Page 652 - Kitab3DsMax

Part V: Animation and Rendering Basics

Understanding Controller Types

Controllers are used to set the keys for animation sequences. Every object and parameter that is animated
has a controller assigned, and almost every controller has parameters that you can alter to change its func-
tionality. Some controllers present these parameters as rollouts in the Motion panel, and others use a
Properties dialog box.
Max has five basic controller types that work with only a single parameter or track and one specialized con-
troller type that manages several tracks at once (the Transform controllers). The type depends on the type
of values the controller works with. The types include the following:
l Transform controllers: A special controller type that applies to all transforms (position, rotation,
and scale) at the same time, such as the Position, Rotation, Scale (PRS) controllers
l Position controllers: Control the position coordinates for objects, consisting of X, Y, and Z values
l Rotation controllers: Control the rotation values for objects along all three axes
l Scale controllers: Control the scale values for objects as percentages for each axis
l Float controllers: Used for all parameters with a single numeric value, such as Wind Strength
and Sphere Radius
l Point3 controllers: Consist of color components for red, green, and blue, such as Diffuse and
Background colors

Note
Understanding the different controller types is important. When you copy and paste controller parameters
between different tracks, both tracks must have the same controller type. n
Float controllers work with parameters that use float numbers, such as a sphere’s Radius or a plane object’s
Scale Multiplier value. Float values are numbers with a decimal value, such as 2.3 or 10.99. A Float control-
ler is assigned to any parameter that is animated. After it is assigned, you can access the function curves and
keys for this controller in the Track View and in the Track Bar. Because Float and Point3 controllers are
assigned to parameters and not to objects, they don’t appear in the Animation menu.

Assigning Controllers

Any object or parameter that is animated is automatically assigned a controller. The controller that is
assigned is the default controller. The Animation panel in the Preference Settings dialog box lists the default
controllers and lets you change them. You can change this automatic default controller using the Track
View window or the transformation tracks located in the Motion panel.
Automatically assigned controllers
The default controllers are automatically assigned for an object’s transformation tracks when the object is
created. For example, if you create a simple sphere and then open the Motion panel (which has the icon
that looks like a wheel), you can find the transformation tracks in the Assign Controller rollout. The default
Position controller is Position XYZ, the default Rotation controller is Euler XYZ, and the default Scale con-
troller is the Bézier Scale controller.
The default controller depends on the type of object. For example, the Barycentric Morph controller is auto-
matically assigned when you create a morph compound object, and the Master Point controller is automati-
cally assigned to any vertices or control points subobjects that are animated.

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