Naming the Biped

If your scene is going to contain more than one biped, it's a good idea to give the biped a unique name. By default, the first biped in a scene is called Bip001. Succeeding bipeds have the same name except that the three-digit number is replaced by another number in sequence: 002, 003, 004, and so on.

Since the parent of the biped hierarchy is the biped’s center of mass object, that is also the object selected when you choose Bip001. You can link the biped center of mass to other objects or dummies for additional animation control. For more information on the biped’s hierarchy, see Understanding Biped Anatomy.

Procedures

To change the biped name upon creation:

To change the biped name after creation:

  1. Select any part of the biped and go to the Motion panel.
  2. In the Biped rollout, click the expander bar to display the Modes and Display groups.
  3. Enter a new name in the Name field and press .
    Warning: Do not use the usual Name And Color rollout to rename a biped. This changes only the name of the biped's root object (its center of mass) without updating the names of other biped parts in the hierarchy.

To create a Named Selection for the biped center of mass:

  1. Select the biped center of mass (the diamond-shaped object at the pelvis).
  2. Type a name in the Named Selection Sets field on the 3ds Max toolbar.
  3. Press .

    You can now choose this selection if the biped is hidden and you want to view the biped and edit biped parameters on the Motion panel.

    Tip: Give the center of mass selection the same name as your character in the Named Selection Sets field: "John," for example. With multiple characters, you can quickly select the character you want to edit by choosing the character's name in the Named Selection Sets drop-down list.