3ds Max CAT - The Best 3D Animation System Out There

Vote for CAT 2.0 - autode.sk/2FnfFbk
4 Reason why you should use 3ds Max CAT over Biped, or Regular Max Bones system, when animating in 3ds Max and why I think it's the best 3D animation system to use.
If you don't know what CAT is, 3ds Max CAT (Character Animation Toolkit) is an 3D animation system inside Max that offers a lot of useful features. In this video I mention just 4 of them, but there are a lot more.
If you want to learn how to animate in 3ds Max, how to rig and more about CAT you should watch more of my videos. I have tutorials for many different topics like rigging, skinning, how to do animation, how to become animator, how to do a walk cycle, run cycle, etc ...
You can find 3ds max animation tutorials for beginners, how to do video game animations and so on.
Don't forget to subscribe, like or comment, as it is my only indicator that there is an interest in videos like these and motivation to make more of them.
Thank You!
Intro: (0:00)
What is 3ds Max CAT: (0:22)
Where to find 3ds Max CAT: (1:23)
Reason why use CAT #1: (2:03)
Reason why use CAT #2: (4:07)
Reason why use CAT #3: (6:27)
Reason why use CAT #4: (8:19)
Vote for CAT 2.0: (9:56)
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[@JingIeFett]

Hi Milos! I'm the writer of the CAT 2.0 ideas post, thanks for sharing it! I love your channel, been following it since the beginning. Yes, CAT is hands down the best animation system in the industry. I personally used CAT with motion capture on a major AAA project in Las Vegas. CAT allowed me to animate multiple characters as well as clean up the mocap data on a really tight deadline and given the constraints it just wouldn't have been possible with any other tool. For some time now I've been meticulously documenting all my findings, every reproducible bug and issue that I've encountered. I've found out some pretty interesting and obscure things. I'm writing up a new post that I'm planning on posting eventually on the 3ds Max Ideas page to encourage Autodesk to prioritize fixing those bugs. The current 3ds Max team seems much more responsive to feedback and with Blender being a major threat now, my hope is they may listen this time.

Hi! Thank You for this comment and that post. I encourage you to join autodesk beta forums (feedback.autodesk.com) where the bugs are being discussed. It's the best place where to post it right now, I would say.

[@JingIeFett]

@ I went to that page and signed up but I can't find the beta forums specifically, where should I go?

Yes, that site is a bit of a mess in my opinion as well. If I remember correctly, you have to first select the project - as 3ds Max. Then when you are inside the project, there's a 'User Forums' link on the left under 'Resources' And in forums, there isn't any category dedicated to Animation, so the threads are in 'What's On Your Mind?'. Hope it helped.

[@ss54dk]

support!!!! waiting for good news

[@mousse4493]

Compared to Maya’s team, definitely! 3ds Max is getting improved faster than Maya at this rate.

[@xingxiaoxiao2634]

plz make more video about facial rigging and animation!

[@johnsajiv]

I created an animation using CAT rig and wil use for future projects, without you it can't possible.... Thank you sooo much and you are Great......!!!!

[@alexmorales2449]

Wow. Thanks I've been using max for years....never needed with CAT. this video solved a game development problem...preciate it

[@aragorn3d312]

Thank you very much for your work! Voted for your topic on Autodesk.

[@razzor4708]

Thank you, Miloš, your content inspire and help a lot!

[@r-dash8413]

Thank you for all videos you did made, are great help to all peaple

[@wmka]

This is all new to me. Thank you and have a great day.

congrats for your new presentation is stunning

[@tolebaybaglan4330]

Hello Milos! I have never lost hope in you)) Forward!

[@oldbear86]

Great content, thanks for sharing!

[@Raidoven]

3:43 AYYYY YOOOOO!

[@pascalcreativedesign8790]

You're hilarious. Love it. Great tutorial/presentation.

[@momoe9233]

God. I wish i saw this video earlier a week. I never know CAT exists. And your video is very fun to watch. Like watching daily dose of internet but daily dose of 3dsmax. Autodesk should update CAT!! Its been 10 years since ive left 3dsmax and a week ago i was helping my cousin for her assignment. I was hoping for major improvements by autodesk. And i think CAT is worth.

[@thilakkumar008]

amazing bro

[@DeathDealer-DD]

simplicity over complexity....this what i call advanced tech...beautiful

[@antmax]

I remember trying to use CAT quite a few years ago. It looked so cool but was incredibly unstable. I remember I had scene where I got a nice set of looping animations for a game all in sequence so the programmer could take frame references for clips and use them in the engine. Only nightmare was that at some point the .max file corrupted and I couldn't modify anything in cat without max crashing. It was a real pain to use because of all the bugs. That must have been around 2013 I reckon. Glad that it seems to be stable now.

[@giovannigiorgio1536]

No, it still constantly crashes. On my max2013 at least.

[@x3kj705]

thanks, another nice video The background music was a bit too loud /distracting however

[@888berg]

Firstly this is Awesome :)) Is there an Animation library for CAT... where you can drag a dancing person onto a rig?

[@AbdoAchtioui]

Thanks for this great video ! The background music it was too loud, please don't get me wrong.

