3ds Max Animation with Biped

Animating a Biped

Animating a character’s upper body is a pretty simple process. You simply turn on Auto Key and move and rotate the bones (or biped parts) as you would any other 3ds Max object.

The legs are another matter. As the character walks, runs, jumps, climbs, or dances, the feet stick and unstick themselves from the floor (or, in the case of climbing, the ladder or tree). At certain parts of the animation, one or both feet are stuck down while the body continues to move. In other words, the feet are continually sticking and unsticking themselves from something while the body moves around them.

The problem of how to make the feet stick at the right times is not a new one in 3D animation. Perhaps you have seen animation where the character’s ...