9 feet of distance
Tutorial Files traveled, or 3000 frames for 900 feet.
All the files necessary to do the tutorials
can be found on the program disc in the
\tutorials\intro_to_animation folder, unless
otherwise specified. Before doing the tutorials,
copy the \tutorials directory from the disc to your
local program installation.

3. Click the Time configuration button next

Camera Setup with Walkthrough to the Current Frame Field.
Assistant 4. In the Animation group in the Time
Configuration dialog, change End Time to
In this lesson you’ll use the Walkthrough Assistant 3000 to increase the number for frames in the
to animate a camera, simulating a walk or run animation, and then click OK.
along the Great Wall of China. The scene contains
a camera path ready for constraining the camera,
 Animating Camera Rotation 395

This will provide sufficient frames for your the direction of travel. This is shown in the
walkthrough animation. Advanced Controls rollout at the bottom of the
The time slider frame indicator now displays dialog where both these options are enabled.
3000 frames.

Creating a basic setup using Walkthrough Assistant:

1. From the Animation menu, choose
Walkthrough Assistant.
A modeless dialog displays. 4. Right-click the perspective viewport to activate
it. In the Main Controls rollout, click the Set
2. In the Camera Creation group in the Main
Viewport to Camera button to switch the
Controls rollout, ensure the Free Camera
viewport to the Camera view.
option is selected, and then click on Create
New Camera. 5. Click the Play Animation button to view
A new camera is created in the scene. The the results in the Camera view.
camera name, Walkthrough_Cam01, displays The camera travels along the path but the
in the Cameras group. motion seems unnatural, almost robotic. This
is because the aim or target of the camera is
controlled by the path constraint. It is far better
to control the target manually, and choose the
direction you want to look at any given time. As
an analogy, as you walk in a straight line down
a museum hallway, you would turn your head
to look at the paintings on the wall instead of
keeping your head pointed in the direction of
3. In the Path Control group, choose Pick Path your feet as you walk.
and then click the blue spline named Camera In the next lesson, you learn how to animate the
Path in the right viewport. camera using the Walkthrough Assistant.
The Pick Path label changes to reflect the name
of the selected spline. This constrains the
Camera Position to the path. It also aligns it to Animating Camera Rotation
follow the direction of the path. Now that the camera is constrained to the path,
you’ll animate the camera rotation so that it is
aimed in a more natural position at points of
interest in the scene.

Set up the lesson:

• Continue from the previous lesson or go to
the File menu and choose Open. From the
Note: By default, the camera will travel at \tutorials\intro_to_animation folder, open
a constant speed and will always point in great_wall_head.max.
396 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

Tip: If the Units Mismatch dialog displays, 5. Scrub the time slider to frame 206. You are now
choose Adopt The File’s Unit Scale and then at the other side of the hilltop. Adjust the Head
click OK. Tilt Angle to approximately -3.3 to level the
camera head, then slide the Turn Head slider to
This is the same scene from the previous lesson.
the left to adjust the rotation.
The camera is now in place but you will use
Walkthrough Assistant to animate the Turn The goal is to adjust the camera head rotation
Head parameters. so that it looks towards the tower as if it has
suddenly caught your attention.
Turning off Follow Path:
1. If the Walkthrough Assistant dialog is not
visible, go to the Animation menu and choose
Walkthrough Assistant.
2. In the Advanced Controls rollout, in the Path
Controls group, disable the Follow Path option.
You will not need it because you will control the
head rotation manually.
6. Scrub the time slider ahead to frame 408.
Adjust the Head Tilt Angle to -13.5 so that you
are looking at the pavers in front of you.
Although it’s nice to look at the scenery, it’s also
important to create a walkthrough that “feels’
Note: Disabling the Follow Path option resets the comfortable; in other words, to make it so that
camera orientation to its default value (positive the viewer doesn’t feel off balance while doing
Y). You will fix that as you start animating the the a virtual walkthrough of your scene.
head rotation from the Walkthrough Assistant
dialog.

