Auto key problem

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,
A wierd situation occured to me today. I was doing an animation in 3ds Max but when i activated the auto key button, i couldnt move the object arround. The coordinates increased and decreased on their slots as i tried to move the object but it didnt move. Then i deativated the auto key button and i able to move everything. Did I activated any option that trigged this?
Notice that my “selection lock toggle” is off aswell.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

Did you find an answer to this issue? I am having the same problem

[photodave]

Not entirely sure what is wrong but here are a couple things to check,

Is it linked to another object that is restricting its movement?

Are there any Move,Rotate or scale controllers that are restricting its movement?

-dave

[Anonymous]

not linked to another object and no controllers restricting its movement. 

When I turn off autokey or set key, I can move the objects arounds but not when either is selected. This is with all the objects in my scene and not just one.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not entirely sure what is wrong but here are a couple things to check,

Is it linked to another object that is restricting its movement?

Are there any Move,Rotate or scale controllers that are restricting its movement?

-dave

---

If I create a new object then then autokey and set key works.  

[photodave]

That is strange, one more thing you can try is check if you have axis constraints on, Look for this in the tools > Grids and Snaps > Grid and Snap Settings, then in the popup window under Options make sure Enable Axis Constraints is off.

Short of that Im not sure what else, you could always try closing all instances of 3dsmax and then reopen it to a fresh new scene and then merge the objects from the problem file and see if that helps. If I think of anything else Ill chime in again.

Lastly what version of 3dsmax and service pack if any are you using? can you post a stripped down version of the file to investigate?

Cheers,

-dave

**EDIT**

this may sound silly but Ive done it numerous times, in about the middle at the bottom of the UI there is a padlock symbol, is this on by chance? if it is lit up then click on it to disable and then try animating your objects.

[Anonymous]

Hi Dave,

I've gone through everything you mentioned. Nothing has resolved the issue. It's really strange the object can be moved when autokey and setkey is turned off. But not when turned on.

I've attached a file for you to check out. It's in version 2017. I also have all the latest service packs and security fixes installed.

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@Anonymous wrote:

That is strange, one more thing you can try is check if you have axis constraints on, Look for this in the tools > Grids and Snaps > Grid and Snap Settings, then in the popup window under Options make sure Enable Axis Constraints is off.

Short of that Im not sure what else, you could always try closing all instances of 3dsmax and then reopen it to a fresh new scene and then merge the objects from the problem file and see if that helps. If I think of anything else Ill chime in again.

Lastly what version of 3dsmax and service pack if any are you using? can you post a stripped down version of the file to investigate?

Cheers,

-dave

**EDIT**

this may sound silly but Ive done it numerous times, in about the middle at the bottom of the UI there is a padlock symbol, is this on by chance? if it is lit up then click on it to disable and then try animating your objects.

---

[ads_royje]

Hi @Anonymous,

thanks for sharing your file!

the issue is that the tracks are set to Locked in Track view. They are un-keyable.

To fix this (see attached video)

With object selected, open track view

In track view menu View > Show Keyable Icons

Besides the tracks you will see a little icon "locked", click on it to unlock them

This will fix it! 🙂

I hope this can help! 

[Anonymous]

OMG You're a legend! I wasted a whole day trying to resolve this problem.  I did not realize that objects could be set to non keyable. Is this different to lock and unlock in the curve editor quad menu?

Would you happen to know how I could select a huge bunch of objects and set them back as keyable again in a quick way?

Thanks so much again for help.

S.

---

@ads_royje wrote:

Hi @Anonymous,

thanks for sharing your file!

the issue is that the tracks are set to Locked in Track view. They are un-keyable.

To fix this (see attached video)

With object selected, open track view

In track view menu View > Show Keyable Icons

Besides the tracks you will see a little icon "locked", click on it to unlock them

This will fix it! 🙂

I hope this can help! 

---

[ads_royje]

🙂 well thanks ... this is a not so well known feature !

And as you could see, the icons are hidden by default.

If you did not lock the tracks yourself it can be quite hard to figure out where that is.

The 'hint' is that you can move when not on Auto-key, and cannot while in Auto-key.

There is so many places that pivot can be controlled from, that providing the scene is the best to trouble shoot!

There is no UI way that I know of to do it on multiple objects at once. If you have 10 or so, manual will go fast. If you have thousands of them, then this can be achieved via maxscript, given that you know what tracks to look for. As in script you have to 'talk' to the controllers by tracks. If controllers differs from an object to another this can be quite tedious to do 😕

[photodave]

Should really mark this one as solved as I imagine with these icons being hidden by default it could affect a lot more people.

Glad it was sorted out though 🙂

Cheers,

-dave

[Anonymous]

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@ads_royje wrote:

There is no UI way that I know of to do it on multiple objects at once. If you have 10 or so, manual will go fast. If you have thousands of them, then this can be achieved via maxscript, given that you know what tracks to look for. As in script you have to 'talk' to the controllers by tracks. If controllers differs from an object to another this can be quite tedious to do 😕

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I manage to do it on multiple objects by selecting my objects in the viewport then in Curves Editor, holding Alt key to select all tracks at the same level as a given track at once then select Edit -> Controller -> Keyable

It took a while to process but it made all the objects keyable again.

Thanks