Animating Shift+Rotate and Shift+Scale

You can use the Auto Key button to animate Shift-clone. However, there are some restrictions.

When the Auto Key button is on, the transform center defaults to local pivot, and the Use Center flyout on the toolbar is unavailable. If you choose one of the other centers and activate Auto Key, the center returns to the local pivot. This means you can’t directly animate about a non-local pivot center with Shift+Rotate and Shift+Scale. For example, you can't use this method to create clones in an arc or circular array around a common center.

Using Non-Local Centers

To use a center separate from the object you’re cloning, you can do any of the following:

Use a dummy object.
Offset the local pivot.
Change the default animation center.

Using a Dummy Object as Center

In this procedure, you use the axis tripod of the dummy object as the center for rotation or scale.

To use a dummy object as center:

Create a dummy object at the center of rotation or scaling.
Link the object or objects you want to clone to the dummy object, which becomes the parent.
Select both the dummy and the objects, then transform them with Shift+Rotate or Shift+Scale.
- For Shift+Rotate, the dummy’s center becomes the pivot.
- For Shift+Scale, the dummy and selected objects scale together toward the center of the dummy.

For details of dummy object use in hierarchies, see Using Dummy Objects.

Offsetting the Local Pivot

In this procedure, you move the object’s pivot to the center of rotation or scale. This works much like using a dummy object.

To offset the local pivot:

Select the object whose pivot you wish to move.
On the Hierarchy command panel, choose Pivot and then turn on Affect Pivot Only.
Move the local pivot of the original object to another location in your scene.
On the Hierarchy panel, click Affect Pivot Only again to turn it off.
Shift+Rotate or Shift+Scale now animates around the offset center. This works with the default setting for local center.

NoteMoving the local pivot can adversely affect linking and inverse kinematics. If this is a possibility, consider changing the default axis instead of moving the local pivot.

To change the default axis while animating:

In this procedure, you set 3ds Max to allow animation of transforms about any center on the Use Center flyout.

Choose Customize menu Preferences and click the Animation tab of the Preference dialog.
In the Animate group, turn off Local Center During Animate.
This changes the default and makes all the transform center options available when animating. You can now animate around either the selection or transform coordinate center, as well as local pivot.

NoteChanging the default setting animates the rotation you see in viewports as a rotation plus translation, which might not be the effect you wanted.