CompuServe Messages

list I have been told to send this message to Gary Yost. If this is reading it please feel free to answer in addition to making sure that Gary sees it. I have been asked to do an animation of a rotating globe with "communication lines coming out of the US and wrapping around the globe to many other countries at once (at the same time the globe is rotatin). I see a number of possible ways to do this, in addition to a number of problems with each one. The first thing I thought to do was to make a small cylinder with many segments. Create a number of copies of the cylinders (scaling and bending) to wrap around the globe. Then Morphing. However, The bend feature does not respond with enough accuracy. (i.e. the cylinder could not "hover" close to the globe. When it is small ( the second or third step) it comes out to far before it bends, and the angle i severe to appear to be a small part of a long line. The second Idea was "Dup Links" – But I soon found out that I could not cre new links in the middle of the animation. Finally, I created a circle in Shaper and lofted on a semi-circle path. I positioned the shape in the middle of the globe, linked it to the spinning globe and rotated it so that it appeared to be "growing" out of the globe. I have several problems with this method: First, as it rotates the point the "line" intersects with the globe changes. I was able to fix this by more accurately placing my pivot point. But this is extremely difficult with many lines going in many different directions. My second problem is that it is virtually impossible to get the "line" to land (end) at the appropriate place (country). And so I am asking what you think of the different problems I am having. What solutions, if any, do you have? Is there any methods I am overlooking? A prompt response would help me immensly. Thanks for your time. Sincerely, Keiht Tromer ^th 70711,3217 Oh yeh, One more thought! — What about a flic for a surface material?