by Didik Wijaya
This tutorial needs you to understand basic use of 3dsmax.

A lot of people asked me how I created rotor rotation of Apache helicopter in Desert Chase tutorial. The answer is simple. I used tool available in 3dsmax to create repetitive animation. Sometimes animation need to be repeated, like rotor rotation, wheel rotation, pendulum swing and other case of animation. Instead of using manual animation, we can create those type of animation easily in 3dsmax. Here's how.

The principle of creating repetitive animation is simple. You create few keys first and let 3dsmax do the rest. After you create keys, go to Curve Editor. In Curve Editor there is tool named Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types. For repetitive animation, you can select several option like Cycle, Loop, Ping Pong, Linear, or Relative Repeat. Next, we will discuss each of them.

To understand Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types better, we will create simple animation. Open 3dsmax. Create a ball in viewport. Activate Auto Key. Create 20 frame animation of jumping ball in Left viewport. Look at image below for reference.

When finished, de-activate Auto Key. Iin slider you created 3 keys (in frame 0,10, and 20). Now, right click on ball and choose Curve Editor. Image below shows Curve Editor look like right now.

Then, click Param Curve Out-Of-Range button. A small window will appear. This is Param Curve Out-of-Range Types window. Constant is default value.

For example, choose Cycle and click OK. Curve will be like image below. 3dsmax define curve in out-of-range area (out of your defined keyframe). Play animation.

Try other options, like Loop, Ping Pong, Linear and Relative Repeat. Below is explanation for each option.

With Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types you can easily create repetitive animation. Even if you add more frames in your scene, your animation is still repeated in added frames. That's gonna save you a lot of time. More examples below show what you can do with Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types.

1. We will create rotor rotation, download file provided here. The file is the apache helicopter I created in Modeling Apache tutorial. You will animate the main rotor. First we try to use Loop. After you open the file, activate Auto Key. Change the tangent with Linear, in order to get smooth repeated rotation. Move slider to frame 10. In Top viewport, using Select And Rotate Tool rotate main rotor 180° clockwise. You will have key in frame 10. Now, move slider to frame 19. Rotate main rotor about 170° clockwise. Deactivate Auto Key. Right click object and choose Curve Editor. Use Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Typeswith Loop option selected. Main rotor is now rotated repeatedly.

You may wonder why we create last keyframe in frame 19? If we create in frame 20 and apply 180° clockwise, you'll have double/same condition in frame 0 and 20. That will make rotor "stop" a little bit. Thus, we set key in frame 19. We also need to create smooth transition in loop animation by reducing rotation value.

2. Another way to create rotor rotation is by using Relative Repeat. This is more simple than using Loop. Delete last keyframe. Now, you are only have 2 keyframe. Now, go to Curve Editor, use Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types with Relative Repeat. Easy isn't it? If you want to create slower or faster animation, just move last key in slider forward or backward. You can use this technique to create wheel rotation, windmill rotation, or anything that need to be rotated continuously.

3. Next, we are going to learn more about Ping Pong. Download file provided here (3DS format). In this file, you can see a simple clock with pendulum. You are going to make pendulum swing left and right. First, in Front viewport rotate pendulum to make it on the right. Activate Auto Key. Move slider to frame 10 and rotate until pendulum is on the left. When finished de-activate Auto Key. Go to Curve Editor and apply Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types with Ping Pong selected. Play animation. Pendulum will swing to the left and right continuously. This technique also can be applied to butterfly, dragonfly or bee wing movement. The same rule applied here, for slower or faster animation, just move last key in slider forward or backward

4. Now, practice yourself by completing these scenes. First scene is to make a ball bouncing down the stairs. Second, you have to make a car zig zag around the pole. Watch image below for reference. Remember to use Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types.

Download Scene 1 (Ball - 3DS)

Download Scene 2 (Car - MAX)

Any question or comments regarding this tutorial should be sent to:
Didik Wijaya, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it