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MillimeterEdit Review — Autodesk 3ds Max 8
Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Frank McMahon
New features include a more powerful Motion Mixer tool, more mo-cap options, and sophisticated biped character animation.
Autodesk (formerly Discreet) brings out a much-welcomed new version of its flagship animation system for desktops, 3ds Max 8. While the news of Autodesk acquiring Alias (and its Maya) has a lot of heads spinning with anticipation of some possible 3D super-product, for now we'll focus on the newest features in one of the most powerful and respected 3D programs out there. Max is used for broadcast animation, 3D film and video work, and is the development platform for countless games, both for current and next-gen consoles.
3ds Max now offers pelt mapping to wrap textures on organic shapes. The interface lets you precisely slide and stretch a texture so the pattern goes where you want it, and allows placement of seams.
One big advance is the new and improved Motion Mixer tool. The last version of Max allowed you to mix motions on a biped object. Version 8 goes much further by allowing you to mix animation movements on collections of objects, including character rigs. For example, say you had a character running, and then he quickly spins around and fires a weapon. Want to add a partner? Simply add in a second subject and then blend into the partner elements of the original animation movements.
The best part is you can blend in only parts of existing animations to repurpose movements from previous characters, saving lots of production time. Want to change your mind? Just pull off the mix of movements you assigned and your characters will snap back to their original animation.
Speaking of movement, motion capture data options have been updated in Max 8. You can now import finger and toe movement data for bipeds via the BVH file format. As a matter of fact, you can now easily import and export HTR motion capture data as well. Max takes the data and constructs a bone hierarchy, including starting points for rotations and translations. It's great to finally be able to import and export motion easily without external plug-ins or alternate solutions.
TRC motion capture support is also now built in. This typically tracks surface animation, but can be applied to a character and tracked to the bone structure. For example, imagine a motion capture of a rippling pool of water in which the global positions of the waves are tracked as they undulate. As a TRC file this data can be applied to a 3D object, let's say a character's bone structure, to provide the character the rippling effect of the data points. You can also convert the motion capture position data of a TRC file (which is really just an ASCII text file) to the biped CSM motion format. Very cool stuff.
Biped character animation is also improved, with advanced neck and spine linking for more natural-looking head movements. And you can choose how you want to animate your movement curves. Bipeds usually work with Quaternion curves, which are just fine for movement. However, some artists like the Euler curve method, which allows you to swap around the axis order for maximum flexibility. Now you can toggle into either mode.
Skin meshes have been improved by adding twisty bones. This is kind of a cheat, but skin sometimes can lack realism because even though it can flex, it still is often driven by the angular bone movements underneath it. Twisty bones allow a bit more flexibility so your outer skin movements look as realistic as possible, even though the internal bones might be doing something less than natural.
A new XAF animation format is now included. It's XML-based, meaning it can be shared and tweaked easily. When I last reviewed 3ds Max (version 7) for Video Systems in June, developers were starting to incorporate XML into the material library, meaning you could actually store object material parameters in basic text files and trade them with other animators. Now the same has happened for the animation format itself. The beauty of the XML format is that it's not for code nerds, it's actually readable by anyone and fairly easy to understand. Granted, you don't even need to get to the code level, but it's good to know it is available.
The software’s improved Motion Mixer tool can mix animation movements on groups of objects, including character rigs. With this tool, you can blend in parts of existing animations and use them on new animations. This lets you use movements from previous characters on new ones.
Motion Retargeting is also a real breakthrough, and incredibly handy. The process allows for sharing animation rigs between two characters but taking into consideration their differences. For example, if you have a male and a female on the run from a spaceship and a blast occurs, the dynamics of the two falling, rolling away, and jumping back up again will be similar, but different due to body mass and gender uniqueness. Now Max will calculate the difference in shapes and adjust accordingly on the fly.
Other cool new features include lots of new hair and fur options. You can now comb and brush hair into any shape imaginable, as well as add realism by spinning in some frizz and messing things up by matting and clumping. Hair dynamics are improved; you can now inherit inertia from the surface the hair extends from. And you don't even have to use hair as hair. Use it to create fields of grass, plates of dancing spaghetti, or anything else that uses multiple-instanced geometry.
Cloth has also been improved, and is completely integrated into Max 8. No external plug-ins are needed to create realistic waving and moving cloth textures and animations. Clip cloth onto any rig, rag doll, or biped, and watch it seamlessly flow right along with your characters. Pelt mapping is a new way to wrap textures on organic shapes, allowing placement of seams. For example, a camouflage texture is easy to wrap on a symmetrical beach ball, but how do you wrap it on an army dude's outfit? The pelt mapping interface allows you to precisely slide and stretch your texture so the pattern goes exactly where you want it. With resolutions increasing for HD content and next-gen games, it's harder to fake it and hide the seams. Pelt mapping gets them spot on.
The Mental Ray renderer has always been a great solution for spectacular results on multi-workstation satellite networking farms. The rendering farm license fees? Less cool.
Autodesk actually slipped this feature in late in the game for this update, but it has knocked out the licensing fee element of using the renderer across a network. So now you can install copies of Backburner in unlimited quantities across your workstations and have them crank away at rendering your masterpieces. Larger studios could absorb the fee, but smaller shops felt the monetary burn, so thankfully the restrictions have been eliminated.
If you are a 3ds Max user, I can already hear you pulling out the plastic for the upgrade. If you are a video producer wanting to add 3D to your productions, you probably just read this review and said, “Huh?” Sorry to make the software sound complex. It's really not. While there are some complex animation controls, and most of the new features should make hard-core animators giddy with anticipation, for the average media artist 3ds Max 8 is fairly easy to use and fun to work in.
The program has sliding palettes, which are much better than tons of pop-up requestors, and it has great materials. And man, this thing blazes on a dual-core system! The rendering is very fast.
If you are looking for a serious 3D animation tool your shop can really grow into, 3ds Max is the one to go with. If you just want to make logos fly around, there are cheaper and easier solutions. But if you want incredible 3D realism with some of the best render engines in the business, lots of different ways to animate, and a program packed with features, definitely investigate the new Autodesk 3ds Max 8.
BOTTOM LINE
Company: Autodesk
San Rafael, Calif.; (415) 507-5000
Website: usa.autodesk.com
Product: 3ds Max
Assets: Support for TRC motion capture and XAF. Improved Motion Mixer tool, biped animation, and hair, fur, and cloth.
Caveats: This application may be overkill for some projects and studios.
Demographic: 3D, broadcast, and general video animators.
Price: $3,495
Frank McMahon is a director, visual artist, and designer. He hosts a podcast on developing a creative career called Media Artist Secrets. It's available at mediaartist.com.
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