MIT 4.202 Geometric Modeling Fall 2003
Animations with 3DS MAX and Adobe Premiere |
prepared by: Haldane Liew
version: 2004.01.14 |
|
This handout shows how you
can quickly create simple animations using MAX and Premiere. For a more detailed
explanation of all the features please see the help files associated with each
program.
Camera Animation Using
MAX
01. Keyframing
- MAX uses keyframing as
the method to generate animations. The keyframing technique involves specifying
specific points in time and adjusting the parameters of the animated object.
For instance, at time 0 (the beginning of an animation) the camera is at position
0,0,0. And then at time 10 (in seconds) the camera moves to position 10,10,0.
You set the two points and MAX interpolates the position of the camera between
the two points.
- The first thing to setup
in making an animation is the total number of frames. If you want a 10 second
animation at 15 frames per second (fps) then the total number of frames should
be 150 (10 * 15).
- Click on the
"Time Configuration" icon .
- You can adjust the length
of the video and the frame rate in the "Time Configuration" window.
If you plan on playing your animation on a computer, I would suggest that
you use the Custom option and set the frames per second to 15. The U.S. uses the NTSC standard which is 29.97 frames per second. Europe uses PAL which is 25 fps. Most movies are made at 24 fps.
02. Making Key Frames with the Auto Key Button
- To animate the camera
in MAX you simply have to state the position of the camera at specific points in time in the animation.
- Use the Auto Key button to go into animation
mode. The button and the time slider should turn red to indicate that you
are now in animation mode. While in animation mode, any changes in the scene will produce a new key frame.
- The first step is to move the time slider to the desired time position.
- To make a key frame, make changes to the scene. In this case, we want to move the camera to a new position.
- Once you have made the changes, notice a new key frame is created on the time slider at the position you picked. Once you are done animating, it is very important to get out of animation mode by clicking on the Auto Key button again. The Auto Key button should no longer be red.
- To preview your animation,
click on the "Play Animation"
button or move the time slider back and forth.
03. Adding More Key Frames
Graphically
- In the previous step,
we created a straight linear camera movement from one point to another. Suppose
we want the camera to move along a curve. To do that we need to add more key
frames along the time line.
- Select the camera we just animated and click on the
"Motion" tab in the command panel.
- Click on "Trajectories".
The path of the camera should show up in the viewports. (If it does not show up, goto Edit>Object Properties...>Display Properties and check Trajectory.)
- Click on "Sub-Object"
to enable the "Add Key" and "Delete Key" buttons. The
"Sub-Object" button should turn yellow. In this mode, you can manipulate
the key frames (represented as white squares on the path) with the move tool.
- Move the last key frame.
- To add a key frame, select
"Add Key" and click anywhere on the path. The "Add Key"
should turn orange.
- Add a key frame in the
middle of the path.
- Move the key frame and
notice how the path changes.
- Click on "Sub-Object"
again to get out of key manipulation mode.
04. Adjusting Key Frames
- By default, MAX assumes
you would like to have a constant smooth connection between the key frames.
To adjust the connection between two key frames, you have to adjust the in
and out key tangents of the key frame.
- In the track bar, right-click
on a key frame.
- Select the top option
which should name the object and the type of adjustment.
- In this window you can
adjust the position of the frame as well as the key tangents represented by
the graphs. Below is a list of what these graphs mean.
Smooth: Creates smooth interpolation through the key.
Linear: Creates linear
interpolation at the key.
Step: Creates binary interpolation
from one key to the next.
Fast: Causes the interpolated
rate of change to speed up around the key.
Slow: Causes the interpolated
rate of change to slow down around the key.
Custom: Displays adjustable
tangent handles at the key in Function Curves mode.
Flat Tangent:
Displays a smooth interpolation type designed to eliminate overshoot with no editable handles. Tangent slopes automatically take the most direct route to the next key value.
- Change the in and out
tangets to be linear and notice how the path of the camera changes.
05. Track View
- To see the key frames
in a graph format goto Graph Editors>Track View - Curve Editor....
- A new track view window
should appear. The items listed on the left are all the things you can animate
in MAX. The right half of the graph shows the tracks and keys of your scene.
- You can add, delete,
modify, move keys for any of the items listed. See the reference manual for
more details.
06. Making your animation in MAX
- To make your animation, goto Rendering>Render....
- Under the Time Output section, select either Active Time Segment or Range and specify the range and base.
- In the Output Size section, specify the size of the video. The larger the video the longer it takes to render.
- Finally give the animation a name under the Render Output section. The two standard animation formats on a computer are *.avi and *.mov. If you plan on playing this animation on a computur, I would recommend using *.mov format using Sorenson compression at 15 fps.
- Once the movie is made, double-click on it and it should play with the QuickTime Player.
Dissolve Animation Using
Premiere
07. Adobe Premiere
- Creating a simple animation
that dissolves between 2 or more images is relatively straightforward. For this process,
we will use Adobe Premiere 6.5.
- Open Premiere (If this is the first time you have used Premiere, select "A/B track") and select
"Multimedia QuickTime". (It actually doesn't matter which one you
pick because we'll adjust it later).
- First thing you want
to do is to load the images you want to use for the dissolve effect.
- File>Import>File.... The images will show up in your bin.
- In the bin, drag one
image to the track "Video 1A" and the other to "Video 1B".
- Move the bars so that
they overlap slightly.
- Under the Transitions
tab on the far right, drag "Cross Dissolve" to the Transition track
in the timeline.
- To see a preview of your
video, press return. This may take some time depending on how long a video
you are making.
08. Exporting The Movie
- To export your timeline
to a movie goto File>Export Timeline>Movie....
- Click on "Settings"
to adjust the export parameters. You can also adjust the settings beforehand
by going to Project>Project Settings...>Video...
- Inside the "Export
Movie Settings" window, you can adjust how the video is exported. If
you plan on playing the video from your computer, I would recommend that you
use the "Sorenson Video" compressor at a frame rate of 15 fps. Adjust
the size of the frame to match your image.
- Click "OK".
- Give your new movie a
name and click "Save".
- In windows, double-click
on the movie and it should play with the QuickTime Player.