Motion Mixer Menus

The Motion Mixer interface contains five menus located at the top of Motion Mixer window.

Interface

Mix menu

The Mix menu provides tools for managing your bipeds and non-biped objects when they are selected. If an object is already added to the Motion Mixer, right-clicking its name displays the menu. Use commands on this menu to load and save MIX files, adjust track colors and balance parameters, and activate and deactivate the Mixer mode.

Edit Max Mix Object

Opens the Edit Max Mix Object dialog, which lets you modify the content of the highlighted non-biped object mix. This dialog is comparable to the Max Objects To Mix dialog with the exception of the Bake Removed Nodes option.

Note: This dialog is only available for non-biped object mixes.
Bake Removed Nodes

When on, animation keys from removed objects are baked to the main timeline. Default=off.

Add Trackgroup

Adds a trackgroup to the top of the selected object's mixes.

Track Color...

Allows you to change the color of the clips in the selected object's mixes. Choosing this command displays a Color Selector, where you can specify the clip color.

Balance Parameters...

Opens the Balance Parameters dialog. These values influence the effects of balance compensation on the biped's pelvis and spine when you use different motions on the upper and lower parts of the biped. See Adjusting Biped Balance in the Mixer.

Note: This dialog is available only for biped object mixes.
  • Lateral Ratio Decreasing the Lateral Ratio to 0.0 will cause balance compensation to use only forward/backward motion on the pelvis. Increasing Lateral Ratio to 1.0 will adjust the pelvis with only side-to-side motion. Range=0.0 to 1.0; Default=0.5.
  • Propagation Affects the degree to which spine links are rotated to follow COM and pelvis rotation. When set to 0.0 (the default), spine rotation is not influenced by lower body motion. When set to 1.0, all spine links except the topmost one use the lower body motion's spine animation to some degree to better follow the COM and pelvis motion. The lowest spine link is rotated the most, and each subsequent spine link is rotated less and less. The topmost spine link is not rotated at all so arm motion will be preserved.

    In order for this setting to affect spine rotation, the lower body motion must have some spine animation as part of the motion clip.

    A Propagation setting above 0.0 is appropriate when the upper body motion causes the spine to bend over a great deal during a large part of the animation. Range=0.0 to 1.0; Default=0.0.

Delete

Clears the selected object(s) from the Mixer.

Load Mix File

Opens a dialog where you can select a MIX file to load into the Mixer.

Save Mix File

Opens a dialog where you can save the current object's mix to a MIX file.

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The following Mixdown-related tools are available only for biped object mixes.

Compute Mixdown

Performs a mixdown on the selected bipeds. A Mixdown track appears at the bottom of each biped’s mix. Clicking the Mixdown track deactivates or activates it. When the Mixdown track is active, each biped inherits this single track's animation rather than the transition and layer tracks in the mix. When the Mixdown track is inactive, the biped uses the raw mix instead.

An inactive Mixdown track (above) and an active Mixdown track (below)

An inactive Mixdown track (above) and an active Mixdown track (below)

A mixdown can make automatic adjustments to transitions between planted foot motions. Creating a Mixdown track makes it possible to copy the mixdown to the biped so it can be saved as a BIP file. See Exporting Animation to the Biped.

Delete Mixdown

Removes the mixdown from the mix of the selected bipeds.

The next three menu options are mutually exclusive; only one can be turned on at a time.

Copy Mixdown to Biped

Copies animation from the Mixdown track to the biped. The animation remains on the biped even after Mixer mode is turned off, and the animation can be saved as a BIP file.

Effect Raw Mix

When this option is turned on, Mixer mode is turned on for the biped. Default=active.

Effect Mixdown

When this option is turned on, the mixdown track is activated. This option is available only if a mixdown has been computed.

Effect Biped

When this option is turned on, Mixer mode is turned off for the biped. Click Effect Raw Mix to turn Mixer Mode on again.

Trackgroups menu

When a trackgroup is selected, you can access the commands in the Trackgroup menu. Alternately, you can right-click a trackgroup label to open the menu.

The Trackgroups menu lets you administer the bipeds in the mixer. Each biped you add to the Motion Mixer gets its own trackgroup, a selection of biped parts.

Filter...

Opens the Trackgroup Filter dialog where you can customize the object body parts that are included in a trackgroup mix. This command is only available when a single trackgroup is selected. For more information, see Trackgroup Filter Dialog (Non-Biped Object), Trackgroup Filter Dialog (Biped Object), or Filtering Mixer Tracks.

The Trackgroup Filter dialog for biped object mixes.

The Trackgroup Filter dialog for non-biped object mixes.

Add Trackgroup Above

Adds new trackgroups above the currently selected ones.

Add Trackgroup Below

Adds new trackgroups below the currently selected ones.

Add Layer Track

Adds a Layer track at the top of the selected trackgroups. Layer tracks hold clips to be mixed without transitions.

Add Transition Track

Adds a Transition track at the top of the selected trackgroups. Transition tracks hold clips that are mixed with transitions. Clips in Transition tracks will automatically spawn transitions when they overlap.

Delete All Clips

Clears the selected trackgroups of all clips and transitions.

