654 | CHAPTER 13 CreatInG anIMatIons Notice your rendering time. Here it’s blindingly fast, about one second a frame. If you have a much slower render time, go take a quick break. Once the animation is created, you can view the rendered animation from within 3ds Max by using the View Image File command or by locating the AVI file using Windows Explorer and double-clicking it. Unlike the Preview, the player doesn’t automatically launch when the render- ing is complete. 1. Choose Rendering  View Image File. The View File dialog box displays. 2. Locate and select Myfirstanimation.avi, and then click Open. Windows Media Player opens and plays back the animation. If you have another application set to play back AVI files, that application will open and play the AVI file. As you can see, the animation is short and still pretty crude, but at least you can tell whether the lights are doing what you want them to do. Creating a Quick Overall Study Animation Now suppose you want to get a quick view of the overall animation to make sure everything is working as planned. In the next exercise, you’ll adjust some of the frame output settings to limit the number of frames that are animated. This will help reduce the total animation time so that you’ll see the results quickly. You’ll use a different file format that offers a bit more control at file creation. 1. Make sure the Common tab is selected in the Render Setup dialog box, and then click the Active Time Segment radio button in the Time Output group. 2. In the Every Nth Frame input box, enter 3. This will cause the renderer to create an animation that renders only every third frame. Consequently, the animation will take approximately one-third of the time to render all the assigned frames. 3. Click the Files button in the Render Output group; then, in the Render Output File dialog box, enter Mysecondanimation for the filename. 4. Select MOV QuickTime File (*.mov) in the Save As Type drop-down list and click Save. As you’ll see in a moment, the QuickTime file format lets you set the playback frame rate. Quicktime output will not be available on 64-bit operating systems with 3ds Max 64 bit installed. If Quicktime is not available, use the AVI format again with MJPEG compres- sion. The animation will play back in just over 6 seconds instead of 20. Figure 13.3 The AVI File Com- pression Setup dialog box renderInG the anIMatIon | 655 5. In the Compression Settings dialog box, change the Frames per Second setting to 10. Note that you can set the Quality slider and also select the color depth for the MOV file. The lower the Quality setting, the smaller the file size will be. Decreasing color depth can also reduce file size. Click OK to close the Compression Settings dialog box and return to the Render Setup dialog box. Changing the File Saving Parameters After rendering a scene to a particular still image or animated file format, the dialog boxes used to set the file’s parameters (compression, frame rate, and so on) no longer appear. To change the file’s parameters without changing the file’s type, click the Setup button in the Render File Output dialog box. 6. Click the Render button in the Render Setup dialog box. This time the rendering will take a good deal more time because you will be rendering about 200 frames overall (one-third of 600 frames). Check the Time Remaining field in the Common Parameters rollout to see an estimate of the remaining rendering time. 7. Use the View File dialog box (Rendering  View Image File) to play back the animation when it finishes rendering. Lowering the Frames per Second Rendering at 10 frames per second (fps) is near the limit of flicker fusion, where you start to perceive individual frames rather than the illusion of continuous motion. The animation will be a bit jerky but will still be a valuable sample and allow you to get a sense of timing in the segment without rendering every frame. This animation is still crude, and you may detect that it is not quite as smooth in the playback as the previous animation, but it gives you a far better idea of how the final rendering will look than did the preview animations you used in the previous chapter, because it includes rendered light and shadow. The test animations that you render may also show you problems that need fixing. This is exactly the kind of feedback you want from tests before you commit all the time required to render the entire animation. Adding a Moving Car Your animation work so far has involved moving a camera around the villa. Of course, you can animate other objects in your model. Let’s add a car to the villa animation to see how to con- trol the behavior of objects other than cameras. By animating a car, you’ll explore how you can rotate an object through time. You’ll use a simple car model to see how you can make an object move smoothly in an animation. 