CAP 202 - Computer Animation II

Lesson 13 - Animation Lab

Objectives:

This lesson discusses reviews and used concepts from previous lessons. Objectives important to this lesson:

1. Creating animation with Set Key (Pose to Pose)
2. Using Secondary Motion
3. Combining modifiers
4. Creating a walk cycle
5. Creating Animation with Auto Key

Concepts:

The lesson begins by telling us that we will be using several features from past lessons. It asks you to view the chess.avi file first to see where you are going. This is the equivalent of seeing a story board or a Flash mockup of the scene that we are to create in 3DS Max.

This lesson has several exercise in it that build on one another. There are a couple of steps left out, which I will point out to you.

Exercise Notes and Questions

Work through the exercises and turn in your answers to all questions below as part of the homework for this assignment.

Exercise 1: This exercise animates the pawn on your chess board, moving it from the starting position to the board's edge. The animation is only on one axis so far. In this exercise, the book tells you to click the Set Key button instead of the Auto Key button. This lets you move and change the objects, but not set a key until you actually mean to do so.
Question 1: Step 8 in exercise 1 tells you to click the Set Key button. It does NOT mean to click the button you clicked in step 7. What key does it actually mean? (Every time the book says to click the Set Key button, you will need to decide which one it means.)

Exercise 2: Exercise 2 adds hopping to the pawn's movement.
Question 2: Which axis are you changing the value for to make the pawn hop?
Question 3: In the Curve Editor, you are told to select three keys at the top of the hop curve. How do you select all three at once?
Question 4: Which keys are adjusted to change the acceleration characteristics of the hops, the keys at the top of the hop or the keys at the bottom on the hop?

Exercise 3: Exercise 3 uses a Stretch modifier on the pawn to stretch and squash the pawn for secondary motion.
Question 5: In general, do you apply positive or negative values to an object's stretch modifier to anticipate a jump?
Question 6: In general, do you apply positive or negative values to an object's stretch modifier as follow through to a jump?

The text changes over to animating the rook.

Exercise 4: This exercise adds three modifiers to the rook.
Question 7: You add a twist modifier to the rook. You did not add one to the pawn. Why would it not add to the pawn's animation?
Note that in step 7, you set the Bend Direction value of the pawn, but it will not have a visible effect until step 11.

Exercise 5: This exercise adds reactive motion to the rook, giving the impression that it has noticed the pawn and is reacting emotionally.

Exercise 6: This exercise moves the rook off the chess board.
Question 8: There is an instruction missing between steps 9 and 10. What should you do after step 9, given that you just changed location and stretch values in a new time frame?
Note that the picture after step 12 does not show the rook in its final position. It should be outside the area that the camera can see.

Exercise 7: This exercise makes a change that may not be necessary, depending on how you moved the rook at the end of the scene. Use the file named in the text to display the problem that could have happened: a change of direction or motion in mid-air.

Exercise 8: This exercise introduces a new feature, Relative Repeat. Note that it repeats a defined motion to the end of the current time line.