Adding people to an animation

[richardarnold]

I've been using 3ds max and mental ray for still images for about 7 years now, but only recently have I started trying to make animations, so apologies if this question seems a little basic. But anyway, I've noticed in a lot of architectural renderings, they have low poly people milling around, walking etc.

 

An example is this:

 

So I was just wondering if anyone could point me towards a tutorial or resource explaining how to add such people to a model. Any tutorial I can find on the subject is quite advanced and involves modelling the person myself. What I'm really looking for are basic people I can just plonk into my models and get them to walk or move without spending a large amount of time on it.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Nicolai Bongard]

If you get 3ds max 2014 there is a feature called populate. It should give you pretty much what you want.

[richardarnold]

Sounds ideal, but unfortunately we only have 3ds Max 2012 here in the office. Is there any alternative for this version?

[Nicolai Bongard]

I guess you could try the axyz 3d people or something similar, but i have never used those myself so i do not know how nice they are, or how easy they are to use.

[Jose Negrete]

https://secure.axyz-design.com/anima-crowd-simulation-software-home

[dande]

If you want to animate some rigged people there are a few basic tutorials on the AXYZ design site.

[Darawork]

I use Populate now, but used to use ArchVision 2.5D and 3.5D RPC people years ago. I'm not sure if they still exist?

[Tommy L]

All depends on the type of movie you are making. Long (yawn) walkthrough camera moves demand 3d people. Nice simple small camera moves (yay!) offer the option of camera tracked greenscreen people.