656 | CHAPTER 13 CreatInG anIMatIons First, insert a Container that has the car model inside it. 1. Right-click the Top viewport; then click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to enlarge the view. 2. Select the skydome object. 3. Right-click; then, in the quad menu, click Hide Selection. 4. Click the Application button, and choose References  Inherit Container, as shown in Figure 13.4 5. In the Inherit Container dialog box, select the LowResCar_Container01.maxc file. 3ds Max Container Files 3ds Max uses the extension *.maxc to identify models that have been prepared as Container files. The car appears in the scene near the lower-right corner of the villa, just out of view of the Camera.View.3DFRONT at frame 0. Now that you have the car in the scene, it’s time to animate it. Just as with the camera, you’ll need to enter Auto Key mode, select a time with the Time slider, and then move the car. 1. With the Container01 object still selected, use the Absolute Mode Transform type-in field and move the car to X = 15’ and Y = 150’. 2. Click the Auto Key button at the bottom of the interface. 3. Move the Time slider to frame 200. 4. Click the Select by Name tool. On the Select from Scene dialog box, select the Display Containers toggle to make the container appears in the list. 5. Select the Container01 object from the list, and click OK. Figure 13.4 Adding the Container repre- senting the car renderInG the anIMatIon | 657 Click the Selection Lock Toggle so you don’t have to worry about accidentally deselecting the car’s Container while you are animating it. Click the Select and Move tool, and then move the car to the position shown in Figure 13.5. To help you visualize the path of the car, turn on its trajectory: 1. Right-click in the viewport and select Object Properties. 2. In the Display Properties section of the Object Properties dialog box, click By Layer to change the display properties of the car to By Object. 3. Click the Trajectory check box and click OK. Now you’ve got a visible trajectory. Let’s adjust the beginning and ending keyframes so the car starts and stops smoothly on its path: 1. Click the Motion tab in the Command panel. 2. In the Key Info (Basic) rollout, click and drag the In flyout and select Slow. 3. Click the left-facing arrow in the upper-left corner of the Key Info (Basic) flyout to go to keyframe 1. 4. Select the Slow tangent option for the Out parameter. 5. Move the Time slider from frame 0 to frame 200 and watch what the car does. You can see that the car moves in a straight line between the two keyframes. The orientation of the car has not changed, so the car looks like it is moving slightly sideways. Finally, the car is driving near a tree. Next, you’ll modify the trajectory of the car so that it gives the tree a wider berth. You’ll also add some rotation to the car so that it looks like it’s turning into the building. 1. Move the Time slider to frame 120. This is where you’ll add another keyframe in order to move the trajectory away from the tree. 2. With the Select and Move tool still active, move the car to the location shown in Figure 13.6. Figure 13.5 Move the car to the new location at frame 200. 658 | CHAPTER 13 CreatInG anIMatIons 3. Click the Select and Rotate tool, and rotate the car so that it is aligned with the trajectory at this keyframe. By rotating the car at this point, you are adding a rotation key. 4. Now click and drag the Time slider between frames 0 and 200 to see the motion of the car. The car moves around the tree and turns, although the turning is not well coordinated with the trajectory. The car also does not complete its turn at frame 200, where it comes to rest. You need to add a few more rotation keys to make the car’s motion fit its trajectory: 1. Go to frame 200, which is now keyframe 3 of the trajectory. 2. Using the Select and Move and Select and Rotate tools, move and rotate the car so that it is nearer to the entrance of the building and oriented with the trajectory, as shown in Figure 13.7. 3. Go to frame 1 and orient the car with the trajectory. 4. Now check the animation again by moving the Time slider between frames 0 and 200. The car now turns, but it is still somehow out of sync with the trajectory. To fine-tune the car’s motion, you’ll need to add some additional key locations for the rotation: 1. Set the Time slider to about frame 108; then use the Select and Rotate tool to orient the car to the trajectory. This location was chosen because it is about where the car begins to increase its turning rate, and it may be different in your scene. 