Creating a Distinctive Walk

Animating with Footsteps

Making a Biped Stop and Start Walking

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Character Animation Tutorials > Animating with Footsteps > 

Modifying Footsteps

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to copy and paste biped footsteps to extend an animation. You'll also learn how to adjust and bend the steps, and to produce the effect of walking on uneven terrain. You'll also make the biped take a jump.

Set up for this lesson:

• Continue from the previous exercise, or open paste_footsteps_start.max.

Extend the walk:

1. Select any part of the biped.
2. On the Motion panel, in the Biped rollout, turn on Footstep Mode.

   The Footsteps sub-object level is activated, and only the footsteps can be selected.

3. Right-click to activate the Top viewport, then press Alt+W to maximize the viewport.
4. Using Select And Move, region-select footsteps 3 through 7.
5. On the Footstep Operations rollout, click Copy Footsteps to place the selected footsteps into the footstep buffer.
6. Click Paste Footsteps to paste the selected footsteps into the viewport.

   The new footsteps appear next to the biped's current footsteps.

   

   Pasted footsteps appear.

   TipIf you have Transform gizmo on, use the minus key ( - ) to shrink the Transform gizmo, so it doesn’t cover up the footsteps.
7. The new footsteps can be moved as a set. Move them so the first footstep of the new set is over footstep 7 of the original set. When footstep 7 of the original set turns red, release the mouse button.

   Footsteps from the original motion are inserted. Now there are 11 footsteps visible.

8. Press Alt+W to display four viewports.
9. To display the entire animation in the Perspective viewport, zoom out and use Arc Rotate and Pan to adjust your view until the biped and all 11 steps are visible.

   

   Pasted footsteps extend the motion.

10. With the Perspective viewport active, play the animation.

    Since you are still in Footstep mode, the Motion panel is available. This is a good time to save your mywalk_pasted.bip file, using Save File on the Biped rollout.

Scale the walk:

1. Make sure Footstep mode is active.
2. In the Top viewport, region-select all the footsteps.
3. On the Footstep Operations rollout, turn off Length, and leave Width selected.
4. Set Scale to 2.0 to double the spacing between the left and right footsteps.
5. Play the animation.

   The biped walks with legs apart.

6. Set Scale to 0.25 or smaller to reduce the spacing between the left and right footsteps to half of the original scaling (one-quarter the current setting).

   If you hadn't previously doubled this parameter, a setting of 0.5 would have scaled the width by 50%.

   Now the biped puts one foot in front of the next.

   TipIf your character has big feet, or if it's walking on a wire or a ledge, use Scale Width and Length to adjust the footsteps.

   

   Scale the width between the steps.

7. Play the animation.

   The biped walks as if on a tightrope.

Bend the walk:

1. In the Top viewport, select all the footsteps from 7 on.
2. On the Footstep Operations rollout, set Bend to 20.0.

   The footsteps bend to the left, beginning at footstep 7.

3. Play the animation.

   

Walk on uneven terrain:

You can raise and rotate the footsteps to create the illusion of walking on uneven terrain.

1. Make sure that Footstep mode is still on.
2. Maximize the Perspective viewport.
3. Use Select And Rotate to select all the footsteps from 4 on.
4. Use the Transform gizmo arrows to rotate the selected footsteps approximately -15 degrees about the X-axis so the footsteps go up a hill.
5. Select footsteps 8 through 11.
6. Rotate the selected footsteps about the X-axis approximately 21 degrees, so that the footsteps go back down the hill.
7. Select footstep 11. Rotate it so it's parallel with the grid.
8. Play the animation.

   The biped's feet follow the footstep placement.

   

Add a jump:

If there is a period of time during a footstep animation when neither foot is on the ground, the software interprets this period as a jump. There are several different ways to create a jumping animation. In this set of procedures, you’ll move footstep keys in Track View to make the jump.

• Open footsteps_jump_start.max.

