#Stage Editor
James,
A current limitation is that with grouped objects you cannot access any child
objects in the stage editor. This may be changing in the future.
For now, you can do what you want this way, using Imagine 3.0 and up….
1) Break apart the head of the lamp where it pivot's from the lamp body.
2) Keep the objects relative positions in the detail editor so that when you
load them into the stage editor they are positioned correctly relative to each
other.
3) In the action editor load in the lamp_body
4) In the action editor load in the lamp_head. ADD a bar in the lamp_head's
ASSOC timeline and enter the name of the lamp_body object as it appears in the
action editor.
5) SAVE these changes.
6) Endter STAGE editor.
Now you will be able to rotate the head of the lamp at will. Also, if you move
the lamp body, or even rotate the lamp body, the head of the lamp will keep
it's relative position/alignment to it! Thats what the ASSOCIATE bar does.
Note: if you do move the lamp-body, teh lamp_head will not automatically track
with it. You will need to re-enter the frame to get it to update it's
position/alignment relative to the lamp_body.
Also, you can now in the ACTION editor delete the ALIGNMENT bar of the
LAMP_HEAD object, and ADD a new one. When doing this, you can TRACK it to the
picture object by selecting TRACK TO OBJECT, and then entering the picture
object's name as it appears in the action editor. So now, if the picture
moves, the lamp head will rotate to always point on it…like it's a spot-light
following it. <g> NOTE: When objects are TRACKED to other objetcs, their Y
axes are what point to the other objects…so just have the parent axis of the
lamp-object's Y axis pointing in the direction of the shining light.
If you are not using Imagine 3.0 or higher, you won't have the ASSOCIATE
command, which means you'll just have to manually maych up the positions of the
lamp_head and lamp_body objects.
If you are totally confused now, <g> let me know and we'll tyake it slower.
Just let me know which version of Imagine you are using..2.0, 3.0, or 3.2
-GreG