#Path Questions
7 messages in this thread
This is a novice's question on paths. I have a simple animation of a toy
that takes a hat off it's head, bows, returns, and put the hat back on. I
created a path in the 2D shaper for the Hat being taken off the toys head.
Frames 0 to 20 had Hat being taken off using the path from the 2d shaper.
Frames 20 to 40 the toy bowed and returned. Frames 40 to 60 the Hat was
returned to the toy's head. Everthing went well until I tried to use the
2dShaper path for the last segment (40 to 60) in reverse to return the hat
to the toy's head. The problem was that the path in segment 0 to 20 was
also reversed. I did solve this problem by copying the keyframes for frames
0 through 20 and reversing them. My long winded question is how could I
keep building onto an objects path as a combination of paths from the 2D
shaper and 3d lofter and the object movement in the Keyframe? I would like
to know how the Pro's approach complicated path sequences in their
animations. — Thanks in advance. Doug Vaughan
Basically, for adding to a pre-existing path, you've got to just add
keyframes manually in the KF. You can't actually concatnate a shaper or
lofter path onto a pre-existing path.
– G
Gary, thanks for the quick reply. I hope that a path building/concatnate
feature will be in future releases. I would like to know what the
experienced 3DS user does when they have the need for complicated paths
that would be best completed by the building/concatnate feature? My most
immediate thought would be to complete a frame segment, render it and when
all segments are completed reassemble under AniPro or VideoPost …etc.
This solution has the draw back of either forcing you to save each
immediate segment just in case you decide that a major change is necessary
in previous segments. I hope to hear what other do in these cases. Maybe I
am under estimating the power of manually add keyframes in the KF. —
Thanks in advance. Doug.
Doug,
That seems to be the path <g> Playmation has taken. You can create paths
that simulate walking, bending, etc., or use one that comes with the
program. Then you can apply that path to an object. I suppose you could
do stuff like make a star 'walk.' There's a 1-page review in the Jan '93
issue of Computer Graphics Review, pg 83. It's an interesting and
inexpensive ($499) program.
Eli.
Thanks for the reply Eli.
There is a lot of power in the new Paths branch of the KF. Once you turn
on the path's spline so you can work with it as an object, it's virtually
the same as building it in the shaper or lofter (albeit it's a TCB spline
instead of a bezier spline). Experiment!
– G
Thanks for the reply, I will experiment.