Actions

[Master chief]

ok i know that an action is pretty much the model doing something on a miniture coreograph ( yes i cant spell) which is done repetadly in the animation and i have some questions

 

1 is there a way to have a action play , say a fire truck deploying its stabalizers , do nothing for 5 mins movie time, then do a reverse to pack up

 

2 is there a way i can have a action automatical continue so i dont have to ad it in every 5 seconds, such a a trning wheel

 

3 is there a way i can have an action turn the transparance from 100 (solid) to 0 ( not visable) as i have tryed with poses and have had no success

[Caroline]

No 1 - Yes

No 2 - Yes

 

I'll take No 3.

 

1. New Project

2. Import Thom

3. Group the top half of top, and rename the group GoTransparent.

4. Right click in modelling window, click New > Pose > Percentage. (You now have a new pose window open listed under Actions)

5. Make sure you can see your pose sliders (View Menu > Pose Sliders)

6. Slide Pose1 to 0%

7. At the top, change the mode to Muscle Mode, not Bones Mode.

8. Tricky bit - IN THE ACTION, open all the pluses until you see Shortcut to Thom. Next to that, you will see an icon with a red x, which is Show More than Drivers. Click this, so the red x is off the icon - you will now see the Groups.

9. In the properties for the GoTransparent group IN THE ACTION NOT THE MODEL change transparency to be 0%

10. Slide Pose1 to 100%

11. Change transparency to 100%

 

You should now have a working pose slider to be used in an action / choreography.

Finished project: thompose.prj

 

Brilliant Pose Slide Tutorial here

[robcat2075]

1 is there a way to have a action play , say a fire truck deploying its stabalizers , do nothing for 5 mins movie time, then do a reverse to pack up

After you add the action to a model in your chor, its properties window will have an "ease" setting. Ease from 0% to 100% will make an action go forward. 100% to 0% will make it go backwards.

 

 

2 is there a way i can have a action automatical continue so i dont have to ad it in every 5 seconds, such a a trning wheel

That properties window also has a "repeat" setting.

[John Bigboote]

I have dejavu...

 

1- I'm not a fireman, but I believe if you right clik on a keyframe you can set it to 'hold', and no interpolation will happen...thus allowing long prolonged inanimate holds....

 

2-Yes, animate the wheel spinning 1 rotation in an action...bring it into the choreography and apply it to your model. There will now be an option in the actions properties window to 'repeat'... simply add a number (default is 1...)

 

3- Yes... but this is actually best done in a pose. You need to turn on 'show more than drivers' in the programs 'settings' under the global tab (I think) Make a group with the geometry you want to make invisible...make a new pose... look under 'actions' and you will see a shortcut to the new pose- turn the 'show drivers' tab on, this will allow you to see the group you just made and animate it's attributes via the pose slider...

 

These are 'Readers Digest Condensed' answers... do you have a manual (available as an online PDF or for purchase as a book thry the Hash store.) I believe the full answers will be explained there.

[Caroline]

No 1 could be done with pose sliders, if you rig the fire truck with stabilizer bones.

 

No 2 - that's what actions are for - have you done exercise 5 Take A Walk, which is a repeating action? A wheel is a bit different from a walk cycle, but there is a video here:

http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm

Scroll down to Misc - Simple walk and wheel cycling actions

[Caroline]

How cool is that - 3 different answers in 30 mins?

[Master chief]

I count 4