Animation Controllers

Audio Controller
Use the Audio controller to drive the animation of almost any parameter in 3ds Max. The Audio controller converts the amplitude of a recorded sound file or real-time sound wave into values that can animate an object or parameter.

Barycentric Morph Controller
The Barycentric Morph controller is automatically applied when you create a Morph compound object. You can select morph targets and create keys at different times to change the original object's shape to those of the morph targets.

Bezier Controllers
The versatile Bezier controllers interpolate between keys using an adjustable spline curve.

Block Controller
A Block controller is a global List controller that allows you to combine several tracks from multiple objects over a range of time, and group them as "Blocks." These Blocks are then used to re-create the animation anywhere in time. Blocks can be added, removed, scaled, moved graphically in Track View, and saved. Blocks can represent either absolute or relative animation.

Boolean Controller
The Boolean controller is similar to the On/Off controller. By default, it is assigned to tracks (such as an object's Visibility track) that provide only binary on and off control.

Color RGB Controller (Point3 XYZ Controller)
The Color RGB controller splits the R, G, and B components into three separate tracks. You can use this controller with color tracks. By default, each track is assigned a Bezier Float controller. The Bezier Float controller is a single parameter controller.

Euler XYZ Rotation Controller
The Euler XYZ Rotation controller is a compound controller that combines separate, single-value float controllers to specify an angle of rotation about each of the X, Y, and Z axes. Euler XYZ is not as smooth as quaternion rotation (used by the TCB Rotation controller), but it is the only rotation type that you can use to edit rotation function curves.

Expression Controller
The Expression controller lets you use mathematical expressions to control these animation aspects: object parameters such as length, width, and height; and transform and modifier values such as an object's position coordinates.

Layer Controller
The Layer Controller dialog provides commands and options related to the Layer controllers in your scene, which the system automatically assigns for you when you enable animation layers on an object.

Limit Controller
The Limit controller lets you specify upper and lower limits to available controller values, thus restricting the potential value range of the controlled track. For example, in a character rig you could use this to restrict rotation on finger joints so the fingers can't bend backward. Basically, once a track is limited, and the limit is active, you can't set a value for the track beyond the limit.

Linear Controller
The Linear controller interpolates between animation keys by evenly dividing the change from one key value to the next by the amount of time between the keys.

List Controller
The List controller combines multiple controllers into a single effect. It is a compound controller with tools for managing how its component controllers are calculated. Controllers are evaluated in top-to-bottom order. In addition, you can specify a Weight setting for each controller in the list to determine its relative influence.

Local Euler XYZ Rotation Controller
This controller is no longer available. You can, however, still edit objects that were assigned this controller in previous versions.

Look At Controller
The Look At controller is automatically assigned as a transform animation controller upon creation of objects that contain targets, including Target Camera, targeted lights (including IES Sun/Sky) and the Tape helper. It cannot be assigned by the user. To assign the equivalent of a Look At controller to an object, use a LookAt constraint.

Master Point Controller
The Master Point controller controls point sub-objects within editable splines, editable surfaces, and FFD (free-form deformation) modifiers.

Motion Capture Controller
You can control an object's position, rotation, or other parameters using an external device with the Motion Capture controller.

Noise Controller
The Noise controller produces random, fractal-based animation over a range of frames. Noise controllers are parametric: they work on a range of frames, but do not use keys.

On/Off Controller
The On/Off controller provides binary track control. It is similar to the Boolean Controller. For example, you can apply an On/Off controller to the Visibility track of an object.

Position XYZ Controller
The Position XYZ controller splits the X, Y, and Z components into three separate tracks, similar to the Euler XYZ Rotation controller. This provides separate control of the three tracks when referenced from Expression controllers.

Position/Rotation/Scale Controller
The Position/Rotation/Scale (PRS) controller is the default Transform controller for most objects. Use it for all general-purpose transforms.

Reaction Controllers
The Reaction controller is a procedural controller that lets a parameter react to changes in any other parameter in 3ds Max. Typically, you perform most of the setup involving Reaction controllers with the Reaction Manager dialog. You use the dialog to define a master—an object that controls other objects—and, for each master, any number of slaves, which are objects the master controls. Alternatively, you can assign a Reaction controller directly to a slave object using Track View or the Motion panel (as you would any other controller), and then use Reaction Manager to specify its master and other parameters.

Scale XYZ Controller
The Scale XYZ controller has independent float controllers for each scale axis of an object's transform. With three separate tracks for scale, you can create scale keys for each axis independently, change interpolation settings for a single axis, or assign a controller on an axis. For example, after applying a Scale XYZ controller, you could apply a Noise or Waveform controller to an axis to animate that axis independently.

Script Controller
The Script controllers work similarly to Expression controllers. They provide a Script Controller dialog where you can enter a script for computing the controller value.

Smooth Rotation Controller
Use Smooth Rotation when you want rotation to have a smooth and natural look.

Spring Controller
The Spring controller adds secondary dynamics effects to any point or object position. The end result is secondary mass/spring dynamics similar to the Flex modifier. This constraint adds realism to generally static animations.

TCB Controllers
TCB Controllers produce curve-based animation much like Bezier controllers. However, TCB controllers do not use tangent types or adjustable tangent handles. They use fields to adjust the Tension, Continuity, and Bias settings.

Waveform Controller
The Waveform controller is a float controller that provides regular, periodic waveforms. Created originally to control blinking lights, you can use it on any float value.

XRef Controller
This controller lets you externally reference any type of Transform controller from another scene file. The XRef controller follows the same concepts and principles as the XRef objects and XRef material; it can improve upon the collaborative synergy within a production environment by letting you access animation data currently in another scene while someone else updates it.