Time to Get Animated

Learning the animation side of things in 3DS is a lot easier then I though it would be (previous animations were create in Flash), everything can be done within minutes compared to the frame by frame animations I had been used to creating. I found the Auto Key and Set Key very useful in creating a quick animation, simply select the frame desired on the time line and click on the button with a key on it (Set Keys), go to the desired end frame, move, rotate or scale the object and click on the key again. As if by magic the animation is created.

To test out this animation technique I created a bouncing ball. To give it a more realistic gravitational effect I opened up the Curve Editor and adjusted the speed at which the ball will rise and fall when it bounces off the floor. I copied the ball twice, and to make them bounce more than once selected the Parameter Curve Out Of Range tool and chose the loop option.

Curve Editor

To make the balls bounce at different times, I turned to the Dope Sheet Editor which allowed me to slide the frame rates for different balls, so I could shrink the amount of frames the ball used to bounce, or extend them.

Dope Sheet Editor