2. Now test the animation again by sliding the Time slider from 0 to 200 and back. 3. Add additional keyframes if necessary to make the car rotate properly along its trajectory. The car now follows the trajectory in a more natural, car-like fashion. Figure 13.6 Moving the car Figure 13.7 Move the end loca- tion and orient the car with the trajec- tory at keyframe 3. autoMatInG outPut oF MultIPle stIll IMaGes | 659 You’ve added several rotation keys in this exercise. Unlike the position keyframes, rotation keys do not appear on the trajectory. They do, however, appear on the track bar, below the Time slider, while the car box is selected. Notice how several keys in the track bar are both green and red, indicating that both a position and rotation track exist at that frame. The rotation keys also have parameters that can be adjusted in the Motion panel and in the Track Views. 1. With the Time slider set to 200, click the Rotation button at the bottom of the PRS Parameters rollout (not the Rotation button in the Create Key group). The Rotation key parameters appear in the Command panel. 2. Scroll down to the Key Info (Basic) rollout. You now see the settings for the rotation parameters. If you expand the Assign Controller rollout, you will notice that it is an Euler XYZ (pro- nounced “oiler”) controller instead of the Position XYZ controller you worked with in the cam- era animation. You can change the Rotation controller to Tension Continuity Bias (TCB) if you prefer (see Chapter 12 for more on the TCB controller). You can fine-tune the rotation of the car using the TCB parameters at each key, though the current settings may be just fine for this project. You’ve seen how you can use the Rotate transform tool over time to make the car move through its trajectory as a car normally would. You have the same types of control over the rota- tion of the car as you do over the position. You can also use both Track View dialog boxes to fine-tune the car’s motion, just as you did with the camera in Chapter 12. Automating Output of Multiple Still Images Animations are great tools for presenting designs, and they can help you or your clients under- stand what a design will ultimately feel like to inhabit. However, animations can take a great deal of time to keyframe, preview, study, and, finally, render. The tools you use for animation can also be used to help you automate the creation of still images. In particular, they can be great timesaving tools for creating the more traditional elevation views of a building or the top, front, and side views of objects for technical illustrations. When you automate the render- ing of stills, you can leave the computer unattended while each one of the stills you specify is rendered. In this section, you’ll see how you can automate the creation of elevation views of the villa by animating another camera in the scene. Setting Up a Camera for Elevations The first step in this automation project is to set up a camera to display an orthographic projec- tion instead of a perspective view: 1. Click the Auto Key button to turn off Auto Key mode. 2. Adjust the Top viewport so it looks similar to Figure 13.8. 3. Click the Create tab in the Command panel; then click the Cameras button. 660 | CHAPTER 13 CreatInG anIMatIons 4. Click Target in the Object Type rollout; then click and drag the point indicated in Figure 13.8, directly to the left of the villa. 5. Drag the cursor to the center of the villa and release the mouse. 6. Rename this new camera Elevation001. The Camera parameters need to be altered so that the camera will display a typical elevation view, which is a type of orthographic projection view: 1. Click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to view all the viewports. 2. Right-click the Camera.View.3DFRONT viewport label in the upper-left corner of the Camera viewport, and then choose Cameras  Elevation001. This will allow you to see the changes you make to the Elevation001 camera settings. 3. With the Elevation001 camera selected, click the Modify tab of the Command panel; then, in the Parameters rollout, select the Orthographic Projection check box. Notice that the Elevation001 viewport changes to show a side view of the building. 4. Adjust the FOV spinner (FOV stands for field of view) so that you can see the entire build- ing in the Elevation001 viewport. You’ll need to make one more adjustment to the camera—lower the view in the Elevation001 viewport; it is a bit too high. You will also want to hide the background image behind the building by using the Truck Camera tool. 5. Use the Truck Camera tool in the Elevation001 viewport to drag the building to the center of the viewport, over the background image, as shown in Figure 13.9. This has the effect of moving the Elevation001 camera and its target up above the ground to the center of the building. Figure 13.8 The Top viewport and new camera Figure 13.9 The Elevation001 viewport, showing the orthographic pro- jection of the villa autoMatInG outPut oF MultIPle stIll IMaGes | 661 Setting Up the Four Elevations With the Elevation001 camera created and its parameters set, the final step is to set up the four views using the animation features of 3ds Max. You’ll turn on the Auto Key mode, and then, at three dif- ferent frames, you’ll set up three camera positions, one for each of the other three elevations. 