When you activate footsteps, keys are created for biped body parts. Before you work with footstep placement and timing, it's essential that you understand the default keys generated and how they relate to footstep editing.
A leg moving through a footstep has four states, beginning with the foot on the ground. Then the foot lifts, moves through the air, and returns to the ground again. These leg states are labeled by character studio to help you work with footsteps and leg/foot keys more easily when editing footsteps.
These states are referred to in these topics to aid in understanding more advanced footstep concepts, so it's important that you become familiar with them.
For more information on these keys, see Editing Footstep Timing.
You can display the current state of each leg by turning on Leg States in Biped rollout Display group. The state name appears in viewports near the foot, corresponding to the state at the current frame.
Regardless of the footstep pattern, activating footsteps will always cause leg keys to be generated at each lift and touch frame. Although you can alter these keys to some degree by going to a touch or lift keyframe, turning on Auto Key and changing the leg positions or rotations, you cannot delete these keys.
To change the foot/leg animation after footsteps are activated, seeAnimating Legs and Feet and Adjusting Body Keys in Track View.
When foosteps are activated, keys are also generated for the center of mass (COM) object, the blue tetrahedron at the center of the biped's pelvis. The position and rotation of the COM determines the horizontal and vertical position of the biped body, as well as its rotation.
Unlike other biped parts or 3ds Max objects, the COM has three separate animation tracks, two for motion and one for rotation. You select these tracks by clicking the appropriate button on the Track Selection rollout:
Keys for these tracks are generated automatically when you activate footsteps. You can view the keys for each track on the Track Bar by turning off Footstep Mode and clicking the corresponding button listed above. These tracks are also visible in Track View's Dope Sheet mode.
You can animate the COM or change existing keys after footsteps are activated. To change COM keys after footsteps are activated, seeAnimating the Upper Body and Adjusting Body Keys in Track View.