3ds max animating question, read plz!!!

ok... when u animate, lets say example a box, keyframe animation, u go to frame 30 and move it up, then u go to frame 60 and move it down, so it wil kind of bounce. but then when u make another bounce, the box goes into the ground then back up, so basically in the track view, ur getting a smooth line like this 1:

ok, i want the box to bounce once then make a straight line in the graph editor like this:

HOW!!!???!!!???!!! :\

I hope the image helps you understand!

For now, select the keyframe you want to make it linear, click on "Set tangents to linear" and that should do it.

Note: When you want to customize a tangent, select the keyframe and click on "Set tangents to custom". You will see: a bezier handle will appear on the selected keyframe. If you move any handle, the tangency changes. If you press SHIFT and move, the tangency breaks and you can individually manipulate both side tangents.

is this in track view cause im usin max 4.26 and it doesnt look like my track view therefor i cant get anything done
Ill upload the rendered animation and what i want is a proper ball bounce, plz tell me how to do it cause im very bad at animating and the only way i know how to animate is by keyframing... tell me another method or something, i know this isnt really warcraft related but i want it for just some knowledge.

Oh! I have 3D Studio max 5. Luckily, there is another way. I remember in 3d studio max 4.2 how I used to do it. Problem is can't get you exact screenshots as I don't have 3d studio max 4.2 installed now. However, I think this should work for you. Select the key in the track bar. Right click and you can see the keys set. In my case, the only axis in which the cube was animated was Z axis and Y axis. Select Z axis suppose. You will see a box with the values and the In and Out option. The In option is for specifying the in tangent and out is for specifying out tangent. In your case, you wanted the keyframe to be linear. So select the keyframe, right click and click on Z position (or watever axis you want) and change the in and out to linear! I have an attached an image that shows what each icon means.

Note: Best is to read the help of max. Its best to learn 3d studio max.

For the bounce, make a curve how you want the ball to bounce. Place it properly as per the pivot of the ball. Go to Motion panel. Click on trajectories. In the Sample Range, set the samples to 50 something. More samples means more keyframes. More keyframes means more exactly the ball will follow the curve. Now, select the sphere (ball) first and then click on Convert from option and select the curve you made. You will see lots of keys added and ball goes on the curve. Now, if you play you can see a better bounce. When you create the curve, keep the upper point smooth and keep the bottom points corner.

Suggestion for all: Anyone who wants to venture into animation, buy the book "Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair". Its the most essential book. There might be loads of books but its the best for beginners.

k thx it worked, one more thing, how the hell did blizzard 3ds max guys make those amazing models like pandaren brewmasters, animating them, look at the animations, wat methods of animation did they use. for me that looks kind of impossible with keyframing, how the hell did they do it.
one last thing, wats this red line, wats it used for and how o i get it, wats it called, something to do with animation right:

AAA attachment isnt working, neways, its on the grunt.max file, its these red dotted lines for animation

Heh! Its not impossible. Infact, that is how exactly they do it. I myself animate using Forward Kinematics as that is what Warcraft supports, so its all keyframing. Thing is you need to get the hang of the software first and then get hang of animation. It takes time.

Note: Blizzard might be animating using IKs and then using a custom made script convert all animations into fks. Remember, they got professional people!



The red line is the trajectory line. It shows the path your object is moving on. I mentioned in my above post how to get it :P!