Hey guys:

I don’t believe there was a discussion on this yet (I haven’t been able to find one) I’m trying to animate a character and instead of using bones I just used parent child links. My issue is when I try to rotate something like a shoulder (linked to the body) the whole arm begins to scale so that it looks like it’s getting flat. Does anyone know why this is?

Image 1 is what the arm looks like normally

Image 2 is the “smashed” version

Intel Core i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
Windows Ultimate 64 bit
ATI Radeon 5900 Series
3DS Max 2011

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I’ll offer good odds that you manually scaled those objects before creating the hierarchy. Linked objects inherit position, rotation AND SCALE from their parent, which is why the advice is always “don’t scale at the object level”.
Once you unlink them (see below), select the Scale Tool and select each object in turn. If the X,Y&Z spinners at the bottom of the Max window don’t show 100% then there’s your problem.

Unlink all the objects, apply a Reset XForm to them (individually) then try relinking them. Start at the root of the hierarchy and work outwards, checking after every link that the problem has been corrected.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Hey Steve thanks a lot, I never would have thought of that. As it turns out the scaled object was the characters body, I fixed that up and checked all of the other parts and I’m good. everything works as it should now, thanks again for your help.

Intel Core i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
Windows Ultimate 64 bit
ATI Radeon 5900 Series
3DS Max 2011

i wrote a script for this.

usage: just click to main object of the hierarchy to select all objects e run the script. basically the script will unlink all objects and apply a Reset Xform, convert to EditablePoly and relink everything back.

download here: http://www.hmelo.com/downloads/hm_resetobjs.ms

Okey-doke,
Henrique Melo | Digital Artist

[Hide not your talents, they for use were made.]

pedepano 09 March 2012 06:13 AM

i wrote a script for this.

usage: just click to main object of the hierarchy to select all objects e run the script. basically the script will unlink all objects and apply a Reset Xform, convert to EditablePoly and relink everything back.

download here: http://www.hmelo.com/downloads/hm_resetobjs.ms

Thanks Henrique!

I tried running your script, but I got an error message. I am sure the error is on me for being blind and unskilled in these matters, and I don’t quite know how to use your script in the first place… I did download it. Then I used the 3ds Max commands MAXScript / Run Script and after selecting and opening your script file I got a little window entitled Reset Linked Obj… with a button labeled Reset Linked Object which I pressed…

Unfortunately, thus far, no success… I tried a number of different approaches, that is, different situations prior to attempting the above said procedure: With no file open at the outset, or if I had a file open but nothing seleced then nothing happened… If I had one or more objects selected, then I got two windows opening, one of which was your script with line 16 “Obj.transform = TrgtS” highlighted, and the other window being an error message entitled MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception: --Unable to convert: undefined to type: Matrix

After exiting those two windows I did notice a couple of things (at least some of the time): All the objects within my open file had been unlinked… and also there were now a number of objects added, that is, Point001, Point002, Point003, etc.. And also, when attempting to press that button in that first little window again and again nothing more would happen but that clang sound indicating no response or error…

No doubt you are noticing that I am very much of a Newbie needing some help. So what do I do?

Is your script even applicable to my situation?

Thanks again Henrique,

I am trying… But no success as yet… When I push H (or the Select by Name button on the bar near the top) to get the Select From Scene window, I then double click on any one of the listed items, but when I do that I only get that one object selected. Not anyone of the objects linked to it. In order to select the entire hierarchy I have to open that hierarchy by pressing the + signs to the left of each item within that hierarchy and then highlight all these items before pressing OK at the bottom of that Select From Scene window. That’s the only way that I’ve been able to get an entire hierarchy selected thus far.

Regardless of the above said, I still get exactly the same result as before after trying to run your script, that is, an error message entitled MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception: --Unable to convert: undefined to type: Matrix.

I am sure I must be doing something wrong. I just don’t know what?

Also I have not been able to find either the Reset XForm or the Scale Tool. Thus, I seem to be stuck for the moment. I wish I’d be able to get your script to work for me… The closest thing to a Scale Tool is that which I find under Animation / Scale Controllers / X Y Z, or else that button at that bar at the top labeled Select and Uniform Scale. But, even though I am seeing different numbers in the X, Y, and Z boxes at the bottom of my screen I don’t seem to be able to change any of those numbers and make them stick. Why???

I really appreciate your willingness to help me understand how to solve this problem of mine!

When I push H (or the Select by Name button on the bar near the top) to get the Select From Scene window, I then double click on any one of the listed items, but when I do that I only get that one object selected

Double-click it in the Viewport, or highlight the top-level item in the Select by Name dialog (.net version, not the old one) and hit Ctrl+C (it’s on the Select menu button on that dialog).

Also I have not been able to find either the Reset XForm or the Scale Tool.

Scale tool - on the main toolbar, next to the “Select and Move” and the “Select and Rotate” tools.
The idea was that you look at the 3 spinners to determine if they are not 100%. There was no suggestion that you try to change them there.
Note. The Scale tool has 3 options, uniform, non-uniform, squash. Click and hold the button in and you’ll see the others appear.

Reset XForm - Command Panel > Utilities (tab). If it’s not already on a button, click the More button at the top and select it from the list.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.