3ds max: Animating a walk cycle.

#1

Good evening,

I would like to make some questions about animating a walk cycle with the character moving from its original position (not using biped). For example, while the bone structure moves its legs and arms, the whole character (bone structure + skinned mesh) moves forward.
Suppose I have two simple bone legs with HI Solver, and move the IK Goals in order to make a walk cycle.

  1. What are the usual methods to loop the walk cycle? I would select the leg keyframes (that is, the IK Goals’ keyframes) and copy them several times until the moment the character stops walking. I’m not talking about an “endless” loop: I would like to have the possibility to start and end the loop at any time, and, if possible, have more than one “movement” (e.g., walking, running). Of course, it is all possible with keyframe copying, but it doesn’t seem like the most efficient solution.
  2. What are the usual methods for moving the character from its original position? I would Group everything and then move the Group, while the walkcycle loops inside the Group.
    NOTE: I thought of Groups because it makes possible a looping movement inside the Group and an independent “going forward” movement of the Group.
    Tell me if I’m not being very clear here.

Thank you in advance.
(NOTE: I wasn’t sure about posting this on the “Animation” forum or on the 3ds max specific forum.)

#2

Grouping is probably not the best way to go about it beccause you risk having your character’s feet sliding when you move the group, try reading up on using max’s motion mixer. You can creat and save animation loops and then mix them together like in a video/sound editing program.

Hope this helps!

#3

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