Delete

Clears the selected trackgroups from the Motion Mixer.

Tracks menu

The commands in the Tracks menu are only active when you have a track, or tracks, selected in the Mixer. These menu commands are also available when you right-click a track in the Mixer window.

Add Layer Track Above

Adds a new Layer track above the currently selected tracks.

Add Layer Track Below

Adds a new Layer track below the currently selected tracks.

Add Transition Track Above

Adds a new Transition track above the currently selected tracks.

Add Transition Track Below

Adds a new Transition track below the currently selected tracks.

Convert to Layer Track

Converts the selected Transition tracks to Layer tracks.

Convert to Transition Track

Converts the selected Layer tracks to Transition tracks.

Optimize All Transitions

All transitions on the track are optimized.

New Clips > From Files

Opens a dialog where you can choose one or more BIP files or XAF files to add to the selected track. If a selected BIP file has been saved for this release of 3ds Max , a thumbnail is displayed in the Motion Preview where you can move the slider and get an idea of what the motion looks like.

Any clip you add to a track using this method is automatically added to the Reservoir.

Note: If you choose a BIP file that is older, you will receive a warning that the file is obsolete and should be resaved. Until the BIP file is resaved, it will not display in the Motion Preview.
New Clips > From Reservoir

Opens a Reservoir Files dialog where you can choose one or more BIP or XAF files listed in the Reservoir.

Import Motion Flow

Allows you to import clips and transitions from a motion flow script to the selected track. You can import a script only if it is active on the currently selected biped, and if it has been loaded or saved as part of an MFE file. If scripts are available for import, the Motion Flow Scripts dialog displays a list of available scripts. The imported script replaces the currently selected track with a transition track containing all the clips and transitions in the script.

Note: This dialog is available only for biped object mixes.
Note: If the selected track contains clips and transitions when you choose this option, these clips are removed from the track when the motion flow script is imported.
Delete All Clips

Deletes all the clips residing on the selected track.

Delete

Deletes a selected track or tracks.

Clips menu

The Clips menu is active when a clip is selected or when you right-click a clip in the Mixer. Some menu commands are not available when multiple clips are selected.

Add Time Warp

Applies the ability to be time warped to the selected clips. A time warp allows you to alter clip speeds. It gives you the ability to stretch or squeeze time for parts of selected clips. For more details and procedures, see Adding Time Warps.

Remove Time Warp

Removes the ability for clips to be Time Warped and removes any existing Time Warping from selected clips.

Tile View

Tiles the selected clip along the width of the Motion Mixer. The number of duplicated clips depends upon the clip's length and the number of frames displayed across the Motion Mixer. For example, if a clip is 100 frames long and the number of frames across the Motion Mixer is 500, the clip will tile five times.

Tile Range

Tiles the selected clip along the range of the active time segment. The number of duplicated clips depends upon the clip's length and the number of frames in the active time segment. For example, if a clip is 100 frames long and the number of frames in the active time segment is 500, then the clip will tile five times.

Remove Trim/Scale

Removes the trim/scale from the selected clip or clips.

Delete

Deletes a selected clip or clips from a track.

Load Source > From File

Opens a dialog where you can choose a new BIP or XAF file to replace selected clips. After selecting the new clip, the Mixer Clip Source Options dialog is displayed.

Load Source > From Biped

Opens the Copy Biped Animation To Clip dialog, where you can choose a biped from which to copy animation to selected clips.

Note: This tool is available only for biped object mixes.
Load Source > From Reservoir

Opens the Reservoir File Groups dialog, where you can choose a clip from the Reservoir to replace selected clips.

Copy to Biped

Puts the clip’s animation onto the base state of the selected biped, evident when not in Mixer or any other mode. This option is available only when a single clip is selected.

Note: This dialog is available only for biped object mixes.
Collapse

Saves a collapsed version of the selected clip to a new BIP file. Collapsing removes all scaling, trims, and time warps from the clip, and prompts for a new BIP file name for the collapsed version of the clip. The original selected clip is replaced by the new clip. Collapsing a clip does not affect the selected clip itself.

Note: This dialog is available only for biped object mixes.

Transitions menu

Select a transition track to make commands on this menu active. Right-clicking a transition also opens this menu.

Edit

Opens either the Mixer Transition Editor dialog (Biped Object) or the Mixer Transition Editor dialog (Non-Biped Object), based on the kind of mix the transition is applied to. The dialogs are similar to the Transition Editor accessed from the Motion Flow rollout.

Optimize

Optimizes the selected transitions. This uses optimization algorithms similar to those in Motion Flow.

Convert To Loopable Clip

Allows you to create a loopable clip from a transition between two clips that are clones of one another. The two clips must share the same source file, meaning they must point to the same clip in the reservoir and they must have identical time warps and scales. Although the two clips don't have to be created via cloning, it is probably the best way to create them.

The loopable clip will replace the two original clips and their transition and will begin exactly one frame before the transition starts, so at that frame, the animation will appear the same as it did before you created the loopable clip. If you tile the loopable clip after you create it, it should loop perfectly.

Note: This dialog is available only for biped object mixes.
Parent topic: Motion Mixer Interface