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406 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
IK chain. If you are not going to assign an IK
chain to t he hierarchy, you can delete the smal l
nub bone.
Creating a simp le chain of three bones
3ds Max lets you create a branching hierarchy of
bones. To create a branching hierarchy, such as
legs branching from a pelvis, do the following:
1. Create a chain of b ones, and then right-click
to exit bone crea tion.
2. Click Bones (or Create Bones) again, and
then click the bone where you want to begin
branching. The new chain of bones branches
from the bone you click.
Wa rning: The behavior of a branching bone
hierarchy is not always intuitive.
Note:
Yo u c a n a l s o u s e Select And Link (page 2–422)
to connect one bone hierarchy to its branches.
However, except for this one spe cial c ase, using
Select And Lin k w ith bones is not recommended.
To edit an existing bone structure, whether
branching or not, use the Bone Tools (page 1–411)
instead.
Ass igning IK Controller s to B ones
By default, bones are not assig ned inverse
kinematics (IK). Assigning an IK solver can be
done in one of two ways. Typically, you create a
bone hierarchy, then manually assig n an IK solver.
This allows for very precise control over where IK
chains are defined.
The other way to assign an IK solver is more
automatic. Whenyoucreatebones,chooseIK
solverfromthelistintheIKChainAssignment
rollout,andthenturnonAssignToChildren.
Whenyouexitbonecreation,thechosenIKsolver
is automatically applied to the hierarchy. The
solver extends from the first bone in the hierarchy
to the last.
For more information about IK, see Introduction
to Inverse Kinematics (page 2–435).
Setting the Initial Position of B ones
When you first create a bones system, the position
of the bones is the initial state. Before you assign
an IK solver or method, you can change the
initial state of the bones by moving, rotating, or
stretching t he b ones individually.
Bone Color
By default, b ones are assigned the color specified
for Bones in the Colors panel (page 3–799) of the
Customize User Interface dialog (page 3–792).
Choose Object as the Element and then choose
Bonesinthelist. Youcanchangethecolorof
individual bones by selecting the bone, clicking the
active color swatch next to the bone’s name in the
Create panel or Modify panel, and then selecting a
color in the Object Color dialog (page 1–159).
You can also use the Bone Tools (page 1–411) to
assign bone colors, or to assign a color gradient
to a bone hierarchy.
B one Fins
Fins are visual aids that help you clearly s ee a
bone’s orientation. Fins can also be used to
approximate a character’s shape. Bones have t hree
sets of fins: side, front, and back. By default, fins
are turned off.