Overview of Animation in 3D Studio Max

Using the Animate Button:

Page 3.

Whilst the animate button is depressed, any changes made to the parameters in the scene at a certain frame will be recorded and generate a keyframe. So, lets give it a go:

Create a sphere in the front view towards the left hand side:

Right Click on your Sphere and choose Properties from the drop down menu.
In the Properties dialog box, Check the Trajectory Check-Box under Display Properties.
This will enable you to see the path of your animation.
Now Click on the Animate Button. It should turn Red, as should the rim of the active viewport:

Now move the time-slider to 100:

Now move your Sphere in the X direction in the Front viewport, to the right hand side of the viewport:

This has generated two key frames. It has generated a key frame at frame 100, specifying the sphere's position as being where we have just placed it. But it has also guessed that we wanted a key frame at frame 0, specifying our spheres original position. 3D Studio Max will always automatically generate this key frame at 0 when you create your first key frame, unless of course, the first key frame you create is at frame 0!
With the Trajectory option on, we can actually see the key frame at 0 being left behind as we move our sphere towards the right.
Play your animation with the animation controls (hold your cursor over the buttons to be prompted what they do):

We are now going to change the Sphere's position at frame 50 and generate another keyframe.
So, with the animate button still on, move the Time Slider to frame 50:

You will notice your ball moves to the middle of the viewport:

Now pan your view so that the ball is at the bottom of the view:

Now, using the Select and Move tool, move the sphere in the Y direction to the top of the view. You will notice the trajectory changes as you move:

Turn off the animate button. Play your animation. Observe how the third key frame has changed the path of the sphere. As well as playing the animation, you can "scrub" through it using the Time Slider. This basically means moving through the time line manually by moving the Time Slider.

Now that we have 3 keyframes, we need to learn how to edit them. Save your project as ball01, as you will use it for the next section.

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