CGTalk - Animating Spline Vertices- Sub-object Mode

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Signal2Noise

03-01-2003, 05:04 AM

Okay, I thought I was doing pretty good in the ol' max department. Been using it since ver. 2 from waaaay back :)

Now I'm in 5.1 and I'm stumped on the simplest thing. I bet when the first reply/solution comes along I'll really know how much of a moron I am :p

Problem: I'm modeling a man-o-war (jellyfish) using simple splines with Bezier curves. When I use Set Key and move vertices around in sub-object mode, set a key frame and so on, the animation does not register! However, if I use Autokey to keyframe the movement I do get an animation BUT it's a mess when I play it back. I want to manually keyframe it for precise movement of the tentacles. I'm scratching my head over this one. Hurry with a response before I draw blood! ;)

I've worked with splines before in previous versions and don't remember any problems animating them. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong. I even have all the Key Filters on but...nada :thumbsdow

Help!

LFShade

03-01-2003, 07:07 AM

Set key mode works a little differently. You need to tell it which things to key, it'll ignore everything else. Since the sub-objects of a spline or mesh have no animation controllers on them to start with, set key isn't aware of them and is unable to key them. The solution is to go into auto key mode and move your spline verts around, which will assign controllers under the Master track for the spline object. If you then delete the keys, the controllers will remain and you can then keyframe the spline in set key mode.

I'll see if there might be a better way, but that should get you started at least :)

mont

03-01-2003, 07:19 AM

You could also link a dummy object with the linked xform modifier then animate the dummy.

Cheers,

-Alex

LFShade

03-01-2003, 07:35 AM

I found a slightly more elegant way through Maxscript. Type animateVertex $ #all into the listener with the spline shape selected and it will add controllers for all the spline's knots.

BTW, this will work for meshes and FFD's as well :)

jadedchron

03-01-2003, 12:20 PM

LF ze genius:D

mouj

03-01-2003, 12:56 PM

Howdy !

Nice tip, LFshade !! : )

Just one thing, Signal, why not using SplineIK solvers ? For tentacles motion it kind of works pretty well, imho.

mouj

Signal2Noise

03-01-2003, 04:26 PM

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm going to try them all to see which result looks best.

I thought about using SplineIK Solvers after I wrote the original post, after turning off the computer and going to bed. Well, it's the morning now and [Jackie Stewart voice on]"It's a fine day for CG animating!"[/Jackie Stewart voice off]. :)

Update: I just tried using LF's maxscript suggestion. It works like a charm! :bounce: Btw, where did you find the script? And others like it?

LFShade

03-01-2003, 05:25 PM

I usually figure out how to do script stuff by searching the Maxscript online help, then throwing code together in the listener or a new script window until something works ;)

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