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SoCoder -> Article Home -> Graphics 3D

 
Dabz
Created : 30 June 2007
 

Basic Animation in 3D Studio Max Tutorial

A small article I wrote over at syntaxbomb, which I'd like to share here.
Basic Animation in 3D Studio Max 8
Written by Michael Denathorn 2007-02-08

One of the biggest hurdles I have will 3D, is that I can barely model, and know nothing about UV Mapping (So basically, I’m screwed ), but, there is a wealth of model resources out there, just like www.turbosquid.com – thanks Dij

Though, the majority of these models are only static models, with no animation, but many of these can come to life by using a simple technique within 3D Studio Max, which I’m about to show you now!

Firstly, you need 3D Studio Max, I’m lucky because my brother is in the army and he gets a load of software, and now and again, I twist his arm and he leaves his Sony laptop at my house so I can play (He uses a lot of AutoDesk software). Anyway, the static model we are going to animate is this little fella (Which I got from Turbo Squid):-



Download it here: myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mdplasteringservices/maxanimtut/GunshipWhole.zip

The animation on the model is going to make the rotors turn 360 degrees, simply because, having a gunship flying around with static rotors looks a little ‘odd’!

Firstly, download the model from the link above, then open 3D Studio Max, select ‘File’ in the menu bar, then click ‘Import..’ in the dropdown menu.

Navigate to the downloaded 3DS File, and open it… You should now see this screen:-



Now we’ve got that sorted, we’ll setup the animation first, which we do by using GUI at the bottom of the window:-



I’ve highlighted the three tools we will use while making our model animate:-

Yellow highlight - Frame slider tool
Green highlight - Auto Key tool
Blue highlight - Time configuration tool

We will use the play button to show our animation (Above left of the time configuration tool), but that’s obvious really!

By default, Max gives you 100 frames of animation, which here, is too much, so, click the time configuration tool icon (Highlighted in blue), and you should see this pop up window:-



Find the Animation panel, and change the ‘Length’ property from 100 to 10, then press enter, return back to Max by clicking ‘OK’

Now, click the Auto Key tool (Highlighted in green), and move the slider tool (Highlighted in yellow) to frame 10, you should now see this:-



Next, press the ‘Select and Rotate’ button on the toolbar;

Move your cursor over to one of the view ports and click on one of the gun ship’s rotor blades (I’m using the Front view port, and clicking the rotor blade pointing upwards from the model), the rotor should turn white, and the rest of the model should turn yellow, this indicates we have selected the rotors.

Now, click and hold the left mouse button over a part of the rotor blades mesh, and push the mouse right/left, you’ll see that the rotors start to turn, keep on pushing the mouse until they have roughly gone 360 degrees, then let the mouse button go (I have highlighted one of the blades blue, just so its easier to see visually):-



When you are finished rotating the blades, click the (now red) Auto Key tool button to complete.

Move the frame slider back to 0, then press the play button (which I mentioned earlier), and you should now see your helicopters little rotor blades spinning happily in your active view port!

All you’ve got to do now is export the whole lot by going ‘File/Export…’ and saving it (though, I recommend not over writing the original 3DS file).

Once that’s done, you can then load the model into Blitz3D and you have a nice animated helicopter! Jobtastic

If you’re not sure how to load the model to Blitz3D and animate it, here’s some code to get you started:-



Thanks for reading!

maDenathorn

 

Comments
Saturday, 30 June 2007, 17:23
Trooper David
 		Damn!! I love this too. I forgot all about this tutorial. Do you think this would work as well for Blender? Hmmm
Sunday, 01 July 2007, 08:20
f4ktor
 		Interesting. It's even more interesting how many people can afford 3DS Max -_-
Sunday, 01 July 2007, 08:38
power mousey
 		can you model a Transformer?

I prefer an Autobot.
But, I'll take a Decepticon too.


cheers,
and Victory to Optimus Prime
Friday, 06 July 2007, 13:38
Dabz
 		I never mentioned I could afford it, I mentioned I use a laptop, that is used by my brother, who is a surveyor for the royal engineers and he receives a suite of Autodesk software and it just so happens, the suite contains everything (apart from Maya, which is a shame)

Read the article f4ktor before thrashing it with a pseudo 'your a pirate' comment!

Thank you

maDenathorn
Friday, 06 July 2007, 14:37
power mousey
 		thats really intesting Dabz.

Your modeling and the circumstances underrlying
using 3ds Studio on your brothers laptop.

My best friend, used to use 3ds Studio a lot.
He used to work in a computer store...selling software,
building and repairing computers too. Upgrading existing
customers computers too. Both a tech and a salesman.
He got paid for his job. And for awhile some of which was
a plan to purchase and use 3DS Studio too. He had to sell
x number of software and/or build+repair x number of computers. In other words, it was part of his paycheck per week to use and eventually buy 3DS Studio.

and oh man!!, what an artist he was using 3ds Studio.
Flying cows and Budweiser beer cans too.
Star Wars docking bays, ty fighters, even the DeathStar.
He was obviously into Star Wars. Even, for my birthday he made a fantasy castle for me...landscape and all. Even a flying red dragon too.
He used to be in the Grateful Dead and draw and model drawings that Jerry Garcia used to for some of the cover album and cd label art.
He even made a short movie of himself and another friend being shrunken down and sucked inside a pentium. And then a virtual tour of the components and circuitry of the pentium CPU.

WOW!! and whoaaaa!!

cheers
power mousey