Animation Paths

That works for me……..
Les

How would you incorporate predefined animation paths into 3DC? Could this be done via plug-in, script, or some other method?

Also, if this is possible, then would you be able to create/layout your own path rather than using a predefined one?

When animating an automobile or aircraft it would be great to be able to design or assign a predefined path, link the object to the path, then animate. In the case of aircraft, auto-banking could also be used to control the amount of banking per turn.

I’m interested in knowing what anyone else thinks about this, or if you have any info about it, that might help.

Les

Not exactly Les. What you can do is this:

Drop a cube onto the scene. Drop a second cube onto the first cube. Animate the second cube as though it is an airplane. Alt-select the first cube and add it to the object library. Then if you want this animation, just drop the cubes onto a scene, replace the second cube with your plane and delete the first cube.

Richard

Richard,
I think I may not have explained properly. What I’m getting at is; Is it possible to create or layout a path that you want an object to follow, without actually having an object present at the time, then save the andquot;pathandquot; itself to a library to use at some later time with your animations?
This would be particularly useful with aircraft animations. The auto-banking would just be a nice bonus. In most auto-banking features, I believe the amount of bank is dependant on the radius of the turn. IE; the smaller the turn radius, the higher the degree of bank.

The animation camera can be set to track an object. There is a button on the edit toolbar (on the right side) that does this.

Richard

The Frame position and orientation seting methods have a andquot;timeandquot; parameter. You can set up an animation by setting the position and orientation of Frames at various times.

Richard

It does work, but you have to be sure you have a hierarchy. When you alt-select you will get both cubes. Then you can right click on the group and add them to a object library.

Richard

Richard,
This method would not work for me….. :'(
It didn’t seem to matter which cube I Alt-Select and add to object library, the animation didn’t run when dropping them into another scene.
So, here’s what I did. I open the animation scene, import one of my models(I have them in directx format for storage on zip disks), place the model over the cube(resized) so that the cube doesn’t show, then group the model to the cube, save, and run the animation. VOILA!!!…
I think this will help me with animating cause I can just create different animations, then import whichever of my models I want into the scene, and presto! animated model!
Les……

Richard,
That’s a cool way to do it!…<!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –> I’ll try that.
Many thanks,…<!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
Les

Richard,
Another animation path question comes to mind. I’ve created a separate library for my different animation paths, and have a couple of paths in it, and just by looking at them can’t tell which is which.
Would it be possible in a future release to show either a andquot;Tool Tipandquot; type text when the mouse cursor is placed over a particular path-object in the library, showing a name for the path like andquot;circle-pathandquot;, andquot;ovalandquot;, andquot;figure-8andquot;, etc? Or maybe there’s a way to show the path itself in the library and not the cubes/objects?

Les

Richard,
Okie dokie, it works.. Hmm, don’t know what I did wrong the first time, but it works just like you said it would..

Question; When you say replace the second cube with the model, do you mean delete the cube?

Les

Les,

That sounds like a good idea. But for the next release.

Richard

Richard,
Ok, I probably did something wrong. That wouldn’t be any surprise….hehehe. I’ll try it again… <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
Thanks Richard,
Les