Help out a technical noob with some max issues!

Jembo

Hi all,

I'm using max 8, and suffering from a problem that should be really simple to solve, I just don't know where to begin.

I'm trying to animate a ninja, using biped, with a skin modifier attached to the model. However, when I select all the bones of the biped, grab the keyframes, and copy/clone them further down the timeline, max appears to add a little motion in between the identical keyframes. The animation is to be put into a game engine, so I'm trying to create a looping animation, so it makes sense to copy the beginning keys to the end, then animate in between.

I'm pretty sure this added motion has something to do with max's default easing in and out of keyframes. A google search stumps the hell out of me, because I don't really know how to phrase the problem, so I've come to you polycounters. This should be a really easy problem to solve, but I have no clue what to do! Track view crashes max (busy sorting out service pack 3, thinking it might help), but I thought this might be a good place to start. Alternatively, is there any way to turn off the tweening motion max adds? In a similar vein, should I be copying biped keyframes, or using the copy pose/posture tool?

Apologies if I've explained this problem badly, like I said I'm a technical noob and mostly unsure of max's funky terminology. If you want more details, ask away.

MoP

You should look in the Curve Editor in Track View, you should see that when you select some key frames, the curves bump up over the top when they should be flat - select the offending keyframes and hit the button at the top of Track View named something like "Auto Curves" ... I can't remember the exact name but if you look in the Max Help on track view and curves, you should be able to fix it.

Jembo

Thanks MoP, I haven't found this "auto curves" control, but I do see tangent options. I think this may have more to do with the madness of biped, because for some reason I see no tangent handles in the curve editor, despite all the display options being on, and all that jazz. I did notice what you we're talking about in terms of those curves rising up when they should be flat, so I do get what I should be doing.

Currently I'm taking the beginning keys and upping their tension on the transform controller to 50. This basically makes those nasty curves flat. Can anyone see any problem adjusting them in this way? Biped seems so finnicky, I'm worried about what messing with keys in this way might do to the animation.

oXYnary

Another option if you need complete "stillness" is to buffer the frame by adding a copy right after and before. It seems to also minimize this auto curving that max likes to do (though yes, it could screw up your timing).

Jembo

Thanks oXYnary, that's also a good idea, though I do see what you mean about the timing.

Thanks guys, the animation is going problem-free after these suggestions!

e_x

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Currently I'm taking the beginning keys and upping their tension on the transform controller to 50. This basically makes those nasty curves flat. Can anyone see any problem adjusting them in this way? Biped seems so finnicky, I'm worried about what messing with keys in this way might do to the animation.

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Setting the 'Continuity' (right under Tension) to zero will also do this for you. The added motion stems from the TCB controller that biped uses. You can set the biped to use 'Euler' rotations instead of the default (I think) 'Quaternion' rotations. Setting it to use Euler will give you the ability to open up the trackview curve editor and grab handles to adjust your curves as you like. Personally, I never use Euler though. It was extremely buggy in the release of max 8 (and since fixed) and in my experience, the Euler controller does a horrible job with it's auto-curves which ends up being more work for me to go in and adjust the curves by hand to get them right. Plus you still get the TCB controller rollout which only confuses me more...

Biped is a beast. A lot of animators won't touch it, some others love it. With time, you'll understand what I mean.

EDIT- I forgot to add that I do exactly what Oxynary suggested whenever I'm doing multiple animations in one file. Copying those extra keys will flatten out your curves.