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3d null on a cc sphere on a specific place while the globe rotates
hi, i’m having trouble with my project and i need your help.
i have an earth (cc sphere), and i want to put a 3d null on any country i chose. then i want to rotate and move the globe however i want it and the null will stay on that country.
i have an earth globe (with cc sphere), placed a 3d center null in the center of the globe, placed another 3d pin null , linked the z pozition to the earth radius (with the minus symbol), linked the pin null to the center null . On the center null i’ve linked the x,y,z rotation to the rotation of the globe and the x, y position to the offset of the cc.
so far, so good, the pin null moves and rotates along with the earth.
the problem is that i want to take that null and place it somewhere else. so i have made another 3d null named rotation null, place it in the center just like the center null, parent the rotation null to the center null and parent the pin null to the rotation null.
to be clear:
the center null helps the pin null to rotate and move same time with the earth. the rotation null helps the pin null to move independently on the surface of the earth. works like a charm.
the problem is that:
the rotation null moves the pin null based on the rotation. if i rotate the rotation null on x, it moves the pin null on the meridian of the globe (ex: from the north pole to the south pole perfectly). if i rotate the rotation null on y, it move the pin null on the ecuator of the earth (ex: from left to right). if i start to rotate both the x and y , it starts to move the pin null on the globe (which is alright), but in a way that i don’t like it, based on a curve. because the x plane of the rotation null is rotated, by default the y plane is also rotated. so when i start to rotate the y plane as well, the pin dosent move on a parallel line of the earth but in a curved way.any solution on that? idealy, i would like to add a point control effect and to link the rotation to that point control, so when i place the crosshair of the point control anywhere on the globe, it will use the x,y, z rotation of the pin in such way that will place the pin where the crosshair is. i’m trying to figure out an expression on that, but no luck here.
any solution on this matter?
(btw, i have tried to use the position and orientation of the pin null to move it using some trigonometric expressions but it’s hell).
i have attached the project as well (cs5)Thank you very much to anyone who try to help with is!
this is the project:
https://f1.creativecow.net/12185/12185 -
7 Replies
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It was hard to follow exactly what is going on, But you have a coupld of nulls to animate the camera moving goth vertically and horizontally over the earth.. I would animate the camera moving as well to help smooth over those strange movements. ..And if that does not work perhaps use less animation on your nulls and more on your camera. Once you have two position points on a camera, its nice to go to the top view, using the pen tool Like you would a mask path, turn those straight camera paths into rounding arcs around your earth.
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thank you for your answer. i dont need the use of a camera, i need a 3d null to be moved anywhere on the visible surface of the globe, and if i rotate or move the globe itself, the null should stay on the country i placed it. like a pin on the map. just that the map is a cc sphere earth
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thank you for your answer. yes, i know how the cc sphere functions, but i’ve managed to place a 3d null on the surface of the earth and move it independently on the surface of the globe. and when the earth moves, the pin stays on the specific country. the problem i have is that i have to use rotations controls to move the null, and that makes the null to move in a circular kind of way and not vertical+horizontal. i will post an exemplification on youtube and show what i mean
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this is the video i have made regarding the issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hsjvziGk0o&feature=youtu.be
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Try to create one null for each axis to avoid any gimbal issues, link X null to Y null and that to Z null…
Cassius Marques
http://www.zapfilmes.com -
you are genius! thanks a lot!
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Hey constanti! Could you upload a project after you made those last changes with separate nulls? I can’t get it to work. Thanks!
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