3ds Max 9 Bible

Using the Animation Constraints menu, you can apply constraints to objects. This menu also lets you select a target object. You can use the various constraints to limit the motion of objects, which is helpful as you begin to animate. If you're an animator, you should thank your lucky stars for controllers. Controllers offer power flexibility for animating objects-and just think of all those keys that you don't have to set by hand.

This chapter covered the basics of using the Expression controller. Using mathematical formulas to control the animation of an object's transformation and parameters offers lots of power. You can also use the values of one object to control another object.

In this chapter, you accomplished the following:

• Constrained an object to the surface of another object using the Attachment and Surface constraints

• Forced an object to travel along a path with the Path constraint

• Controlled the position and orientation of objects with weighted Position and Orientation constraints

• Shifted between two different controlling objects using the Link constraint

• Followed objects with the LookAt constraint

• Learned about the various controller types

• Discovered how to assign controllers using the Motion panel and the Track View

• Set default controllers in the Preference Settings dialog box

• Examined the various controllers in several different categories

• Saw a few examples of using controllers

• Practiced building expressions in the Expression dialog box

• Learned about expressions and what they can do

• Reviewed the available operators, variables, and functions

• Tried out examples of controlling object transformations and parameters

In the next chapter, you learn to use the Track View to display and manage all the details of the current scene.