Week 4-Using Bones

During this weeks tutorial I was introduced to bones in 3Ds max.

To begin I started by practicing drawing out a section of bone. To do this I went to systems in the create toolbar and selected bones. Then, in the IK solver dropdown menu I changed the type of bone to IK limb. The next step was to draw out the sections of the bones. I decided to try to create a leg, so the first section I drew out was the top of the leg, and from here I worked down to the end of the toe. After this I tried moving the section of the limb and from this I have learnt that moving the higher sections of bone causes the leg to rotate from the top, whereas repositioning the bones at the bottom with the move tool creates a bend in the limb.

After this I tried to add a skin to a set of bones. For this I drew out a cylinder and then a set of bones which were in the same proportions to the cylinder. I then positioned the bones in the middle of the cylinder. The next step was to select the cylinder and go to the modify menu where I selected the skin modifier. Lastly, in the skin rollout I clicked ‘add’ and selected all the bones in the window before selecting OK.

At this point I decided to try animating the cylinder using the techniques I have learnt during this and previous tutorials. I repositioned the bones at different points along the timelines where key frames were added. I was pleased with this, however when I played the animation which I had created I was not happy with the way the shape bends as the cylinder became crumpled at this point. To solve this problem I selected the skin and clicked on the edit envelope button. I then widened the envelope area on each of the bones.

When I played the animation again this point had been improved. From this tutorial I have learnt how to animate with bones, including adding a skin, which part of the limb I need to move to get the bones in the position I require and how to get the smoothest bend by editing the envelope.