Creating a path to attach objects to, whats the workflow?

[ernpchan]

What kind of object are you talking about? Terrain or something more custom?

I've done stuff where I draw the path with points (convert to a curve) or the bezier curve tool. Then use the pathcurve motion modifier.
Bake out the motion with this plug-in:

http://www.dstorm.co.jp/archives/plugins/OutputWorldCoords/doce/index.htm

And then use the plug-in PathAnimation to envelope the distance travled.

http://thespread.faulknermano.com/_theoldspread/index.htm

[SheepFactory]

I am animating a vehicle on a curvy terrain. I want to constrain the car to a path that is following the terrain but also want to be able to control and keyframe its travel distance and speed on the path. The constrain to curve modifier in lw doesnt give me any option to do that so I was wondering if I should be using something else I dont know about.

[calilifestyle]

http://walen.se/vehiclerigger/index.html

[ernpchan]

The PathAnimation plug-in will let you envelope how far your object travels along the path. So you could control distance and speed.

But the vehicle rigger setup might be the better route as you'll have wheels and etc.

[MooseDog]

ftp://ftp.newtek.com/multimedia/movies/w3dw/WV_LightwaveTraining.html

lotsa technique type stuff here, including motion along a path (rollertrain.mov)

for slowing down or speeding down a car, either mess with the graph editor, or try master channels for some great control:

http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77361&highlight=master+channel

[Julez4001]

From 3d4me


"You better get used to 9.6" nodal vid series
Plugins used in these tutorials...
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/dpont/main_en.htm (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/dpont/main_en.htm)
http://www.db-w.com/component/option...,select/id,13/ (http://www.db-w.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,0/func,select/id,13/)
http://lwplugindb.com/Plugin.aspx?id=175d632d


Links to tutorials...No audio

mdd playback controlled by texture (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/nodetut_controller.swf)


bump displace, texturing, hv, nodal...(fuse burning part 1) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/bump_displace_gradient.mov)
(fuse part 2) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/final_fuse.mov)

clone to points, use texture to control scale in world coord, texture based on scale (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/Node%20series.mov)

mdd, particles, nodemotion, and a bunch more...(ants part 1) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/ontaac.mov)
(ants part 2) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/ontaac_part2.mov)
(ants part 3) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/ants_in_grass_part1.mov)
(ants part 4) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/ants_in_grass_part2.mov)

node motion, particle age, animation path wind. (dominos) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/domino_m_fr.mov)

softfx, displaced points as ik goals and bone targets.(boat on ocean) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/boat%20test.mov)

clone to point normals in layout, and vary hue by object id. (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/clone%20to%20point%20normals.mov)

particles, node motion. (escalator part1) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/going_up.mov)
uv node, animate key position on gradient. (escalator part 2) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/goingup_part2.mov)

animation path, softfx, particles, and more...(race cars part 1) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/racer_part1.mov)
(race cars part 2) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/racer_part2.mov)
(race cars part 3) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/racer_part3.mov)
(race cars part 4) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/racer_part4.mov)
(race cars final animation) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/preveiwlow.mov)

Shifter node (dpkit) (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/shifter.mov)

clone emmiter to particles, and a bit more (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/emit_clone.mov)


HAVE AUDIO...

art gallery part 1 object/world spot (http://soldierwithin.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin/art_gallery_part1.mov)
art gallery part 2 (modeling/light layout) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/art_gallery_part2.mov)
art gallery part 3 (cloning lights/global control) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/art_gallery_part3.mov)
art gallery part4 (clone random objects) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/art_gallery_part4.mov)

Tornado part 1 (rig) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/tornado_part1_rig.mov)
Tornado part 2 (rig) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/tornado_part2_rig.mov)
Tornado part 3 (wind) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/tornado_part_3.mov)
Tornado part 4 (wind) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/tornado_part_4.mov)


nodal light control...layers+ (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/runway_lights.mov)

More control over gi rays (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/gi_control.mov)

align to node (tank tread) (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/targetpoint.mov)

weight paint in layout is fun (http://soldierwithin2.home.comcast.net/~soldierwithin2/weight_paint_fun.mov)


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This guy is a beast. Using nodal system/dponte plugins to duplcare a lot of techniques thats even better then traditional methods