Animation probleme in max

rorozilla

Hi!

I am currently animating a simple character in max with an custom rigg i made, I linked all my IK's to controllers (splines with rendering enabled in the viewport) so i wouldn't have to bother with all the bones. i also constricted the orientations of some of the bones ( like for the feet and hands) to the same controllers.


My problem is, once i start animating (with auto key on), everything will be working fine until a certain moment ( it can happen anytime, i don't know what triggers it) but i wont be able to undo some of the changes i made to the keys, some time it will only undo the translation keys, even though the last action i made (and want to undo) was animate a rotation key....


i found that restarting max fixes it, but only for a short time, and some times it starts doing it as soon as i start the program....


so please, if any body here has any idea what i could do to fix this, it would really save my skin!!

Eric Chadwick

Don't use Undo with animation. Probably not what you want to hear. But Max's undo system is notoriously flaky and unstable. Best to avoid using it as part of your regular workflow.

Mark Dygert

Sometimes it depends on what you have highlighted, certain things like menus or drop down windows won't actually allow you to trigger an undo by using the hot key until you change the focus to something else. Normally right clicking in the viewport to deselect everything and switch focus to the viewport, then hitting undo will do the trick. Or using the undo/redo buttons at the top left corner (or in edit/undo on older versions).

Also on older versions of max (2009 and lower) had a bug where certain actions like autosaving, garbage collection or if the system was running low on ram it would clear the history, in those cases it was extremely frustrating but they have improved it since.

rorozilla

Thank you so much for answering me plea Eric Chadwick and Mark Dygert, one thing i noticed is that when ever it bugs and i close my max window, it actually sends me an error notification... is that normal?

i am working with Max 2010 by the way, but i do have little ram in my computer, would you think it would still be doing the same problems as the 2009 versions and down?


And if you suggest not using the undo button, what should i us? If I understand correctly what Mark is saying, instead of using my shortcut, i should use the drop down menu of edit?


Thank you so much guys for you help!! Its like splitting hairs working on my animation here....!!

Mark Dygert

It might have still been going on in 2010 the older versions kind of blend together, I've been using 2012 for about a year and I really wouldn't want to go back to 2010 or 2011 hahaha.

2010 and 2011 where some of the more messed versions of max in recent history, so it wouldn't shock me. A lot of people stuck with 2008-9 until 2012 came out.

rorozilla

Really? cause i tried 2012 when i just went out, and it blew my mind how unstable it was! it was a mess to animate and skin with! i think they might of fixed it now, you probably know more about it, but its the reason i didn't bother using 2012 in the first place.

i know with the new CAT system, its supposed to be awesome, but is it really worth it?

since i learn the good old bone system in school I figured it was best to stick to what i knew, Is it worth getting to know it?

Mark Dygert

Yep when it shipped 2012 was a mess too, skin was fubar the unwrap tools where buggy and slow but after the service packs rolled out it was a lot better. They redid the viewport driver and all of its performance gains come from the strength of the video card, which also turns out to be the systems Achilles heel if your on a laptop or have an older video card. If that's the case switch the viewport driver back to directX which is the old driver.

Either way you want to make sure your running the latest video card drivers so make sure they are up to date.

Eric Chadwick

Also make sure to get the latest service pack.

CAT is a great system, it saves a ton of time and work, over Max standard bones. It's always a good idea to learn standard bones first, so you know the fundamentals. But CAT takes it many steps further. I hear it will be the successor to Biped, as the recommended default rigging tool in Max.