Can I control rotation of objects with sliders

#1

Hi

Having used 3DS Max and Maya in the past I’m used to being able to control attributes with sliders through the use of the Reactor Controller / Set Driven Key functions of the respective packages.

I’ve been reading a little about Action constraints and RVKs but am a little lost as to what is the closest to what I am looking to achieve.

To make it simple I want to know how to control a door hinge rotation with a slider, so how would I best go about this?

I would be grateful of some advice.

#2

yes, use ipo drivers

#3

Closest would be drivers for IPO curves. But the sliders would have to be made by objects.

#4

Thanks for the replies, I’ve found a couple of useful videos on IPO drivers

http://vimeo.com/groups/15231/videos/7442002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6AWO5cmb_I

The first guy is a little ‘all over the place’ but it’s ok after a few watches.

I’m just surprised that with the python intergration there is no way of using expressions to drive rotaion/scale/position values without having to pre animate them.

#5

You’re looking for ‘Pydrivers’. It’s different from IPODrivers. You don’t have to pre-animate pydrivers. It’s just a python expression to control a object’s value(s).

Didn’t test myself, but seems ok:

To create a driver, right click on an animateable field in the UI and select “Add Drivers” or “Add Single Driver”.

In the FCurve-Editor there is a button to toggle between “F-Curve Editor” and “Drivers”, set it to drivers.

Then you also have to show the Property window, using the N-Key. Now you can see the actual driver properties.

by Loolarge, from here

#6

Tested it some weeks ago. They’re cool. :slight_smile:

#7

Thanks Mordachai that’s what I was looking for.

OK two more questions:

  1. Can I build a UI with sliders/spinners/check buttons etc ala Maxscript or Mel?
  2. I tried installing python 2.7 but it doesn’t load, I still get the “No installed python found” message. Is there something I’ve not done? I tried setting the PYTHONPATH variable.
#8

If you’re using blender 2.5, you need Python 3.x, not 2.x.

#9

Actually I’m using 2.49b, not going to use 2.5 until an installer comes out, but your point was right in that I was not using the right version of Python I just installed 2.6.5 and that sorted it.

#10

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.