I created a few 'dummy' tests during lectures... but they were very simple. (In conventional terms; this means that they were rubbish). So to show off the idea of guides a bit more... I wanted to push the boat out a bit. It started off with a exceptionally simple Bi-plane model. Nothing fancy here...
Group it all so it moves as one; and then add the propeller onto the front of it. Group that, so it too works as one. The next move was to select the propeller and using the 'Link' tool; connect it to the plane. The point of this? Basically; where the plane moves - the propeller goes with it. In essence; the propeller is now part of the Bi-plane (as if it had been grouped), but can still move and be worked on independently (I want it to rotate)
Unfortunately... I never realised that propellers aren't the nicest things to make in 3DS Max. As a result... I had to sit at the Curve-Editor tool manually tweaking the rotation curves. Basically... the curve editor is the fancy diagramatical (and precise) way of arranging movement. Instead of moving the object itself; you can specifically move the X, Y, Z, rotation and scale parameters on the graph. Trying to convince 3DS Max to continually rotate the blades in one direction was harder than I thought; even when presented with a bribe. Whilst there was probably an exceptionally easy shortcut I could have used; it took incremenmting the rotation value by 90 degrees each 10 frames for the entire 300 frames to get something looking reasonably propellor-esque...Now, time to have fun with this! The advantage with linking the propellor and plane was that I could move the plane; and the propellor (with rotating blades) would go with it! Score! The next step was to build a highly complicated-looking cityscape (or... several cuboids); and to create a line through it. This line was to act as the guide for the plane's journey.
Link it up and away it goes! The plane, with supporting propellor, religiously follows the line through the tower blocks and away off into the distance (Or sunset... or whatever is cliche nowadays). Slight problem... the plane stays still. It follows the line... sure... but does it move to follow the line? Does it point its nose to follow? No, of course not. Luckily, this was easily ammended. With the 'AutoKey' function selected; it was simply a case of slowly going through the frames; and where the plane should ideally bank/turn... rotate the plane to fit. The great thing here is that 3DS Max automatically moved the plane into the positions. Thus... several keyframe alterations later... and the plane now looks like it's flying through the cityscape. One final touch to add...
Let's stick a camera onto it! Let's have a pilot in said-plane. Again; this was nice and easy. Create a camera and place it on top of the plane (See above pic). Then; much like the propellor... link it! And suddenly you have a camera that sticks on top of the plane and follows it on its winding course.
Of course; the camera suffers from slightly similar problems to the plane. It follows the path and rotates... but the view is always focussed on the same place. As a result; the view would sometimes be obscured (For example, when the plane tilts upwards). Thus; it was once again a case of following the camera along its path; and altering where it points at different stages.
And there it is! A pilot looking around as he navigates his way through a cityscape. The second half is a little bit confusing and it's easy to get lost. My bad... (At the end; the pilot looks behind them. They were meant to look at the city behind them... but the wings only decided to obscure the view... so you have a nice view of the tail).... oops...
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