1. Turn on the Auto Key button. 2. Move the Time slider to frame 2 because it is the next frame after frame 1, the Auto KeyDefault Frame. 3. In the Top viewport, move the Elevation001 camera to the location shown in Figure 13.10. Make sure that you move only the camera and not the camera and the target. You can use the Elevation001 viewport to help align the camera. 4. Move the Time slider to frame 3; then move the camera to the position shown in Figure 13.11. Again, make sure that the camera is perpendicular to the surface of the building. You can also use the Elevation001 viewport to make sure that the camera includes the entire building in its view. 5. Move the Time slider to frame 4, and then move the camera to the last elevation position, shown in Figure 13.12. Figure 13.10 Move the camera to this location for the second elevation. Figure 13.11 Move the camera to this location for the third elevation. Figure 13.12 Move the camera to this location for the last elevation. 662 | CHAPTER 13 CreatInG anIMatIons You now have four frames (frames 1 through 4) that show the villa’s four elevations. As a final step, you’ll need to create a copy of the SUN directional light that follows the camera. Typically, rendered elevation views use a light source from the upper corner of the view behind the camera, so you’ll need to create a copy of the SUN to simulate that orientation. 1. Move the Time slider to frame 1. 2. Shift+click and drag the SUN directional light to the location shown in Figure 13.13. 3. In the Clone Options dialog box, give the new directional light the name SUNelevation001. 4. Click the Copy radio button to make the clone unique and click OK. 5. Move the Time slider to frame 2; then move the new SUNelevation001 direct light to the location shown in Figure 13.14. Figure 13.13 Copying the SUN Make a copy here. Figure 13.14 Positioning the SUN for each elevation Position at frame 4 Position at frame 2 Position at frame 3 autoMatInG outPut oF MultIPle stIll IMaGes | 663 6. Repeat step 5 for frames 3 and 4. Use Figure 13.14 to guide you in the location of the SUNelevation001 directional light. 7. Select the original SUN directional light; then, in the Modify tab of the Command panel, select the On check box in the General Parameters rollout to turn off this light. You don’t want the original SUN directional light to over-illuminate the scene now that the eleva- tions have their own animated SUN light source. 8. Turn off the Auto Key button. Backburner Rendering animation sequences or a large number of still images can take a significant amount of time and seriously hamper your productivity. You may have even heard the term render wander, referring to a 3ds Max artist’s habit of walking around the office while waiting for a render process to complete. When a project’s rendering time is expected to be unacceptably long, consider using Backburner to assist the rendering process. Backburner is an Autodesk utility that allows one workstation to con- trol another, using its processor to render assigned frames from the Render Setup dialog box. This process is called network rendering. Larger companies often have render farms set up consisting of several workstations with no other purpose than to be used as network rendering nodes as required by the current projects. Systems in the render farm usually do not need monitors, keyboards, mice, or other peripheral devices. Another option is to use other computers that are used for day-to-day tasks in a company as a render farm in the evening. Systems used in a network rendering setup do not need to be in a render farm; any system capable of running 3ds Max Design 2011 can be used. All machines in the setup must have 3ds Max Design 2011 installed, but this does not require purchasing additional licenses of the software. Only the controlling system, called the Manager, must have an authorized copy of 3ds Max Design 2011 installed. The systems being used by the Manager, called Servers, are not required to be authorized. Backburner can also be used in a single-system setup. This allows you to continue working in 3ds Max and the Manager while a second session of 3ds Max is opened as the Server; however, in this setup the performance degradation is often too significant to make any productivity gains. All image maps used in the rendering must be available to all the computers rendering a project. Now that you’ve got the scene set up with a camera for the elevations, the rendering part is simple. 3ds Max gives you the option to render selected frames of an animation instead of the entire sequence of frames. You’ll use this feature to create your elevations. 1. Stop and save your work before you begin the rendering process. 