Page 659 - Kitab3DsMax

Chapter 22: Animating with Constraints and Simple Controllers

The Forces, Limits, and Precision rollout lets you add forces that affect the spring motion. The Add button
lets you identify these forces, which are typically Space Warps, and you can limit the effect to specific axes.

Tutorial: Wagging a tail with the Spring controller
One of the best uses of the Spring controller is to gain the secondary motion associated with an existing
motion. For example, if a character moves, then an appendage such as a tail can easily follow if you apply a
Spring controller to it.
To wag a row of spheres using the Spring controller, follow these steps:
1. Open the Dog wagging tail.max file from the Chap 22 directory on the DVD.
This file contains a linked row of spheres with the head sphere animated rotating back and forth.
2. Select the smallest sphere, and choose the Animation ➪ Position Controllers ➪ Spring menu com-
mand. This moves the sphere to its parent. Choose the Select and Move button (or press the W
key), and return the sphere to its original position.
3. Repeat Step 2 for the remaining spheres, moving from smallest to largest.
4. Click the Play Animation button (or press the / key) to see the resulting motion.
Figure 22.14 shows a frame of the final motion. Notice that the spheres aren’t lined up exactly. The smallest
sphere is moving the greatest distance because all the springs are adding their effect.

FIGURE 22.14
The Spring controller adds secondary motion to the existing motion of the largest sphere.

611

6/30/10 4:28 PM
31_617779-ch22.indd 611
31_617779-ch22.indd 611 6/30/10 4:28 PM