How to Model an Animated Person

Animating a 3D model with lifelike qualities is one of 3ds Max's features.

You've probably played a video game or watched a computer generated movie and thought to yourself how lifelike the animated avatars look. Such animations are created using computer programs, and modeled to display the qualities of actual people. Professional programs such as 3ds Max enable you to model your own animated renditions of people and import them into graphics engines for movie or game production. 3ds Max is available for a free trial.

Things You'll Need

• 3ds Max

Instructions

1. Open 3DS Max and load the character.max file in "\Mods\Examples\Example Assets\Objects\Characters\human_male." Hit "Display" in the command panel and choose "Mesh." Select "Hide Selected," "Unhide By Name" and collapse the second line, "Bip01 Pelvis Phys." 

2. Choose "Bip 01" and "Unhide" it. Open "Category" and disable the "Geometry and Helpers" selection. 

3. Open the command panel and select "Motion." Press and hold CTRL to select multiple targets and choose both feet of the animated character. Move the cursor to the viewport, right-click and select "Set Planted Key" followed by "Time Configuration." Set the frame's end time to "20."

4. Select "Bip01 Pelvis" and expand the Key Info section with the "Set Key" button. Open "Track Selection" and select "Body Vertical." Use shift select to grab the multicolored key frame and drag it to frame 20, then grab the timeline and drag it to frame 10. 

5. Set a new key in the Z-axis using the Set Key button. Open the Command panel and select "Utilities." Hit "Play Animation" to see your animated person modeled in 3D. 

References

• Mod DB: Creating Full Body Animations

Resources

• Auto Desk: 3ds Max