3ds Max has been known to crash when it runs out of memory, and rendering can use lots of memory. It’s a good habit to always make sure you’ve saved before you start to render. Save your file as MyElevationAnimation.max. 2. Click the Render Setup button on the Main Toolbar to open the Render Setup dialog box. 3. In the Render Setup dialog box, click the Frames radio button in the Time Output group. [...]... can be easily determined by video-editing programs such as Adobe Premiere or Autodesk Combustion 3ds Max will use the name you provide in the Render Output File dialog box For the rest of the name, 3ds Max will add a number For example, if you enter the name Savoye for the animation file output using the Targa file format, 3ds Max will create a set of files with the names Savoye0000.TGA, Savoye0001.TGA,... reactor to Animate Objects 3ds Max has an internal physics engine, called reactor, that is used to create animations that feature collisions between objects Originally, reactor began as a third-party plug-in that could be purchased to add physics simulation capabilities to 3ds Max As often happens, it was licensed by Autodesk as part of the software program; now everyone who buys 3ds Max gets reactor included... of 3ds Max, but they are considered legacy features that are kept around for compatibility purposes and only simple projects Figure 13.26 The legacy particle systems that are still available in 3ds Max The addition of Particle Flow as the primary particle system in 3ds Max presented a huge increase in the capabilities of the particles but required a change in the approach as to how the systems were designed...   685 The 3ds Max particle systems have continually evolved over the years In their earliest form, the Spray and Snow particle systems were basically invisible planes that dropped dots on the scene objects Third-party developers often took on the task of creating more powerful systems that could be purchased by a user and added to their seat of 3ds Max Several of these plug-ins were purchased by Autodesk. .. while transporting your file to other digital video programs such as Adobe Premiere Microsoft RLE ​ Designed to keep file size down by reducing the color depth It is primarily  ​ designed for 8- bit animations Microsoft Video ​ Similar to RLE in that it reduces the color depth of the file It is designed  ​ for 8- and 16-bit animations and videos None ​ Applies no compression at all to your file Like the... 8- bit Color, and then click OK 7 Click the 6 48 × 480 button in the Output Size section of the dialog box 8 Make sure Elevation01 is selected in the View drop-down list at the bottom of the Render Setup dialog box, and then click Render 3ds Max proceeds to render the four elevation views 3ds Max will create four files, each with Myelevations as the first part of the name A fourdigit number is appended... 676  | Chapter 13  Creating Animations single-frame formats require an application, such as Adobe Premiere, Adobe AfterEffects, or Autodesk 3ds Max Composite, to turn them into viewable animations, although for short clips you can use the built-in RAM Player inside of 3ds Max to create viewable animations Their chief advantage is that you can maintain a high level of quality in your animation files and... box, enter 1-4 This tells 3ds Max to render only frames 1, 2, 3, and 4 5 Click the Files button in the Render Output group; then, in the Render Output File dialog box, enter Myelevations for the name, and select TIF Image File (*.tif) in the Save As Type drop-down list 6 Click Save In the TIF Image Control dialog box, click 8- bit Color, and then click OK 7 Click the 6 48 × 480 button in the Output... industries, and Silicon Graphics has developed a format designed to work with their own animation software and hardware The RGB (red, green, blue) format offers 16-bit color and alpha channels The RLA format offers a greater set of options, including additional channels for special effects RPF Image File (*.rpf) ​ The RPF file format is an Autodesk 3ds Max file format that sup ​ ports arbitrary image channels... animation the rendering represents (for example, the first frame will be called Myelevations0001.tif) Of course, you can use 3ds Max s animation tools to automate the rendering of a set of perspective or isometric views You can now walk away and take care of other things while 3ds Max renders your views unattended If your views take a long time to render, you may want to set things up to render overnight . to be in a render farm; any system capable of running 3ds Max Design 2011 can be used. All machines in the setup must have 3ds Max Design 2011 installed, but this does not require purchasing. the Inherit Container dialog box, select the LowResCar_Container01.maxc file. 3ds Max Container Files 3ds Max uses the extension *.maxc to identify models that have been prepared as Container files. The. software. Only the controlling system, called the Manager, must have an authorized copy of 3ds Max Design 2011 installed. The systems being used by the Manager, called Servers, are not required