9

976 Glossary
BIP files used in Motion Flow (page 3–976) and the
Motion Mixer (page 3–976) are called motion clips.
You can use these tools to combine several mot ion
clips and make a longer or different animation. A
BIP motion clip can b e create d by saving animation
(page 2–920) youhavemadeonthebiped,orby
importing motion-capture data (page 2–1061).
When you create a crowd animation (page 2–1154)
that uses motion sy nthesis (page 3–977) on
non-biped objects, a motion clip is a portion of
a 3ds Max animation used by the synthesis. You
specify that a range of frames in the animation is to
be used when the delegate m eets cer tain criteria,
such as turning upward to exceed a certain pitch.
One animation sequence can contain all the
motion clips necessary to animate the crowd.
For example, a bird animation might have three
motionclips:flap,glide,andland. Youcould
specify that when the delegate is pitched upward,
the range of frames that animate the flap motion
are used in the simulation. Motion clips are used
by the Global Motion Clip Controller (page 3–950)
and the Master Motion Clip Controller (page
3–969).
Motion Files
character studio can load these types of motion
files:
• BIP files (page 3–916)
• BV H files (page 3–920)
• CSM files (page 3–925)
Motion Flow
In Motion Flow mode (page 2–1026),youcombine
BIP files (page 3–916) to create longer character
animation. You also use motion flow along with
crowd animation (page 2–1154) to automatically
generate crowd behavior.
One motion can transition into another. To
generate a transition, character s tudio uses either
velocity-interpolated transitions (“minimum
motion loss”), or an algorithm to minimize sliding
feet.
M oti on Flow Edi tor
In Motion Flow mode (page 2–1026),theMotion
Flow Editor allows you to manually create a
transition between two clips. You set the start
frame and transition duration for both clips, and
the orientation of the destination clip.
Motion Flow Scripts
When using motion flow (page 2–1026) ,ascriptis
a sequence of motion files that are played to create
a character’s motion. Scripts are created either
manually or automatically.
Motion Mixer
The Motion Mixer is a window where you can mix
motionclips(BIPfiles)onabiped.Theclipsare
placed on various tracks (page 3–1023) within the
mixer.
IntheMotionMixer,youcanusetrackgroups
(page 3–1024) to affect different body parts with
different clips. Each trackg roup can contain
transition tracks (page 3–1027) and layer tracks
(page 3–961), which hold the motion clips.