Animating a Walkthrough

Animating a Walkthrough

Working with Animation Tracks

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Animation Tutorials > Animating a Walkthrough > 

Creating a Walkthrough

Set up the lesson:

• Open the great_wall_start.max file from the \tutorials\walkthrough folder.
  TipIf the Units Mismatch dialog displays, choose Adopt The File's Unit Scale and then click OK.

Calculate the required number of frames:

1. Press H to open the Select Objects dialog, and then double-click Camera Path.
2. On the Utility panel, click the Measure button.

   This tool reports the length of the camera path, which is about 900 feet.

   

   NoteFor a comfortable walking pace in architectural walkthroughs you'll need about a second to travel every three feet of distance. For a jog or a fast run, you can go as fast as nine feet per second. In NTSC format, that translates into 30 frames for every nine feet of distance traveled, or 3,000 frames for 900 feet.
3. Click the Time configuration button next to the Current Frame Field.
4. In the Animation group on the Time Configuration dialog, change End Time to 3000 to increase the number of frames in the animation, and then click OK.

   

   This provides sufficient frames for the walkthrough animation.

   The time slider frame indicator now shows 3000 frames.

Create a Free camera:

1. Go to the Create panel, click the Cameras button, and then click the Free button.

   

2. Click anywhere in the Front viewport to create the camera.
3. On the Name and Color rollout, rename the camera FreeCam.

   

Assign a Path constraint to the camera:

1. Make sure the camera is selected, and then, from the Animation menu at the top of the screen, choose Constraints > Path Constraint.

   A rubber-band appears between the camera and the mouse cursor.

2. Press H to open the Pick Object dialog, and then double-click Camera Path to select it.

   This places the camera on the path and gives the Motion panel focus. The selected path appears in the Target list of the Path Parameters rollout.

   

3. In the Path Parameters rollout > Path Options group, turn on the Follow option.

   

4. Set the Follow Axis to Y.

   

5. Right-click the Perspective viewport to activate it, and then press C to view what the camera is looking at.
6. Click Play Animation to view the animation.

   The camera travels along the path but the motion seems unnatural. At times it aims too high and at other times too low. The software maintains the camera aim tangential to the path. A Free Camera might be suitable for a path constrained to a horizontal plane, but it isn’t ideal for the undulating path in this scene. In the next section you’ll try a Target Camera.

Create a Target camera:

A Target camera follows a path in the same fashion as a free camera. Instead of aiming tangential to the path it remains directed towards its target, which can be animated independently.

1. Stop the animation if it is still playing and go to Frame 0.
2. If necessary, Select the FreeCam object you created in the previous section.
3. Right-click in the active viewport, and then, from the quad menu, choose Hide Selection.

   

4. From the Cameras category of the Create panel, click the Target button.

   

5. In the Top viewport, click and drag to create the camera.

   

6. On the Name And Color rollout, rename the camera TargetCam.

   

7. Assign a Path constraint, as before, to cause the new camera to move along the existing path.
8. Activate the FreeCam viewport.
9. Press C to switch the display to the selected camera’s point of view.
10. Click Play to view the animation. The target remains stationary while the camera moves along the path.

Animate the camera target:

To create a walkthrough with a target camera, you have to animate the target moving ahead of the camera and stop occasionally on points of interest.

1. Stop the animation if it is still playing and go to frame 0.
2. Press H to open the Select By Name dialog.
3. Double-click TargetCam.Target.

   

4. Click and then right-click the Move tool.
5. At frame 0, position the target at –22, -200,147.

   

   This gives an appropriate starting direction for the camera.

6. Click Auto Key.
7. Move the time slider to frame 194.
8. Position the target at 80,-69,26.

   

   This position corresponds to the first tower along the wall, which is a suitable point of interest.

9. Press Shift and drag the key you just created to approximately frame 815. This duplicates the key, holding the tower as the target while the camera approaches it.
10. Move the time slider to frame 1050.
11. Position the target at 44,11,42.

    

12. Move the time slider to frame 1272.
13. Position the Target at -141,112,92.

    

    This positions the target near the second tower.

14. Press Shift and drag the key you just created to frame 1820.

    This holds the target at the second tower while the camera approaches it.

15. Move the time slider to frame 1964.
16. Position the target at –235,250,82.

    

17. Move the time slider to frame 2135.
18. Position the target at –235,250, 29.

    

    This lowers the target’s position along the Z axis to accommodate the drop in the path just after the second tower.

19. Move the time slider to frame 2534.
20. Position the target at –273,520,197.

    

21. Press Shift and drag the key you just created to frame 2963.
22. Click Play to view the result in the TargetCam viewport.

    The target moves ahead of the camera to the points of interest along the way.

23. Turn off Auto Key.
24. Right-click in the Top viewport to make it active.
25. Click Play.

    Viewing the animation in the top viewport emphasizes how the target moves to the points of interest ahead of the camera.