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Part I: Getting Started with 3ds Max

Animating the Dinosaur

With the test render complete and the scene looking good, we can move to the animation phase. This phase
involves adding a skeleton rig to the dinosaur using the Character Animation Toolkit (CAT) tools. The skel-
eton can be animated easily, causing the dinosaur mesh skin to follow.

Tutorial: Adding a preset CAT rig
The first step to animating a character is to add an underlying skeleton rig that matches the dinosaur’s
mesh. After this is done, the task of animating is quick.
To add a preset CAT rig to the dinosaur, follow these steps:
1. Click the Maximize Viewport toggle button in the lower-right corner of the interface to toggle
back to four viewports. Then zoom out of the Top viewport so you can see the entire scene.
2. Select the dinosaur object, and choose the Edit ➪ Select Invert menu; then right-click in the view-
port, and choose the Hide Selected option in the pop-up quadmenu. This hides everything but
the dinosaur.
3. Open the Create panel, and select the Helpers category. Then select the CAT Objects subcategory.
Click the CAT Parent button, select the Allosaur preset, and drag in the Top viewport until the
CAT rig is aligned with the feet and as high as the dinosaur’s back in the Left viewport.
4. With the Move tool in the main toolbar, select the left rig foot in the Front viewport and drag it to
the left to align with the skin mesh foot. Then move the upper and lower left leg bones in the Left
viewport forward to match the skin mesh leg.
Tip
If you find that you’re selecting the skin mesh too much, you can right-click it and select Freeze Selection to
freeze it so it can’t be selected. Use the Unfreeze All option to unfreeze it when you’re finished. n
5. Use the Front and Left viewports to move the bones of the rig arm to match the arms of the skin
mesh for only the left arm.
6. Open the Modify panel, and select the left upper leg bone, and then click the Copy Bone Settings
button in the Ankle Setup rollout. Then select the right ankle bone, and choose the Mirror Bone
Settings buttons. This makes the bone changes on the left leg applied to the right. Then repeat
this step for the arms.
7. Select and drag the head bone forward in the Left viewport to align with the skin mesh’s head.
Select one of the tail bones, and set the Num Links in the Tail Setup rollout to 5; then move and
orient the bones to match the skin mesh.
8. When the rig is aligned to the skin mesh, select the skin mesh and choose the
Modifiers ➪ Animation ➪ Skin menu command to apply the Skin mesh to the dinosaur. Click the
Add button in the Parameters rollout, and select all the objects in the Select Bones dialog box
except for the Allosaur helper object and the two leg platform helper objects, and then click the
Select button. Figure QS.6 shows the dinosaur with the CAT rig aligned to the skin mesh.

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