[@faktordj]

master!

[@risnandarmultimedia5296]

its fun to see these.. lol... facial rigging please

[@nitroglicirin]

Hey! Now i workin on game and i don't understand how make animation like push the box. In first view it`s lookin like just walk but i can`t create this animation on point. My character moving on scene and its not good for import to unreal. how make same animation without moving on scene in max?

[@jimmwagner]

Looking into how to animate a flamingo. This may be the way. Also voted on the Autodesk site. Thanks!

[@VectorCharlnet]

I agree that CAT animation system is useful, you can reuse the animation the next time for faster production. Plus, the CAT rig system allows your animation be used in other game system like Unreal Engine. Another reason I like this system because when I rig a character, I don't need to be concerned about the glitching problem of shoulder and spine's connection(I'm currently using 3ds max 2020,maybe I will use 3ds max 2021). By the way, I think you forgot to mention motion capture could also apply to CAT rig, it's just a reminder, please don't get me wrong.

[@Xationch]

Can you provide more information on motion capture (fbx?) to CAT?

[@MaxAriani]

@@Xationch there is a script for that if you use Mixamo animations use FBXtoCAT script if they are not from Mixamo use www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/fbx-to-biped

[@VectorCharlnet]

​@@Xationch These are some videos I've found online which might answer your question. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2i8nnV_eN52i68 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJWrfpKGbtZgfrM kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWWaf6GGjdiDfq8 (This video is made by Cerny) By the way, Motionbuilder is a software for making motion capture, and it's also from Autodesk.

[@Xationch]

​@@MaxAriani I just get the Rokoko Smartsuit Pro. So it come from Rokoko Studio. Thanks, I'll check

[@Xationch]

@@VectorCharlnet Thx ! Yes but I need to pay for Motionbuilder. To expansive for me.

[@milo20060]

Virtual handshake 🤝

[@ISknne3D]

CAT is brill, ive been using it since it was implemented into 3dsmax.

[@katana2665]

Considering that the idea of CAT 2.0 holds the top voted spot by a long way, it's only a matter of time before it gets updated. It will be because of your work here, that made it happen.

[@jessierolan]

Hey Milos (and/or his community here), I need your help finding CAT files, so huge thanks in advance. I am trying to use CAT again after the better part of a decade, and the version I'm using (Max 2018) doesn't come with the old presets for the Rig, CatMotion clips. Talking about the files that include the 2Legs and 4Legs folders, plus the Walks for: Ape, Centipede, Crab, Dino, DragonFlying, etc... Can you point me to where I can retrieve those basic presets? Side request: Are there any clip libraries from people like yourself available? Google and KZbin searches aren't coming up with much. Cheers!

[@vexydara]

Do you have a tutorial on how to stop bones from squashing, stretching, warping, when trying to move, animate them? I made a skeleton for my horse model, parented the whole skeleton and grouped all the body parts but when I try to lift a leg it warps the bones and in turn the skin that’s attached. I just want to make the damn horse lift a leg without squishing :(

[@ranaumair100]

Please make video for facial rigging

[@bhaskarmaity2890]

Wonderful. But how to use MoCap Data?

[@daniishere1009]

Interesting. Is there is anyway we can use cat system in Blender or its there is any alternative for Blender?

[@dmitrychernov1903]

How I can make arms like cartoons 30s? Like floppy hends and legs?

[@kotahurt]

what is the auth key for LCVN L4CG DFSP 8UPP C6CW GYTZ?

[@aiuhejvwvud8c99rjej]

I have a list of bugs for CAT. Can you help me on a workaround for these bugs?

[@MWassimMahfouz]

I hope to see you do a modeling for deformation about birds ... I try to download your bird on your website ... in syria we can not you payment online for now ... I hope to have that rig some day 😊

[@daslolo]

AMIGA!

[@SleepyzGamer]

Is it on 3ds?

[@shiftq8375]

Funniest guy today for me

[@munnergep]

Is there any other software/plugin/any alternative to procedural animation like CAT?

[@DigitalAdamTech]

Love to see something like this in Maya

[@omidr.g7409]

Houdini is adding something similar in version 18.5

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

Yes-- it may just cost like 10$, but there are a lot of cheap alternatives you can buy. I would avoid CAT.

[@Xationch]

@@ChimiMyChanga73 give example please

[@AlejandroTodisco]

Youre right. CAT never dies

[@StigDesign]

2:03 that remake joke and then get exclusive bught of epic was spot on :D also: 3:43 LOL XD

[@chocopie099]

CAT is great. Its so easy to get used to it. Just one question, can it do bendy limbs? like if you want to bend an arm for instance in a cartoony way. So far I always have to rely on external rigs when I need that.

[@CreativeGraham]

This is a feature I've been requesting to Autodesk for a long time. Currently you can set the bones to 'stretchy' during animation, but that's about it. I'd like to see true squash and stretch features added in and some dynamic systems including bendy limbs. If people continue to support and request these things, autodesk will listen. CAT is finally starting to become recognized after all these years.

[@mischmeister_m]

hm, i kind of want to use cat after watching this video...

