Animating connected objects

[Jim Scott]

Check out this tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxRjdU3kk6Y

Concerning moving axis points, have you referred to the help file for Axis Center… specifically the info on “Include Children,” and “Use All Objects?” Without seeing the project you are having issues with, I’m guessing that you’re working with an object comprised of multiple objects, and not utilizing those settings.

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[Rick Morton]

Thanks. I’ll give it a look. Always so frustrating!

And I think I figured out how to animate separate objects when they’re moving together. Put the separate objects in a null and keyframe the individual movements for each, and keyframe the null to move the group. ???

[Jim Scott]

[Rick Morton] “Put the separate objects in a null and keyframe the individual movements for each, and keyframe the null to move the group. ???”

Yes. Putting objects in a null allows you to animate the group as a whole while still animating each individual object within it.

[Rick Morton]

I’ve just discovered the animation timeline window. Great help. However… is there a way to compress the timeline? I can’t figure that out. I have to take the current time marker and continue dragging to the right to get to the end of the timeline. There MUST be a way to compress this. ??

[Jim Scott]

Right click in the timeline window and select “Frame All” – or keyboard shortcut H with the cursor in the timeline window.

Also, refer to C4D help by right clicking on the Timeline tab and selecting “Show Help” (or highlighting it, or simply placing the cursor over it – which works all over the interface – and entering the shortcut Cmd + F1). Select the “Navigation” link to see a reference to the navigation icons (5 and 6) above the Timeline, which will allow you to move and scale the timeline.

[Rick Morton]

Thanks!

[Rick Morton]

Hello, again.

Ok… this Center Axis thing is driving me crazy. I just can’t seem to make it work. I have a robot and an object he’s carrying. He picks it up and moves forward with it. Fine. Now I want him to turn right/or left and then continue. So I created a null to put both the robot and the object is so they can turn together. The axis for the null is nowhere near the other two objects. I put them in the null. Then unlock the axis and move it over the center of the robot so the turn is right. Now, when I re-lock the axis button, everything moves back to where it was. ???
The CENTER AXIS menu choice NEVER works for me. What am I missing here? I feel like an idiot that I can’t make this work or understand what I’m doing wrong.

[Jim Scott]

Hi Rick,

I apologize ahead of time if I am misunderstanding your description, or if I am not clear in my suggestions, but here goes:

First, are you using the method from the tutorial to have the robot pick up an object, or is the object linked to the robot’s hand from the beginning? In either case, once the robot has the object linked to its hand, all you should need to do is move and/or turn the robot and the object will go with it. Adding another null to control everything is unnecessary and is just confusing the issue. Also, if you are actually doing things in the order you describe (moving the robot forward and then adding a null to control it for a turn) that will definitely cause problems. You need to link everything at frame zero and then do your animations.

Second, as the Axis Center commands are obviously confusing, just forget them. To align the axis of one object to another simply make it a child of the first object and then reset its PSR. You can then drag it out of the child position. But, as I mentioned above, you don’t need to put everything in a null if the object is already linked to the robot’s hand — just move the robot.

Without seeing your project I would have a hard time making further suggestions. If you can share the project file that would be great, or at least a screen shot so I can see how complex it is.

[Rick Morton]

Thanks for all your patience, Jim. I appreciate the help.
Let me try to explain the action more clearly.
In a room there are some statues lying around on the floor.
Fork lift Robot rolls in. Goes up to a statue and slides the claws under one. Claws move up and statue moves up.
Robot turns to the left. Heads off in that direction. Maybe turns a little as he goes.

So… when the robot comes in, he can’t be connected to the statue. Right?
He picks it up. I match the position keyframes with the claws and the statue so it moves up in sync.
NOW I need the Robot and the statue to be linked for the turn. This is where I’m having a problem. I tried putting them in a null and that works, but the axis of the null is off. When I try to change the axis to the center, all hell breaks loose.

Is that understandable?

[Jim Scott]

I’m glad to help, Rick. I’m no expert but I think we can get this worked out.

Have you tried the technique outlined in the tutorial for using the PSR tag? You need to align a null to the claws and then link the statue to that null with the PSR tag. Your initial method of matching position keyframes would have to be continued throughout the animation to make it work, which is a lot of tedious keyframing and would be unnecessary with the PSR tag technique.

To get the null to align with the claws make it a child of the claws, reset its PSR, link the statue to that null, and then make minor adjustments to the nulls position to align the statue on the claws. (I think all that is described in the tutorial. If it’s not clear, let me know.) When you say that you “try to change the axis to the center,” what “center” are you referring to? The claw’s… the robot’s? Anyway, I don’t think that’s what you want to do. The null needs to be linked to the claws and adjusted so as to align the statue on the claws.

The whole idea in using the PSR tag technique is to allow you to keyframe when the statue is linked to the null. Trying to initially keyframe the statue to move up with the claws, and then link it to the null is what I think is causing your problems. Again, try to follow the tutorial and let me know if you still have issues.