Animating Real- Time Game Characters-P12: My intent in writing Animating Real-Time Game Characters has been to share my work methods, thoughts, and ideas about animating real-time characters in 3ds max 4™ and character studio 3®. Any factor that affects the animation process using these two tools has been covered. | Chapter 8 Using Motion Capture 321 V Adding layers on top of each other when making corrections to an animation is much the same as adding modifiers to the modifier stack. It isn t mandatory but in case you have to go back and delete or alter one of the changes you ve made it gives you the ability to delete layers if necessary. This gives you an extra level of protection. Select the right foot and hit the Set Key button for Frame 11 and Frame 18. Then at Frame 13 rotate it and move it along the Z-axis so that it is perfectly flat on the ground plane. Do the same at Frame 15 Figure . FIGURE The right foot needs to be on the ground plane and be flat when planted. Select the left foot next and give it the same treatment. Add a Layer look for where you need to apply Set Key to keep the desired part of the animation and adjust the rotation and placement. In this case the only adjustments are minor. Click on Set Key for Frames 24 and 27 and then rotate and move the foot flat at Frames 25 and 26. The last Layer you need to add resolves an issue with the torso straightening slightly near the end of the animation. Create another Layer select the first Spine object and hit Set Keys for Frames 21 and 29. Then go to Frame 25 and rotate the Biped Spine -5 degrees along the Z-axis Figure . Collapse the stack of layers and move to the Front viewport to fix one last problem Figure . In the Front viewport step through the animation while watching the left foot. From Frame 24 to 26 it needs to be moved and slightly rotated so that its inner edge is along the main grid line at 0 0 0. There s no need to use a Layer just start at Frame 24 and move and rotate the foot accordingly. 322 Animating Real-Time Game Characters FIGURE Rotate the Spine object to overcome a slight straightening at the end of the loop. The Collapse Stack button compresses all the animation layers. When you rotate a Biped object with the Animate button active you can only do so .
