RickBarrett
10-09-2002, 12:14 AM
The method for creating an align to spline animation is a bit different in R8. The new method allows much more control over the animation effect, including control over the effect in XPresso.
This howto will walk through a basic example to get you up to speed.
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Create a cube and some sort of spline.
Add an "Align to Spline Expression" to the cube. ( OM -> File -> New Expression -> Align to Spline Expression )
In the Attributes Manager, drag your spline from the OM to the "Spline Path" field.
Click tangential if you want the cube to rotate tagential to the spline, and choose an axis to align (in R7 this was always Z).
You'll notice that by dragging the position field you can move the object along the spline. This should give you a hint as to how we'll animate it.
With the time slider at 0F, set the position to 0% and right-or-command-click on position in the Attributes Manager to display the context menu. Choose "Animation->Add Keyframe"
Drag the time slider to 90F, set position to 100%, and add a keyframe the same way. You now have a basic align to spline animation.
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You can also create keyframes by choosing to keyframe parameters and using the record button or autokey, or by dragging the tag into the timeline and setting keys on a Parameter->Position track.
This howto will walk through a basic example to get you up to speed.
[list=1]
Create a cube and some sort of spline.
Add an "Align to Spline Expression" to the cube. ( OM -> File -> New Expression -> Align to Spline Expression )
In the Attributes Manager, drag your spline from the OM to the "Spline Path" field.
Click tangential if you want the cube to rotate tagential to the spline, and choose an axis to align (in R7 this was always Z).
You'll notice that by dragging the position field you can move the object along the spline. This should give you a hint as to how we'll animate it.
With the time slider at 0F, set the position to 0% and right-or-command-click on position in the Attributes Manager to display the context menu. Choose "Animation->Add Keyframe"
Drag the time slider to 90F, set position to 100%, and add a keyframe the same way. You now have a basic align to spline animation.
[/list=1]
You can also create keyframes by choosing to keyframe parameters and using the record button or autokey, or by dragging the tag into the timeline and setting keys on a Parameter->Position track.