Tutorials

Tween Machine for 3DS Max
created in 3DS Max 2009

K...this isn't really a tutorial, but this could change the way you animate in Max I suppose.

So I find myself with some free time here lately and realized that my website doesn't show off any of the MaxScript programming skills I've developed in the last few years of animating.  So what better way to show my scripting ability than to offer a free tool for animators to use!

If you are here you probably have used Justin Barrett's Tween Machine in Maya.  Once a Maya animator has been exposed to how much easier it is to create breakdown poses and make inbetween timing adjustments with Tween Machine it's hard to go back to animating without it.  So, what if your new place of employment only uses 3DS Max?  Well, thanks to me, now you you have Tween Machine for Max (we can't let the Maya users have all the fun)!

Directions for use
Download the MaxScript here...
TweenMachine for 3DSMax

open 3DSMax, run the script and have fun!

 

 So...what does it do?

Quite simply it adds an inbetween key at the current time for all selected objects.  Creating a new key inbetween the previous and next keys, using a slider to adjust the "bias" or weight that each key has over the new key.

It basically cuts down the amount of work (and who likes to work?) it takes to create a good breakdown pose.  This quote says it best...
 

"Will tweenMachine create perfect breakdown poses? Not likely, but it will get you closer to your goal a lot faster than other methods. You spend less time with busywork and more time creating great animation."

-Justin Barrett

On a final note...I'd like to thank a couple of my former colleagues for helping me get started on my MaxScript learning journey.  Thanks to Erik Eidukas for showing me his unfinished Tween Helper script which I stole ideas from ;)  For lending me his old "free internet rig" to test my script with and for answering some of my past advanced maxscipt questions when I was stumped.  A special thanks goes to my former roommate Nathan Heazlett for his patience in answering all my silly newbie questions as I started learning maxscript.