Making billboarded images always face camera

[Jtrudeau]

I have tried (unsucessfully) to make images of trees with opacity maps always face the camera for perspectives and fly thoughs. A great example is how sketchup does it. Does anyone know how this can be achieved in Max 2009 design? Thanks.

[Nic H]

use a 'look at constraint' with x and y axis, picking the camera you want them to face

[Jtrudeau]

nicnic,

 

Can you explain this in a little more detail?

[Jtrudeau]

I see what your talking about with the lookat constraint. But the constraint has the object following the camera every direction. I'm having a bit of trouble just having it rotate straight up and down on a pivot

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I am very bad at understanding the lookat controller. It always starts off bad "You look at that." "OK, I will. And I'll roll 90 degrees too." "Right... maybe don't...." and goes down hill from there. It may not be the "right" solution but the one that works for me...

 

Create a dummy. Turn on snaps. Pivots only. Constrain to Z. Move the dummy to the (z height of) thing to do the looking. Wire the x and y of the dummy to follow the x and y of the thing being looked at.

 

So now if I move the target, the dummy follows along with it at a constant z. The observer watches the dummy but since the dummy doesn't move up/down the observer doesn't tilt his head.

[mattclinch]

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/billboard-generator

[BrianKitts]

Just found this tut on autodesk's area site. You know I used to write the site off because it was new and didn't have much content, but there are actually a handful of decent tutorials on there now. Including this one (answers your look-at question) from Louis Marcoux, and there are a bunch more including a great deal of stuff from the guys @ Neoscape.

 

http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/tutorials/tutorial_index/look_at_constraint_on_2_axis_only/