I am new to XSI. I have a simple storyboard and it involves a hammer knocking two nails into a piece of wood.
I added a null on the hammer and parented it to the hammer head. I put a null on top of the nail and parented it. I constrained the null’s position and orientation and animated the hammer pounding the nail. Now THE problem… How can I switch to the 2nd nails’ null?
Did I do this wrong to begin with?
I am not sure why you would need constraints for this. Why not just key the animation?
From what you are doing it sounds like you are just translating the hammer’s position. I would include a rotation too. Move the center of the hammer to end of the hammer, or make a null object the parent in that location so the hammer rotates down onto the nail heads.
A final thought:
Don’t key the hammer to where it first contacts the nail head, but instead key a little farther to where the nail will be after it is struck. Then key the nail so it moves with the hammer. If this doesn’t make senes let me know.
Hope this helps.
Sorry if I misunderstood you needs.
Ohmanoggin
Here’s an example:
Run script and hammer the nail 
SICreateCurve "crvlist", 3, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.615480858761867, 2.20195292406, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.66435521382937, 2.10419559279882, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.79463156083458, 1.8760951531894, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.9249079078398, 0.865936063490549, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.14324982580852, 0.865936063490549, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.0129734788033, 0.865936063490549, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -1.0129734788033, 0.865936063490549, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", -3.33178951289881E-03, -9.00755439388857, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 2.92372972384065E-02, -9.00755439388857, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 2.92372972384065E-02, -9.00755439388857, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 2.92372972384065E-02, -9.00755439388857, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.192082730994922, 0.865936063490549, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.192082730994922, 0.898521840577608, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.192082730994922, 0.898521840577608, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.908602639523597, 0.963693394751727, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.908602639523597, 0.963693394751727, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist", 0.908602639523597, 2.07160981571176, 0, False, 0
ApplyTopoOp "CrvOpenClose", "crvlist", 3, siPersistentOperation
SICreateCurve "crvlist1", 3, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 24.2636528797528, 8.26561586034986, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.79093493076234, 10.8876449045312, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.62185841147895, 11.0145172776368, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.62185841147895, 11.4374251879886, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.83320406058319, 15.7510858735773, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 3.08681883950827, 16.4277385301402, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 4.270354474492, 18.2462425446531, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 4.35489273413369, 18.4154057087938, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 4.52396925341708, 18.7960228281105, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.03009059398708, 15.3281779632255, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 1.31151538703267, 12.6638581280089, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 0.423863660794879, 8.01187111413876, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 0.254787141511489, 7.63125399482211, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -0.210173286517833, 7.33521845757583, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -1.6050545706058, 7.25063687550546, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -1.73186196006834, 6.61627500997771, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -1.85866934953088, 4.79777099546484, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -1.68959283024749, 4.45944466718337, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", -1.26690153203902, 4.37486308511301, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.91774232022488, 3.82508280165563, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 3.55177926753759, 3.78279201062044, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 3.88993230610437, 4.16340912993709, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 4.10127795520861, 6.53169342790735, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 3.84766317628352, 6.87001975618882, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 3.29816448861251, 6.99689212929436, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.5795892816581, 7.63125399482211, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.53732015183725, 8.13874348724431, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 2.83320406058319, 9.44975800933499, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 22.1501963887105, 4.41715387614819, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 23.2491937640525, 4.12111833890191, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 24.9399589568864, 7.50438162171656, 0, False, 0
SIAddPointOnCurveAtEnd "crvlist1", 24.770882437603, 8.01187111413876, 0, False, 0
ApplyTopoOp "CrvOpenClose", "crvlist1", 3, siPersistentOperation
GetPrim "Grid"
SetValue "grid.grid.ulength", 1
SetValue "grid.grid.vlength", 1
Translate , -0.396570246291563, 1.98386736227722, 0, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ, , , , , , , , , , 0
ParentObj "grid", "crvlist"
SelectObj "crvlist"
ActivateObjectSelTool
ActivateObjectSelTool
DeselectAll
ActivateObjectSelTool
SelectObj "grid", , True
ActivateObjectSelTool
Duplicate "grid", , 2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, , , , , , , , , , , 0
SetValue "grid1.grid.ulength", 6.98
SetValue "grid1.grid.vlength", 6.98
Translate , 1.30301652352942, 1.92718543764073, 0, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ, , , , , , , , , , 0
Rotate , 0, 0, -185.269776368001, siRelative, siLocal, siObj, siXYZ, , , , , , , , 0
Translate , 0.226611569309465, 0.396773472455443, 0, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ, , , , , , , , , , 0
ActivateObjectSelTool
SelectObj "crvlist1", , True
ActivateObjectSelTool
ParentObj "crvlist1", "grid1"
SelectObj "grid1"
ActivateObjectSelTool
SelectObj "grid", , True
ActivateObjectSelTool
ApplyCns "BoundingPlane", "grid", "grid1"
SelectObj "crvlist1", , True
Msgbox "select hammer and hammer the nail...Cheers from Manny"
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