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[gsjohnson]

RudySchneider thank you very much for all your help, it has been a tremendous aid!  I was able to animate a proper flexing of the project I've been working on and, so far, looks great! 

My new question is, is it possible to insert a second or third root bone into the Figure Mode?  I intend to animate two connectors mating and I can animate my first project using the root and bones for one connector, but now I require to animate the second connector in an identical manner (or mirror image).

Also, can I animate the two connector pieces in a linear direction (towards each other) in the same steps taken to animate the red bird to move across the screen in a straight line?

Thanks!

[RudySchneider]

gsjohnson ---
While it is a separate question, you may want to use one thread for continuity, instead of creating a new thread for each question.

I'm not quite certain why you would need additional "root" bones, since the intent of a root bone (obviously) is to be the foundation for everything else to follow.  So, from that standpoint, no, you can't add root bones.  However, since you're saying you've set up a bone structure for your first connector, I assume that you've thus created  a sequence, which animates the bones as necessary.  Unfortunately, I don't believe there's any means to mirror a bone setup, but depending on how you've set up your sequence, you may simply be able to create an equivalent "mirrored" animation in Scene mode, by inserting a second sequence, and changing its orientation.

Otherwise, you'll probably have to recreate the bone setup and sequence for your second connector, and tweak the settings in Scene mode.  I'd be curious to see what you've done, because there may be better ways to accomplish what you're after.  You could either post your .an8 file, or email it to me directly if it's something you'd rather not broadcast.

[gsjohnson]

Hey everybody!

I've come so far in learning how to use Anim8or thanks to all the help I've gotten from here and from new friends, but I've come to a snag in my animation! 

During the middle frames of my animation, I try to move my camera from Point A to Point B with a specific orientation, and when I play the frames the camera appears to float aimlessly in space until it reaches the movement command.  How do I anchor the camera (or any element, for that matter) in its origin and get it to cleanly move and orient to it's destination without all the free-floating?

Thanks!!

Gsjohnson

[lynn22]

If I understand your question correctly, i.e. you want your camera to remain steady until the moment it goes from A to B then in the frame just before it has to start moving, keyframe the camera's position and orientation with the same coordinates it has at the beginning of your animation.

[johnar]

from lynn22:  "....keyframe the camera's position and orientation with the same coordinates it has at the beginning of your animation."

 Yip, thats one way.
 Or, make your keyframe a 'corner key'. That should keep it still until that frame.

 And if you have some movement 'after' your last keyframe, copy that key and paste to the very next frame. (double key). That will stop any movement afterwards.

 (do these things to both 'position' and 'orientation' keys.) 
 

[gsjohnson]

Hey everybody,

i'd like to say thanks to lynn22 and johnar for helping me out in my last post!

new question time! I'm wondering if it is possible to change the color of an element in the middle of my animation?  Specifically, I have this plastic part I want to emphasize by momentarily flashing it red (or blue or whatever).  is this possible?


thanks!

gsjohnson

[RudySchneider]

Easy, but not altogether obvious.

1.  Copy the object you want to change and give it a new name.  For the sake of this discussion, let's call the first one "Original," and the new one "Emphasis."  Just be certain that you don't change it's orientation from that of Original.
2.  Apply the emphasized material to Emphasis.
3.  In Scene mode, add the Emphasis object.  Parent it to Original, so that any motion that Original makes, Emphasis will also make.
4.  At frame zero, select Emphasis and change its visibility to 0.
5.  At the frame where you want the change to occur, select Emphasis and make its visbility 1.  At the same frame, select Original and make its visibility 0.
6.  If you only want Emphasis to show for a few frames, and then revert to Original, you can select the frame where you want the reversion to occur and invert the visibility settings (Original=1, Emphasis=0).

Hope this helps...

[gsjohnson]

Thanks Rudy!  That definitely did the trick!  I did not think the problem would have such a simple solution.

Something changed with my orientation tool suddenly, and I was hoping you or someone would know how to fix it.  In the past, when I am key framing the rotation of an element in a scene, my orientation tool allows me to rotate it in place without affecting its position; just like it should.  However, this morning when I attempted to orient the element again to edit the rotation cycle, the element began rotating as if it were sitting on an axis point located at one of its corners.  So instead of "spinning in place", it will "revolve around its corner axis", if that makes sense. 

If by chance you can visualize what I have crudely described, do you know how to fix this?

-gsjohnson

[RudySchneider]

Hmmm...  Since Anim8or uses its origin as the reference pivot point, are you certain that your original object is centered at its origin?  Also, whenever you parent an object to another, weird orientations can occur if the origin for the child object is different than it should be.  These are the two areas I'd check.

[johnar]

 Just another quick point.
 'object mode -> edit -> locate -> center about origin'.
 Thats if your object is only 1 mesh.

 Theres also an axis mode, which is below the 'object mode arrow'. (top)
 If you are in wireframe view, and choose axis mode, you can see any axis which belong to your object(s), and move them with the move tool. So you can put the axis anywhere for your object.
 (even way off to the side, etc...)
 Pretty handy at times.
 Its a cool thing.