3. Make sure you are at frame 0, then

turn on the Auto Key button.
4. In the View Controls rollout, move the turn
head slider to the left and adjust the Head Tilt
Angle to 16.4 in order get a better viewing angle
of the brick path in the Camera viewport.
7. Scrub the time slider to frame 615. Change the
Head Tilt Angle to -0.8 and turn the Turn Head
slider a little to the right until the camera is
looking at the tower again.
 Animating Camera Rotation 397

8. Scrub the time slider to frame 800. Change the 11. Scrub the time slider to frame 1280. This time
Head Tilt Angle to about 5.6. Move the Turn change the Head Tilt Angle to about -10.4 so
Head slider to the right until the tower opening that the camera head is tilted downwards to
is centered in the camera view. match the path’s slope.

9. Scrub the time slider to frame 1050. Change 12. Scrub the time slider to frame 1420. Change
the Head Tilt Angle to about -0.8. Move the the Head Tilt Angle to about -11.9 to tilt the
Turn Head slider a little to the left so that the camera head further down.
camera is tilted in anticipation of turning left
13. Scrub the time slider to frame 1680. You’re now
after exiting the tower.
looking up again towards the tower ahead of
you. Adjust the Head Tilt Angle to about 24.7.
Slide the Turn Head slider a little to the left so
that is aimed at the second tower.

10. Scrub the time slider to frame 1150. Change the

Head Tilt Angle to about -6.6. Move the Turn
Head slider slightly to the left so that you’re
looking the second tower in the distance. 14. Scrub the time slider to frame 1860. Change the
Head Tilt Angle to about 29.4. Move the Turn
Head slider slightly to the right so until you’re
looking at the second tower opening.
398 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

15. Scrub the time slider to frame 2030. Change the Angle to about 22.7, and move the Turn Head
Head Tilt Angle to about —12.6. slider slightly to the right so that you’re looking
towards the end of the pathway.

16. Scrub the time slider to frame 2125. At this

point in the walkthrough, you are going down 19. Turn off Auto Key mode.
the hill again. Change the Head Tilt Angle to 20. Play the animation in the camera view to see
about -23.3. You want the camera head tilted the results. Notice that the camera motion is far
downwards toward the path instead of the more natural than it was in the previous lesson.
scenery because you want to feel as if you’re
Note: The camera path will not be visible when
watching your step.
rendered.
21. Save your file as g reat_wall_finish.max.

Summary
In this lesson, you have created a camera
walkthrough animation using the Walkthrough
Assistant. You have learned to calculate the
number of frames needed for the animation and
you have learned to automate the creation of the
17. Scrub the time slider to frame 2250. You are camera and how to constrain it to a path. Finally,
still looking at the path in front of you. Change you have learned how to manually animate the
the Head Tilt Angle to about -12.5. Adjust the head turn and tilt of the camera to create realistic
Head turn and tilt to that purpose. camera motion.

Rendering your Walkthrough

Animation
There are some specific techniques to learn for
rendering your animation into a movie file. You
can render directly to a movie format such as
AVI, or you can render a sequence of still image
18. Scrub the time slider to frame 2550. You are files to file formats such as TGA and then use the
now going up the path. Change the Head Tilt RAM Player to save them into a movie. The latter
method is the recommended choice. It requires
 Rendering your Walkthrough Animation 399

