Opening Max 2010 and seeing mostly the same curve editor tools since Max 8 (which I’ve been using up until now) got me to give it a much needed update. Unzip this to the Max directory with folder names enabled. Look in the monsterBlues category. (Works best as a tool bar for the curve editor and then save the curve editor layout.)

KeyTools – DOWNLOAD NOW

I put together some animated gif of what the buttons do…

Grow and Shrink key selection.

Click Continue to see more animated demos:

Extend Selection: Selects all keys on selected curves.

StepSelection: Selects the next or previous keys.

Flatten: Selected keys get same value as first selected key.
CTRL pressed averages all the keys.
SHFT pressed give all the value of the last key.

Loop: Mirrors the last keys key’s tangent to the first keys. (By anim range)

Break Down: Move the keys 10% closer to the next or previous key.

Build Tangents: Exagerates or subdues the tangents.

Flow: Mirrors the tangents of the selected keys to the previous and next keys.

Isolate: Removes unselected curves from the view.

Nudge: Moves keys to forward or back. Use CTRL, and SHFT as modifiers.

SnapScale: Moves the scale origin to the first selected key.

Split: Duplicates a keys and made the time between them linear.

There is also a SpaceEvenly and SpaceToInterval tool.

This is something I’m excited about. I’ve been working on it for quite a while. Hopefully it’ll be released soon.

Place the MS file in …\3ds Max 20XX\ui\MacroScript\ Look in the monsterBlues category after you restart max to bind to a hotkey.

Assign this macro to a hotkey, also assign Shift + the hotkey. For example, if you assign the script to the “D” button. Also assign Shift+”D”.

Pressing the hotkey will add increments to your selection. Pressing shift + hotkey will reduce increments. Also I set an upper limit of 5 and a lower limit of 0. You can open the script in a text editor and increase the upper limit.

Increment TurboSmooth – DOWNLOAD NOW

1. Copy MCR files to the UI/MacroScripts folder.
2. Copy MS files to the Scripts folder.
3. Copy BMP files to the Scripts folder.
4. Copy GUP files to the Plugins folder.
5. Restart Max.
6. Look in the monsterBlues category to bind to a hotkey.

On a final note, you may report and review bugs in the comments section. Sometimes my e-mail gets crowded with with the same bug report. Thank you, and happy scripting.

I was getting a the error above when Windows Defender would try to start with a clean install of Windows Vista Ultimate. For people with XP or a non-clean install of Vista, this error meant that the Defender Beta was out of date and they needed to uninstall/reinstall. Of course, with a clean install of Vista, you can’t uninstall (or install) Defender. After hours of tryng some solutions for other error codes, the real solution turned out to be pretty simple. You need access to a computer with a working Windows Defender preferably of the same Windows version.

I made my User account the owner of the broken C:\Program Files\Windows Defender folder. Deleted the files inside it. I was able to delete all but one file. I copied the files and folders inside the working Windows Defender folder in Program Files from my Vista Ultimate laptop. I pasted into the broken folder (all files pasted except for the one that didn’t delete.) I noticed the Laptop’s folder had one extra file and two extra folders that were not in the Desktop’s folder. I restarted the computer and now Defender starts and operates normally.

 As a side note, I also did the following before I restarted :

• Made my User account the owner and deleted the contents of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\
• Installed Etrust Pest Patrol Demo (If Defender didn’t work I needed Anti-spy software.)

I wrapped up another Animation for Video Games class at the Guildhall. Every time I teach the class it’s a very rewarding experience. The students have so much to teach me. This particular group of students were hard workers and will probably be very successful when they finish the program. Fair well on the internship guys!!

 I’ve also been scrutinizing the character rigging DVD’s by Paul Neale over at CG Academy. I’ve never personally met him, but I had the pleasure of working with his custom character rigs on an Xbox video game called Stacked!. I’m glad to see that most of my hackery and foolish techniques are in fact not hackery and foolish techniques. I do wish he focused on rigging specifically for video games. But in any case they are excellent DVD’s, and I recommend them to anyone interested in character rigging.

Penny Arcade made a small mention of Enemble Studios and Halo Wars. It’s nice to see they haven’t forgotten about us, and may even be a little excited about the game.

Halo is actually a great fit for a tabletop strategy franchise, and would be so even if it were not one of the most potent brands in the Western world. Having begun its life as a RTS, I imagine that Ensemble is enjoying their romp through the universe quite a bit.

I’m proud to be on the development of Halo Wars at Ensemble Studios. We are developing Halo Wars as an RTS game exclusively for the Xbox 360. As an animator I’m having a lot of fun working on all the characters and cinematics. At Ensemble we always try to push the boundries of PC games, and now we get to do the same with a console. I’m looking forward to it being released and reaching success. Development so far has been smooth and Ensemble’s relationship with Bungie, the makers of Halo, is excellent. I’ll post more about the game as news unfolds.

So I just played the 1st of 6 episodes of Sam and Max. The game is totally fun. The art style and animation is very simple and very successful. I recommend this game to anyone that loves to laugh, and might be tired of playing fast paced action games. The second episodes is just days away and I can’t wait. What are you waiting for!? Go buy the full season of Sam and Max now!

By the way, Tell Tale Games is my new favorite developer. I’d also like to say I’m so glad there’s a developer out there that is focusing on fun games and not letting all this “Next-Gen” tech go to their heads.

It bugs me (just a little) when people say they don’t like to animate with biped because you can’t scale limbs. So…I made a tutorial that teaches you to create Custom Attributes and Wire them to a Biped. The tutorial download contains a short Step by Step PDF file and a sample Max file with animation.

 (There have been reports that this tutorial is not compatible with Max 9)

Biped Stretchy Limb Tutorial – DOWNLOAD NOW