More basic questions

[THS]

Thanks for everyone who has responded to my questions. I really do try to read the fourms and figure it out myself before I ask - I just don't always get very far.

 

1. Can you lock an object so that you don't accidentally move it? Seems like my students are always moving the stage by mistake.

 

2. When in the camera view, I want to move an object up and down ( I guess that's the Y axis) and not back and forth. Can you constrain movement to a certain axis? I know I can go to the side view and move it up and down from there, I was just wondering if I can do it from the camera view.

 

3. Any advice on further understanding the nulls? I've done AM exercise 3 a couple of times, but still confused!

[Fuchur]

Thanks for everyone who has responded to my questions. I really do try to read the fourms and figure it out myself before I ask - I just don't always get very far.

 

1. Can you lock an object so that you don't accidentally move it? Seems like my students are always moving the stage by mistake.

 

2. When in the camera view, I want to move an object up and down ( I guess that's the Y axis) and not back and forth. Can you constrain movement to a certain axis? I know I can go to the side view and move it up and down from there, I was just wondering if I can do it from the camera view.

 

3. Any advice on further understanding the nulls? I've done AM exercise 3 a couple of times, but still confused!

 

1.) Yes you can. Open the ProjectWorkSpace (ALT + 1 or via the "View"-Menu. Go to the choreography. Next to each object you will find a hand-icon on the right site. Click on it and deselect the object again. Now it should not be pickable any longer.

 

2.) That can be done in many different ways. One is to use the "Translate"-Button instead of the Standard-Mode. The button is located in the upper part next to the rotation-button. Now you can drag the object up and down by just using the handlers of the translate-box. Each handler is used for one of the axis. The once on the edges are used for controlling 2 axis at the same time.

 

Another possibility is to press the 1, 2 or 3 Button (over the 'Q' on your keyboard). 1 stands for the x axis, 2 for the y axis, 3 for the z axis. Press and hold the button and move the object with the mouse. You can see that it will only move on one axis.

 

3.) Nulls are helperobjects. It depends what you are after. In the end they can be handled as any other object. They are used to control certain parts of the rig, often as an Aim for example for the eyes.

What exactly do you want to know about them? They are just "non"-rendered objects which can be constraint-targets, etc.

[Caroline]

(2) I tend to use the arrow keys. Select the object with the mouse in the chor window, then use the arrow keys up and down. Hold the Shift key and arrow to make it jump in a bigger step.

 

(3) From the manual

"Nulls are non-rendering objects used in constraint setups or as action objects. Nulls can be added to objects, actions, and in choreographies. One common use is using a Null as an Aim At object for a constraint (e.g. aiming the character's eyes)."

 

As Fuchur says, they don't 'do' anything. Just add a null (right click > New Null), and constrain a couple of bones to it. When you move the null, the bones move.

[HomeSlice]

Bones can have control points assigned to them. Nulls cannot.

However, Nulls are much easier than bones to select and drag around in a window.

For this reason, a bone is often constrained to "Aim At" or "Orient Like" a null. Then when you want to rotate the bone (and the associated control points), all you have to do is drag the Null around.

[THS]

Wow - works perfectly. Thanks!