3D Animation Q/A

[Capt.ArD]

make a question mark. then use the morpher modifier on it, set the preset thingy as a exclaimation point. as long as the two models have the same number of vertices you will be able to morph one into the other.

[animator1]

the preset thing? where is that?

[MiNT]

Originally Posted by animator1

I was wondering if anyone knew how i could change a question mark, into an exclamation mark in 3ds max? is it using a modifier? is it even possible? if not i will just stick to my original plan.

This is actually a pretty easy thing to do with the morpher.

1) Use the text tool to make a ! and a ? - these are only for reference
2) trace one spline over the straight part of the exclamation point, and another spline over the curvy part of the question mark
3) make a box, cylinder, w/e, however thick you want your character to be. Then, make a clone of it - COPY, do NOT instance
4) convert it to editable poly. Select the top face and click 'extrude along spline' options box(under 'edit polygons')
5) pick your spline as the question mark curve, and set the segments to a high enough number that it looks smooth. Add any taper, rotation, etc that you'd like.
6) do the same for the other plane, except with the straight segment. Add taper, or whatever to stylize it abit, and make sure that the segments is equal to the number you used for the question mark. You can modify the models however you want, as long as their topology is the same.
7) select the question mark, and from the modifier list, select morpher. Go to channel parameters, click 'pick object from scene', and it'll add the exclamation pt as a target. Now you have a morph target that you can keyframe (play with the slider and watch it move back and forward between the two...) in the morph channel list.

note -morpher will only work on objects that have the same topology over the vertex indices, even if they have the same vertex count (afaik../) - because, vertex 312 moves to wherever vertex 312 might be in the target. Also its a linear move, so you may need an intermediate morph to smooth out the transition betweent the two.

For the period, just make it however and either constrain it to the question mark or edit poly modifier attach it on.

Hope this helps

[animator1]

2) trace one spline over the straight part of the exclamation point, and another spline over the curvy part of the question mark

what do you mean by the spline?
But wow, seems like the type of thing for an advanced user. But i will try it and see what i get.

P.S-only a beginner.

[MiNT]

Create->shapes->line

click points, right click to finish your spline. The vertex editing works mostly how you'd expect with the transform tools. Also you can select vertices, and convert them to different tangency types - bezier, bezier corner, smooth, corner - by right clicking in the viewport and selecting the type from the quad menu. I would go with bezier for this, since you can rotate and scale the tangency, and it has more control than 'smooth'.

Also you can animate the spline vertices, so you could just animate your spline vertices and set the spline to renderable. If you need more detail (ex,tapers,etc) on your text, then you can take a long, highly segmented box, do whatever you want to it, then use the pathdeform modifier on it with the animated spline.

[Capt.ArD]

nice, mint, that was exactly what i was thinking. i have been running short on time and nerves, so i never got to really explain what i meant very well.

nice bookshelf, damelvin. are the edges of the bookshelf champhered? champhering edges a TINY bit adds a bit of realism to things. scince no edge is perfectly square, champhering adds the effect of tiny dings/curves to your objects.

BTW, Orson Scott Card's Novels are awesome, saw some on your shelf. nice.

[3DWolf]

We are using a map for our background (sky), and I was wondering if there was any way to modify that (such as darken it) over time. My partner and I cannot seem to find a way using keys or anything. I don't think it's possible. Anyone have any idea's?

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by 3DWolf

We are using a map for our background (sky), and I was wondering if there was any way to modify that (such as darken it) over time. My partner and I cannot seem to find a way using keys or anything. I don't think it's possible. Anyone have any idea's?

Okay what you need to do is make a sphere that covers the entire area so your scene is inside the sphere. Then import the bitmap into materials and give that material to the giant sphere. Make sure to check the "2-sided" otherwise the sphere wont show. In the bitmap parameters there is a graph that you can adjust to make the map darker. Also set the shere to 100 self illumination.

Or. you can scrap the sphere and keep the matiral and use the matirial as the background.

[3DWolf]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

Okay what you need to do is make a sphere that covers the entire area so your scene is inside the sphere. Then import the bitmap into materials and give that material to the giant sphere. Make sure to check the "2-sided" otherwise the sphere wont show. In the bitmap parameters there is a graph that you can adjust to make the map darker. Also set the shere to 100 self illumination.

Or. you can scrap the sphere and keep the matiral and use the matirial as the background.

We were doing that for some other things, I didn't think about doing it that way. Where do I have to move the map file to get it to show as a material? Also, do I have to change it anyway? Because wouldn't it still be a 2d map?

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by 3DWolf

We were doing that for some other things, I didn't think about doing it that way. Where do I have to move the map file to get it to show as a material? Also, do I have to change it anyway? Because wouldn't it still be a 2d map?

alright, when you are in the evironment map adder window, on the left side of the window you should see material editor. Click on that and choose your material from there. I would suggests doing the giant sphere rout cause if your camera moves at all in your animation your sky will just say in one spot. If you do the sphere then the sky will move with your evironment. Although skylight wont work with the giant sphere.

But if you have problems with your lights you can exclude the sphere to the in the lights options.

[3dfernando]

With the environment and material editor windows open, drag the backgroound map from environ. window to any slot of material editor, and name it as an instance of the map. Now you can change the attributes of the background image via material editor. To darken it, just go to the last (output) rollout and change the Output amount/RGB offset sliders (with autokey on) until you are satisfied.

You can use a cylinder/sphere to make environment, but I don't recommend unless your camera rotates a lot, and unless your environment map is "really" appearing...

But the sphere trick has some disadvantages: If your camera rotates 360º, it will appear the "seam" that represents the start of the map... Unless your map is "tileable" =p .
And like buddy said, it doesn't allow skylight to light the scene. And you have to flip the sphere's normals (or apply a 2-sided material), otherwise it won't work.

[Mazin]

You don't need a giant sphere.

Put a map in the Environment slot as usual, and then animate the "Output level" in the map's properties. 1 is regular brightness. 0 is black.

Note, has not been tested in Max.

[3DWolf]

Originally Posted by Mazin

You don't need a giant sphere.

Put a map in the Environment slot as usual, and then animate the "Output level" in the map's properties. 1 is regular brightness. 0 is black.

Note, has not been tested in Max.

Oh hey! That worked very well! My team has been trying to figure that out for the past two weeks!
I guess that's what you get what your 3d team consists of a 2 year and a 1 year animator

[Mazin]

Originally Posted by 3DWolf

Oh hey! That worked very well! My team has been trying to figure that out for the past two weeks!
I guess that's what you get what your 3d team consists of a 2 year and a 1 year animator

I win

[team 2244]

HELP US ! ! !
We are from Free Access Evolution Team and we are having problems trying to upload the animation. We developed the animation with all the specifications provided in www.autodesk.com/firstbase, but the upload didn't run. So now, we are thinking of making a new site to put our animation there, so we could tell FIRST the password to enter on the site. What do you think of this? Do you think t's possible?

P L E A S E A N S W E R U S ! ! !

Pedro (#2244)