doing a few more steps than rendering directly to a 5. In the Render Output group, click the Files
movie format, but it gives you more control over button.
the file size and quality of the output. In addition, The Render Output File dialog opens.
if you have frames that artifacts or other errors,
6. Navigate to a directory where there is enough
you can repair or remove them.
disk space to save the rendered files. You can
The next lesson will take some time to render. use the Create New Folder button to establish a
Depending on the speed of your computer, the new location, if necessary.
rendering may take a few minutes to several hours.
Next you’ll define the type of still image file to
Set up the lesson:
render.
7. In the Save As Type field, click the drop-down
• From the \tutorials\intro_to_animation folder,
open great_wall_render.max. arrow and choose JPEG File (*.jpg).
Note: In a production environment, you may
Tip: If the Units Mismatch dialog displays,
choose Adopt The File’s Unit Scale and then want to use a high-quality, lossless format such
click OK. as TGA or TIF, but for the purposes of this
tutorial, you will use the JPG format to keep the
This file is similar to the one created in the size of the output files small.
previous lesson. A bobbing motion has
8. In the File name field, type my_jog.jpg, then
been added to the camera to simulate the
up-and-down effect of someone jogging along click Save.
the path. Two omni lights have been added After you click Save, a format-specific dialog
to create additional lighting but there are no asks you to specify attribute and information
settings for Global Illumination in order to settings. Accept the default values, and then
decrease rendering time. click OK.
When you render a still-image sequence,
Rendering an image sequence:
as in this case, the software automatically
1. If the Camera viewport isn’t active, right-click appends the first part of the file name with a
in it to activate it. four-digit frame number. So the first frame
2. From the Rendering menu, choose Render. will be my_jog0000.jpg, the second is named
my_jog0001.jpg, and so on.
Next, you’ll define the animation range and
output size. 9. Make sure Save File is turned on in the Render
Output group. Also check that the Viewport
3. On the Common tab of the Render Scene
field at the bottom of the Render Scene dialog is
dialog, in the Time Output group, choose
set to Walkthrough_Cam01 (not Top, Front, or
Active Time Segment.
Left), then click Render.
This option automatically renders all currently
playable frames. In this case, it should display 0
to 3000. Alternatively, you could choose Range
or Frames and set the frame range to render.
4. In the Output Size group, change the output
resolution to 320x240.
400 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials

1. From the Rendering menu, choose RAM Player.

2. On the RAM Player toolbar,

click Open Channel A.
3. In the Open File Channel A dialog, navigate to
the sequence of JPG image files. Highlight the
name of the first file in the sequence and then
ensure the Sequence option is turned on. Click
Open.
The RAM Player will now load the image files in
sequential order starting with the first file you
selected. The Image File List dialog appears.
Note: A sky background is rendered. The dome Here you can use the Every Nth and Multiplier
representing the sky is an object that is hidden fields if you need to speed up or slow down
in the scene. However, the renderer is set to your animation. If your animation is too slow,
take hidden geometry into account. change Every Nth to 2 or 3. If your animation is
too fast, increase the Multiplier.
10. The Rendering Progress dialog displays. Wait
for a short while as the first frame is rendered. 4. Click OK.
You will see the Last Frame Time, Elapsed The RAM Player Configuration dialog appears.
Time, and Time Remaining values change after Here you can observe and adjust your memory
the first frame finishes. usage. There are also tools here to resize your
Allow at least four frames to render. animation, specify a range of frames to use, and
split the alpha (transparency) information into
At this point, you can work on something else a separate file.
while your animation is rendered.
Note: In order to use transparency, the image
Tip: You can also watch the rendering for errors
file specified has to be able to process an
or observe to see where you want to make alpha channel. JPG files do not contain any
changes. This is generally a good practice so transparency information the way TGA, TIF
that you can study the scene as it is rendered. and PNG images often do.
After the rendering has completed, you will 5. Increase the Memory Usage to its maximum for
have 3000 JPG files in the folder you specified. your system, and then click OK
Convert an image sequence into a movie: The RAM Player loads the rendered files into
memory. In the Loading dialog, observe how
The RAM Player loads still image sequences into
much memory is being used and remains
memory and plays them so you can watch them
available.
as a movie. It actually lets you load two different
sequences and then compare them visually, but If it looks like you are about to run out memory,
you won’t use that functionality here. You’ll simply click Stop Loading. If you have a low-memory
use the RAM Player to save the files into an AVI system, reduce the number of frames to load
file. and try again.
 Rendering your Walkthrough Animation 401

6. On the RAM Player toolbar, click the Play

button and watch the movie play.

7. On the RAM Player toolbar, click the

Save Channel A button.
The Save File dialog appears.
8. Choose AVI as the file type, and name the
animation my_jog.avi. Click Save.
The AVI File Compression Setup dialog
appears. Here you can choose a codec
(compression/decompression type) and adjust
the quality of the file. Choose the default
Cinepak Codec. To reduce file size, lower the
quality to 75%.

9. Click OK to continue.

Summary
You have learned how to render your animation
to a sequence of still image files. This allows
you better control for later correction of your
animation. You also learned how to assemble a
still image sequence into a movie file, such as AVI
or QuickTime using the RAM Player.
402 Tutorial 8: Animation Tutorials