3Ds Max 2014 animation - how to smooth these curves?
polycounter lvl 3
Hi. I guess I'm a huge noob, but I don't know how to make these curves work for me. I'm animating some models (made by me) and right now, I'm working on a breathing / idle animation. The problem is that it seems to accelerate and decelerate at undessired points, making it look bad.
Here's a short video of the problem and me trying to smooth the animation and failing.
http://youtu.be/NPlfPPqOWf8
Is this approach even the right one? Could someone just point me in the right direction? I'm mostly self taught in this, so there are some things that might be obvious that I probably don't know.
Thanks and sorry for not contributing much yet to the community
Here's a short video of the problem and me trying to smooth the animation and failing.
http://youtu.be/NPlfPPqOWf8
Is this approach even the right one? Could someone just point me in the right direction? I'm mostly self taught in this, so there are some things that might be obvious that I probably don't know.
Thanks and sorry for not contributing much yet to the community
Replies
1. Close the curve editor. Biped uses TCB controllers, and their visualization in the curve editor is misleading.
2. Biped (by default) stores keyframes on 8 separate tracks: Root, Pelvis, Spine, Neck, L Arm, R Arm, L Leg, and R Leg. So all the Spine keyframes are stored on a single track. Hence, editing the TCB of one keyframe for the Spine will edit the TCB for all the Spine bones at the same frame.
Couple of things about TCB controllers.
1. They seem illogical and unwieldy. But TCB settings basically define how a keyframe interacts with the keys before and after it. Your keyframe is the middle point of the TCB preview window. It helps to look at a TCB position controller:
2. I rarely change any of the TCB settings. The only time I change them is when I want no motion between two keyframes then I set them both to Continuity = 0.
Couple of things about your animation (in my opinion):
You're off to a great start. Your character is appealing and your animation/keyframes are organized.
1. The main issue is your poses. Neither the breath in or breath out pose are relaxed. The animation is about to look off. Put the balance on one foot, bend the fingers, rotate the spine so one shoulder is dominant. Basically make the pose interesting.
2. Your up / down motion is two much. It's causing the knees to lock at the peak. Try a side to side emotion instead.
I've got an old tool that might help you out (from 9 years ago):
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=675687&postcount=1