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582 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
Note:
3ds Max supports direct animation of
cameras and lights. If you animate a camera or
light, that animation will be exported, but an extra
geometry node will b e inser ted into the scene
during the export process. This geometry node
has the animation of the camera or light applied to
it,andthecameraorlightismadeachildofthis
extra node.
TheexporterdoesthisbecausetheShockwave
3D ru ntime engine supports keyframes only on
geometric nodes. The extr a node that the exporter
creates is named "Dummy Animation Node xyz",
wherexyzisthenameoftheanimatedcamera
or light. This dummy geometry node also has
a dummy material applied to it named Dummy
Material, and the geometry is invisible.
Lingo™ programmers should note that the camera
or lights transform is now relative to the dummy
geometry node, that is, its parent.
Impor tant: Animation export compression collapses
non-bone-based hierarchies (simple linked hierarchies in
3ds Max), so only animation assigned to the root expor ts
properly. For example, in a simple head animation where
the eyes and eyelids are linked to the skull, th e skull
movements export b ut the eye and eyelid animations
do not. Because 3ds Max groups do not collapse on
export, you should link each element of your c hain, and
then group each e lement with its parent starting from
the bottom of the chain and work ing to the top. Arrange
each group’s pivot point, and then animate only the
group objects, and not their contained elements.
Material resources—
Exports a l l basic materials
associated with all objects supported by t he
exporter to the Shockwave 3D file. Materials
represent the most basic properties that can be
assigned to a surface, such as diffuse color, opacity,
and specular color.
We strongly recommend that you leave this option
on when exporting any geometry, shader, or
texture map resources. Turn this opt ion off only
when exporting just the animation in a scene;
otherwise, the W3D file will not work correctly
with Director.
Tex ture map resources—Exports al l texture maps
associated with al l objects supported by the
exporter to the Shockwave 3D file. Texture
maps in Shockwave 3D are bitmap images or
2D procedural maps, such as Tile and Gradient
Ramp. Al l bitmap images used in 3ds Max are
transformed by Shockwave 3D into streaming
JPEG images.
Note: The terms "Texture," "Map," and "Texture
Map" are used interchangeably. If this option is
turned off, models will b e untextured when first
loaded into Director, because they will have no
texture information (despite their being visible
and fully shaded in the preview window). Once
textures are assig ned to the proper shaders with
Lingo, the models will look properly textured.
Shader s—Exports all shaders in the Shockwave
3D file. Shaders are the highest-level entities
that describe surface proper ties. They bear no
relationship to the shaders used in 3ds Max.
Shockwave 3D does not distinguish among Blinn,
Phong, Anisotropic, or any other shader algorithm
that determines the rendere d lo ok of materials
andmaps. OnlyGouraudshading,whichis
mostcloselyemulatedbythestandardshadersin
3ds Max, is supported. Shockwave 3D shaders are
primarily pointers to texture map resources and
material resources.
Note: The Shaders option should be used in
conjunction w ith the Texture Map Resources
and Material Resources options. If this option
is turned off, models will b e invisible when first
loaded into Director, because they will have no
shading information (despite their being visible
and fully shaded in the preview window). Once
shadersareassignedtothemodelswithLingo
(Director’s scripting language), the models will
become visible and look properly shaded.