Originally posted by azz_kicker
You could create a stick figure in max using splines and then on top of that you could set up a bone structure to the splines.
An additional bone hierarchy is not necessary with MAX 4 as arbirary objects can be used as bones with IK solvers. Read up on 'Using Objects as Bones' in the User's Guide.

As an FYI for people in this thread, orbiting a camera around an object is not Matrix-style motion. It has nothing to do with the flo-mo FX used in the movie (which are actually discreet, not continuous). If anyone has the VHS or movie DVD, you should listen to Johh Gaeta's description of the technique. You can also find a good writeup in the archives of VFXPro.

An approximation in a CG environment involves variable-speed camera motion and is a bit more complex than a simple orbit in the standalone package or basic path animation in a 3D package. People were orbiting cameras around objects and path-animating them in CG packages long before the Warchowski brothers even thought of the movie concept.

Not tyring to dis anyone ... just an aside. Have fun with those stickmen!

hth!