satchi
01-15-2005, 12:23 AM
Hello, I have a very confusing problem/concept that I can't seem to grasp, and it deals with grouped joints within a hierachy.
Here's the details of my problem: I have a special pipe which consists of the pipe base (long cylinder tube), a lever on the side of the base, and a pipe door on the end of the pipe base. Three of these pieces are separate objects, but are grouped up in a generic group name.
This group has been translated from the origin to a different spot on the maya plane, but has not been frozen.
I created a skeleton for this pipe: the center joint connects two other joints (which have bones between these joints of course), one joint on the pipe lever and the other joint on the pipe door. The pipe pieces have been binded to it's respective joint, thus I made an animation (30fps, 2 second animation total: 1 second each to open and close door when lever is pulled up or down).
Now, I add the whole skeleton joints to the generic pipe group and when i try to translate the whole group to a different place on the Maya plane, the pieces do not move uniformly. The pieces that are part of the skeleton (lever and door) incrementally moves faster than the pipe base.
Here's what I'm totally confused about... is this how I'm suppose to move joints (skins binded) and objects that are grouped? I know that by selecting the skeleton and the base, I can move it uniformly,
but will this mess up the translation coordinates for the 'group'? I can't seem to understand how groups have a separate translation coordinate from the separate objects that reside in it. (so like if you change the translation of an object in the group, will the group's translation change as well or?)
A minor FYI, I need these translations to be accurate per object because they're all going to be exported for use in another application, which relies on the translation to place it's model. So I don't know whether this will screw up the translation for the object itself....I hope this question is not too confusing, because I'm not quite sure I understand how to ask this question :(
Thanks in advance,
Confused Maya Beginner,
satchi
Here's the details of my problem: I have a special pipe which consists of the pipe base (long cylinder tube), a lever on the side of the base, and a pipe door on the end of the pipe base. Three of these pieces are separate objects, but are grouped up in a generic group name.
This group has been translated from the origin to a different spot on the maya plane, but has not been frozen.
I created a skeleton for this pipe: the center joint connects two other joints (which have bones between these joints of course), one joint on the pipe lever and the other joint on the pipe door. The pipe pieces have been binded to it's respective joint, thus I made an animation (30fps, 2 second animation total: 1 second each to open and close door when lever is pulled up or down).
Now, I add the whole skeleton joints to the generic pipe group and when i try to translate the whole group to a different place on the Maya plane, the pieces do not move uniformly. The pieces that are part of the skeleton (lever and door) incrementally moves faster than the pipe base.
Here's what I'm totally confused about... is this how I'm suppose to move joints (skins binded) and objects that are grouped? I know that by selecting the skeleton and the base, I can move it uniformly,
but will this mess up the translation coordinates for the 'group'? I can't seem to understand how groups have a separate translation coordinate from the separate objects that reside in it. (so like if you change the translation of an object in the group, will the group's translation change as well or?)
A minor FYI, I need these translations to be accurate per object because they're all going to be exported for use in another application, which relies on the translation to place it's model. So I don't know whether this will screw up the translation for the object itself....I hope this question is not too confusing, because I'm not quite sure I understand how to ask this question :(
Thanks in advance,
Confused Maya Beginner,
satchi