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114 Chapter 3: Selecting Objects
these options when any member of the character
assembly is selected.
Set as Sk in Pose—SetstheSkinposetothecurrent
bone structure’s pose. The Skin modifier’s
envelopes and vertex weighting are automatically
recalculated to work with the new pose.
Assume Skin Pose—Causesthebonestructureto
take on the Skin pose. T his feature can be useful
during the animation phase . For example, if you
have animated the character on various key frames
and want the character to animate back to its Skin
pose at frame 50, you can tur n on Auto Key at
frame 50 and click Assume Skin Pose.
Sk in Pose M ode—Poses the character in its Skin
pose and allows the Skin pose to be refined.
Changes to the bone structure when Skin Pose
ModeisonwillaffectonlytheSkinposeandnot
theanimation.WhenSkinPoseModeisturned
off, the bone structure returns to its pose at the
current frame.
Display group
When a high resolution character model is
animated, redraw time can slow the animation
process. To speed up your work, a low resolution
version of the model can be used for the animation
process, then switched for the full resolution
version at render time. Character assembly objects
can be designated as Full Res or Low Res on the
Character Members rollout.
Low Res Ob j ect s—Displays only the objects
checked in the Low Res display in the Character
Members rollout.
Full Res O bjects —Displays only the objects not
checked in the Low Res display in the Character
Members rollout.
All Objects—Displays all objects in the character
assembly.
Animation group
Animation for the character assembly can be saved
or reset in this group. Previously saved animation
fromanothercharactercanalsobeinsertedtothe
cur rent character assembly.
Insert Animation—Displays the Merge Animation
dialog (page 3–466),andpromptsforapreviously
saved animation file.
Save Animation—Saves the character assembly
animation in an ANM or XML file. Both file types
contain the character assembly and its animation.
An ANM file is a proprietary format that can be
read and saved only by 3ds Max. An XML fi le
formats the information as XML code, and can be
edited with a text editor.
Animation saved as an ANM file loads and saves
faster than an XML file. Saving and editing an
XML animation file is recommended only for
users who are familiar w ith the XML language,
and w ho have a specific need for editing the file.
Reset All Animation—Removes all animation from
the character assembly.
Character Mem bers rollout
Add—Allows you to select individual objects to
add to the character assembly.
Add List—Displays the Pick Character Members
dialog, where you c an selec t multiple objects from
a list and add them to the character assembly.
Remove—Removes highlighted object(s) from the
assembly. Bones and objects upon which other
assembly objects depend , cannot be removed.
Low Res —All members of the character assembly
are displayed on this list. By default, all members
aredesignatedasFullResobjects.Todesignatea
member as Low Res, check the object on the list.
The Full Res and Low Res designations are used in
conjunct ion with the Display group selection in
the Character Assembly rollout.