Not a newbie to CG, but a newbie to animation. I work in Max 10. I’ve never done animation before, and I’d like to try a simple one. I know how animation works and all, just that I’m an illustrator, so I haven’t had a reason to jump in. What I’d like to do is make an animation to act as a music video of sorts. I do music as well. But what I don’t know is how to have the timing of the animation match the music. Is there a feature in Max that can get the music in there and force the timing to match?
Newbie question
Cadedra
#2
I do not get exactly what you want to achieve. Some advices, just in case:
If what you want is to have your music inside MAX so you can use it as a guide as you animate, you can make a sound track. Just open the track view, choose the sound track, right click/properties, and then hit the Choose Sound button. The rest should be very intuitive for you. As far as I know, only .wav format is supported for this operation…
If what you want is to have your animation reacting automatically to music or beats (like winamp visualizations), then you will have to look in the MaxScript forums and study some MaxScript, because it surely takes programing.
If what you need is something else… just ask! 
Well doggone. I appreciate the answer, but it’s not what I need. My music is fairly high quality MP3. I don’t it would work well as a wav file. I’ll take a look at script spot and see what they have. If all else fails I can note the time of key movements in the MP3 then set keyframes matching that in Max. I may never get it done, but you know, it combines two of my three passions in life and I’d love to be able to make it so I could put my music up at youtube. Which of course means I have to get some kind of movie making software to combine the animation and the MP3 and then save it all as the right format. Ah, what we do for love.
Appreciate the trouble you took to answer. Thank you.
Cadedra
#4
Well, you could always convert a copy of it to .wav to temporally use it on Max, and keep your mp3 to your finished work.
But if what you want is just to keep your beat going on with the animation, you could use the metronome feature in Max.
And, it is no trouble to answer, pal! I find your topic very interesting, because I too make music, and I have faced some projects in the past on which I had to combine animation/music to get interesting effects. I feel that if you’d explained a litle bit more detailed what you want to do, it would be easier to help, because I still have no Idea. So it is up to you! 
Well, I’m barely starting really. I have a lot of songs to choose from. I’m leaning toward a very nice guitar instrumental I did of A Whiter Shade of Pale, but I have no idea what kind of animation I’d put with it. I have another song, Butterfly and Beetle - A Love Song, which is also very nice. And a third song called Butterfly in the Sun, which is quite beautiful. I need to make a simple but beautiful animation to go with whatever song I choose. Which is a bit hard for me. I know about bone systems and the basics of animation, but I’ve never done any. I do book covers and album covers and DVD covers and stuff. I’m an illustrator, so there’s just never been a reason for it to come up before, and I had no ambitions toward animation. But now, I feel a real need to try to do something with the music. My years as a professional musician are far behind me, but I still make music for my own pleasure, and there are people I’d like to share it with. The complete experience. Especially after having had a heart attack and surgery. I figure working off and on between my art and writing it will likely take me maybe a year to do it all. It just feels like something I need to do, if that makes any sense.
I’m sure I can find the software I need to edit the movie and such at SourceForge. I’d also like to be able to split some of the frames off and work on them in Photoshop and the like. I’m ambitious if nothing else. I’m also old and disabled, and it can be hard for an old guy to jump feet first into something new like this.
Cadedra
#6
Then I insist you convert your mp3 to wav (and keep your mp3 only for final video editing if you want). Use the wav as a temporary reference for making your animation inside Max. That is what everybody does.
You can convert .mp3 to .wav with nearly any media converter. I use this one: http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html
though it scope reaches also videos… and beyond.
And good luck animating!!!
Well, I’ll probably have to do that. I have 3 different programs I use for working on MP3s. Wavepad is probably the best. It will let me convert into just about anything. Except a format that lets me set a DVD to play music. It can’t record the right library. Thanks a million for your help.
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