Revisiting a 2-Decade-Old 3ds Max Milestone
About two decades ago, while learning 3d Studio Max, I made a simple animation of a human character. Back then, this felt like a big deal. The software was complex but exciting to see the design rendering to reality.
Making the Human Model
Started by building a basic human shape.. pulled and moved points and lines on the screen. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun to watch the human body take shape. Sometimes, the model looked strange.. fixed it again and again until it looked right. At times he looked like myself
Adding the Skeleton and Joints
Next, I gave my model a skeleton so it could move. This step is called “rigging.” i.e., put bones inside the body, like a real skeleton, so the model would bend at the knees, elbows, and other joints. Adjusting these bones took time. Sometimes the body twisted or crumpled in odd ways.
Using Motion Capture (Mocap)
To make my human walk and move, I used “mocap” data. This is motion taken from a real person and added to the 3D character. imported the mocap file into 3ds Max. The character started moving, walking, running, or waving. It was amazing to see.
Rendering
The last step was to render the animation. Rendering means turning the animation into a video that can be played back. The computer worked hard, and it took a long time to make each frame. When it was finished, I had a short video showing my model in action.