Working with Animation Tracks



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In this tutorial, you will animate the second, minute and hour hands of a clock. You will learn how to create keyframes in a variety of ways and prepare a set of animation tracks for later recall.

Features Covered in this Tutorial

  • Creating a Track Set

  • Using Auto Expand

  • Trackview Quad Menu

  • Hierarchy Right-Click Menu

  • Default In/Out Tangents for new keys

  • Zoom Key Extends

  • Setting Parameter Curve Out of Range Type

  • Copying Controllers

Skill Level: Intermediate

Time to Complete: 30 minutes

Form a Track Set

  1. Open Watch1.max from the \tutorials\curve_editor folder. If you get a Units Mismatch warning, choose the option “Adopt the File’s Unit Scale”.

  2. Right-click in the viewport and from the Quad menu, choose Curve Editor.

  3. Open the hierarchy so that the rotation Z-axis tracks for each of the hands can be seen.

  4. Press Ctrl and select each of the three Z Rotation tracks.

  5. Create a Track Set by entering Hands in the Track Sets field.

    This Track Set can be recalled to conveniently display the included tracks within the Curve Editor.

  6. Close Curve Editor

Animate the Second Hand

The second hand will be animated so that it rotates one second per frame.

  1. Press H to open the Select by Name dialog.

  2. Highlight the Second Hand in the list and click Select to select it.

  3. Right-click and choose Curve Editor from the Quad menu.

  4. Right-click in the pane displayed on the left to open the Quad menu.

  5. Within the Auto Expand sub menu, make sure the following options are active.

    These options display the X, Y, and Z components of the transform tracks.

  6. Highlight the Second Hand’s the Z Rotation track.

  7. Click Add Keys.

  8. Click near frame 0 and again near frame 1 to add some keys. Don’t worry about setting the values exactly at this point. You’ll adjust them in a moment.

  9. Right-click and choose Move Keys from the Quad menu. This cancels Add Keys mode.

  10. Click the first key and set its time and value to zero.

  11. Click the second key and set its time to 1 and value to –6.

  12. Close the Curve Editor.

Setting Key Tangent Type

  1. Open Watch2.max or continue with your current file.

  2. Select the Second Hand and open Curve Editor.

  3. Highlight the Z Rotation track.

  4. Click Zoom Horizontal Extents Keys.

    Note: It is contained within the Zoom Horizontal Extents flyout.

  5. Repeat the Procedure with the Zoom Value Extents Range (vertical zoom).

    The Curve editor zooms in to show only the range with keys, which in this case is frame 0 and 1.

    The curve uses the default Auto tangent type. The tangent type should be set to Step.

  6. Select both keys using a window selection.

  7. Click Set Tangents to Step on the Curve Editor’s toolbar. This retains a key’s value until the next key frame.

Setting Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Type

To make the second hand repeat its motion the Out-of-Range type should be set to Relative Repeat.

  1. Click Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Type.

  2. Click the Relative Repeat option.

  3. Click OK to close the dialog.

  4. Close the Curve Editor.

  5. Play the animation.

    The second hand repeats its motion throughout the animation range.

Animate the Minute Hand

The second hand moves in steps, jumping ahead each second. The minute hand however should move continuously. This can be accomplished with the linear key tangents.

  1. Set the default tangent type to linear.

  2. Move the time slider to frame 60.

  3. Open the Select by Name dialog and select the minute hand.

  4. Click Auto Key.

  5. Click the Rotation tool.

  6. Enter –6 in the Z transform field and press Enter.

  7. Turn off Auto Key.

  8. Open the Curve Editor

  9. Select the Z Rotation track of the Minute Hand.

  10. Click Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Type.

  11. Set the Parameter Curve out of Range type to Relative Repeat.

  12. Close the Curve Editor.

    Play the animation.

    The second and minute hands move correctly. Next you’ll animate the hour hand.

Copying Controllers

In this sequence you’ll animate the hour hand by copying and adjusting the controller from the minute hand.

  1. Open Watch3.max or continue with your current file.

  2. Right-click in the viewport and select Curve Editor.

  3. Choose Hands from the Track Set list.

  4. Highlight the Z-Rotation track of the Minute Hand.

  5. Right-click and choose Copy from the Quad Menu.

  6. Highlight the Z Rotation track of the Hour Hand.

  7. Right-click and choose Paste from the menu.

  8. Choose Copy from the dialog.

  9. Make sure the Z Rotation track of the Hour Hand is the only highlighted track.

  10. Select the second key of the Hour Hands Z Rotation track.

  11. Adjust the value at frame 60 from –6 to –0.5.

  12. Close the Curve Editor.

    Play the animation.

    Although the hour hand is animated you can’t see it move until the animation time is extended.

Extending the Animation Time

  1. Open the time configuration dialog.

  2. Set the end time to 3600.

  3. Click OK to close the time configuration dialog.

  4. Drag the time slider to view the animation. One hour elapses over the course of the animation.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to animate the second, minute and hour hands of a clock. You also learned how to create keyframes in a variety of ways and prepare a set of animation tracks for later recall.

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