Question on animation

[LTDigital]

Hi,

 

I'm a returning A:M newbie who is finally learning this program using version 8.5. I know...

 

I am creating an animation of a levitated deck of cards, and I want them to move from the deck to a magician's close-up table. Unfortunately, they seem to move on their own.

 

I am using simple translation for movement.

 

I clicked the "Make Keyframe" key at zero frames:

 

I typed 30 (1 sec) in the frames window, moved the top card, and clicked "Make KeyFrame"

I want this particular position to hold for 30 frames before moving to its final position, so I typed 60 into the frames window and clicked "Make KeyFrame"

 

The card's final position at 90 frames:

 

When I scrub the timeline, however, the card actually reverses itself and lifts up slightly between frames 30 and 60 before going to its final position:

 

Is there anyway to get rid of the movement without having to manually type in the translate coordinates for each frame between 30 and 60?

 

thanks...

[KenH]

It's probably the interpolation. Can we get a screenshot of the timeline....in graph mode? Otherwise, you basically need to smooth out the splines in the timeline. Probably a quick way would be to select all the keyframe cps and press the P key to peak the splines so they're just straight.

[LTDigital]

Thanks for responding, but I'm not sure what you mean by Timeline in graph mode. If it's that otherwise hidden window next to the project workspace, all I show is a solid blue bar that runs for 90 frames.

[phatso]

The regular timeline, the one that shows splines (like position vs. frame).

 

There are at least 3 ways to adjust that horizontal motion:

 

1. If you want the transitions between rest and motion to be smooth, right click on the CP and select Zero Slope

2. If you want them to be abrupt, peak the CPs.

3. If you want a custom curve, play with the bias handles.

 

Since you've already got your project saved, go ahead and experiment. There's no other way to learn this.

[LTDigital]

Thanks, I finally found that timeline. I'll give your suggestions a try.

[Rodney]

After reading your description I had something pop into my mind that I thought I'd test.

It's probably more than a bit of overkill for what you want but the test... tested out.

 

The idea was to create a Path consisting of three splines.

- Constrain a card to each of these splines in three instances (IAW its the same card model)

- The model has 1 bone and 1 null built into it

- The bone is constrained to the Null in an Action

- Drop the action on to each of the instances of the Card

- Then use the Nulls to direct each Card's orientation (One additional Null/Bone could be used to control them all)

- Animating the Ease of each Card on the Paths allows them to decend in whatever order is preferred

 

See animation for a look into the process.

 

It may be fairly useless to you but I felt a little like JohnL3D experimenting.

cards.mov