Looping keyframes in 3D Studio Max
Man, this would have been MAD helpful over the years on some other projects but I guess doing things the hard way makes you appreciate the rewards more.
Problem:
How do you animate a simple bird’s wings flapping in a loop so you can concentrate on moving the body around?
Solution:
Step 1:
Open up Curve Editor by following Graph Editors > Track View – Curve Editor (if you aren’t familiar with Curve Editor you should start reading up, it’s how you gain timing control over your animations in Max).
Step 2:
Open up the solver control for Out-of-Range Types under Controller > Out-of-Range Types.
Step 3:
Make sure only the keyframes/animated parameters you want to have loop are visible and turn on both the In and Out arrows for Loop. Press OK, and concentrate on moving the bird around.
Of all the skills in my toolbox, 3D is definitely my weakest but I’m darn good at fooling the eye to distract it from my horrible modeling and animation skills… besides I spent 30 minutes on this once I figured out how to loop key frames so leave me alone.
(P.S. In case your wondering, it’s a Swift 3D render so the file size would be low.)