[@thirael]

I see a lot of enthusiasm for CAT here in the comments and really any hype over animation in max is good news, but in my opinion autodesk should focus in integrating tools more consistant with the industry's workflow. While not as bad as biped, CAT is too different from what standard rigs are today (from my perspective at least). I'm not saying it can't be handy, but at this point it's never going to compete against third party autorigs or private tools from serious riggers unless it went under a massive rewriting. And i suppose that Autodesk saw that the maya community came up with mGear and advanced skeleton on its own, so they probably aren't keen on investing too many ressources on a rigging system for their non-animation focused software (but what do i know). If autodesk decided one day to focus on animation for 3dsmax again, i'd rather it be for integrating features like maya's asset referencing, parrallel evaluation or nodal rigging editor, rather than fixing CAT. But again, just my opinion.

[@sircasino614]

Thank glob for Closed Captions

[@Madlion]

All this makes me realize it all exists in Unreal Engine, perhaps Unreal is the best animation tool now

[@lavart7043]

maybe Autodesk doesnt want to kill Maya?

[@MadpolygonDEV]

Im gonna be honest, I just cant get into rigging and animating. I model hard surface just fine but when I rig, especially CAT i am just always so confused. Especially when using IK trying to make fps anims. If you could make a video of this from a very fundamental level, I would be very happy. Alot of times you show the breakdown but you open graphs and menus, I have never seen ^^

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

He literally already made that video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5rVnWdjgtiBo5Y&ab_channel=Milo%C5%A1%C4%8Cern%C3%BDAnimation

[@charlesleclerc_ferrari]

The biggest problem with 3ds Max is that it's not a software for amatures, small studios, and independent animators, but for big studios with high budget and top professionals. I think that's why the community is so passive and unenthusiastic. The devs don't listen to us, because we are not the target audience. In the professionals world CAT is not considered industry standard, so that's why it's neglected. The pros don't use it.

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

Yes! My studio used max for 10 years, and we are now switching to maya. CAT isn't good long-term. It also breaks year to year. I've had to rebuild old rigs in newer 3ds max versions. Max just bought a tool (CAT), and stopped supporting it. If you've ever talked to the tech team, you would see that they are a skeleton crew. Which... is why every bug they fixed in older version resurface in newer builds. It's hard to animate with, its really unfriendly to rig-tweaks, and save/load of animations often create tracks that go on past the 100,000 keyframe mark. It's pretty ghetto. CAT is only good for indie projects. AAA can't afford to maintain a product (CAT rigging tool that the owners do not support) for a company that doesn't care, and just gets worse every year.

[@Xationch]

@@ChimiMyChanga73 Thanks for the story. Can I ask what's you use in Maya (I'm a noob interested to start rigging), is there something build in or some studio proprietary plugins ?

[@lordavius]

So not true. And so confusing arguments. First, you say "3ds Max is that it's not a software for amatures, small studios, and independent animators, but for big studios" and you conclude by saying "The pros don't use it"? First it's NOT for amateurs, and then it's NOT for PROS too? I mean... Migrating to Maya makes little sense (IMHO) and CAT is not abandoned. They are CONSTANTLY fixing bugs (that are reported, at least) and always looking for opportunities to improve upon. If you just glance at Max's road map you'll see not only plenty of stuff for animation, but stuff that are pretty mold breaking (like physics based animation). makeanything.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/public-roadmap-copy-25B1-910Q7.html#animation-future

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

@@lordavius Not sure if you are replying to me, or the OP of the comment thread, but I've been the face of my company when talking to autodesk. I do rigging, scripting, and animation for my company. ... And whatever they say they are fixing, I do not believe they've tested those fixes, and while trying to fix bugs they are breaking other stuff. I've talked with them many-times, and they are not familiar with the program they make. They do not know the features that are there, they just code. So, it's either they are struggling to find a producer to manage the features, or they have a couple people left keeping it barely alive. The amount of rig's that broke upgrading year after year of 3ds max. If i'm not who you are talking to-- just ignore me.

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

@@Xationch Yo-- So, don't focus on scripts, if you want to start being a rigger. It's like being an animator that plugs-in mo-cap data. My company actually had a person apply with "rigging" in their animation reel, but the guy just used auto-rigging scripts. So... he wasn't a rigger. Back to your question: Google "rigging a character in Maya", and that's... how I learned how to rig. I watched videos, repeated what I saw, and eventually learned a lot on my own while problem solving with what I knew would work. Some online schools offer licenses to Maya, otherwise you can rent it. But it's expensive, at least to me. Hope that helps~

[@3dworldz29]

lol CAT older than my grandpa ...

[@tolebaybaglan4330]

Can you tell about companies who uses CAT in their pipeline? Oh, I found a theme for your next video😄

[@vaksuwu]

No me ha servido de nada

[@sthJuniorPK]

So what you're saying is... I've been wasting years of my life creating rigs from scratch because I forgot CAT existed? smh

[@alexmorales2449]

I like how you say you forgot it exists lmao same here

[@creativityhamidkhazaeiasl6570]

@

[@Shivamtutorials]

Maya is best for animation

[@creativityhamidkhazaeiasl6570]

@