  This is a slightly longer version of the same file you’ve been working on. It has 15 footsteps instead of 11.

Move footstep keys in Track View:

1. Select Bip01. On the Motion panel, in the Biped rollout, turn on Footstep Mode, if it isn't already on.
2. In the viewport, right-click and choose Curve Editor from the quad menu.

   Track View is displayed.

3. On the Track View menu bar, choose Modes > Dope Sheet. Pan the controller window until you can see the Bip01 Footstep track displayed in Track View.

   

   Dope Sheet shows special footstep keys.

   In Dope Sheet display of footsteps, each blue block represents a left footstep, and each green block represents a right footstep. The length of the blocks is the period of time that the foot is in contact with the ground during the footstep. The spaces between the blue and green blocks represent periods in which the biped is not supported by the left or right foot.

4. Resize the Track View window, or zoom into the track so you can see the start and end frame numbers on each footstep.
5. Select footsteps 11 through 15 by drawing a box around them in Track View, or by dragging a selection region in the viewport.

   In Track View, notice that footstep number 11 starts at frame 165.

6. On the Track View toolbar, click the Slide Keys button.
7. In Track View, click in the center of footstep 11 and drag it to the right until the number 166 (indicating the first frame of footstep 11) increments to number 180. Release the mouse button.

   This creates a gap between step 10 and 11. The keys in the other biped tracks adjust to the change in the footstep track.

   

   The keys shifted to the right to create a gap

   By creating an area in the footstep track where neither foot is supporting the biped, you have changed a walking step into a jumping step

8. Minimize Track View and then play the animation.

   

   The gap between footsteps creates a jump.

9. In the viewport, move footstep 10 so it is next to footstep 9.
10. In the viewport, move footsteps 11 through 15 so there is more of a gap for the jump. Move these footsteps about 5–7 units in the X-axis direction.

    

    More gap for the jump

    Now, if you shorten the duration of footstep 10, you can accentuate the jump.

11. On the Track View toolbar, click Move Key.
12. In Track View - Dope Sheet, click the right edge of footstep 10.

    A white dot appears only on the right side of the key to show it's selected.

13. Drag the right edge of footstep 10 to the left to shorten the duration of the key. Change the key so it ends at frame 160.

    

    Shorten the duration of footstep 10.

14. Play the animation and observe the jump.
15. Turn off Footstep Mode.

Make the biped crouch before the jump:

The preparation for the jump, between footsteps 9 and 10, looks a little stiff because the biped is not crouching enough before jumping. Resetting a vertical key will fix this.

1. On the Motion panel, in the Track Selection rollout, click Body Vertical.
2. Move the time slider to frame 153, where there is a Body Vertical track key.
3. Press H and select Bip01, the center of mass.
4. Move the center of mass down approximately –5 units. Then on the Key Info rollout, click Set Key.

   If the biped jumps back to its original position, click Set Key and try again. Click Set Key when you have a crouching position as illustrated here.

   

   Lower the center-of-mass object using the Body Vertical track.

5. Move the time slider to view the animation.

   There appears to be a glitch in the motion. There are two Body Vertical keys next to each other that are causing this problem.

6. Move the time slider to frame 153.
7. In the Key Info rollout, click the Next Key arrow to move to the next key at frame 154. Then click Delete Key to remove this second key.
8. Select Bip01 R Foot.
9. Move the time slider to frame 167. Click Body Vertical and raise the foot slightly, so the biped's knee is bent.
10. On the Key Info rollout, click Set Free Key to hold the bent knee position. Set additional keys on the foot if it hyperextends before it hits the ground, or if it goes through the ground at takeoff.
11. Play back the animation and observe the motion.

12. In the Track Selection rollout, click Body Rotation. Move the time slider to frame 160. Using the Transform gizmo, rotate the center of mass so the body pitches forward.

    The jump looks more natural now. The result should be similar to the jump in footstep_jump_final.bip.