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Understanding Controllers




I wanted to receive help on controllers. I have been having a hard time understanding how controllers work in regards to the animation process in Max. I have watched a ton of tutorials but none of them seem to really go too far in depth about how the movement of the controllers affects the movement of the parts of an object such as this one. I wanted to use this example of an eyeball on this worm monster as an example. I want this eyelid to move up and down perfectly on the eyeball.







For the process of creating controllers for the two eyelids and the eyeball on this character:

Some tutorials suggest by starting out by creating a circle spline (assuming this controller is used for the eyeball animation) and a rectangle spline (assuming this controller is used for the eyelid animation. Above, you see I have two rectangle splines matching the two eyelids for the monster).



However, I do not have the solution in figuring out how to connect the controller's animated movements to the monster's animated movements if that makes any sense. The controller from how I understand it is the parent and the the part that's being animated is the child responding to what the controller is doing. Is there a modifier of some sort of tool that I am not aware of in connecting the two?



Also, if I seem to be forgetting a fundamental rule in this process of creating controllers, please correct me. Or, if you might have a better way of going about this process for creating controllers for animation, please share. I am open-minded to how people approach this part of the animation process and curious about what they choose to prioritize in organizing this part of the animation process in Max. Thanks!

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