Rolling Ball Dynamics

[danf]

I've been experimenting with the bouncing ball, and I've just finished texture mapping my soccer ball (previously using a mono-toned ball), officially entering the realm where the object's rotation actually matters.

 

The problem I hit pretty quickly is that if a ball rolls let's say just 45 degrees before being lifted, in order to simply raise it, instead of holding 2 and dragging it, I have to alternate between two directions, or enter a perfect side view- and the latter only works if the ball has a pretty direct trajectory, and makes it hard to line up with my rotoscope.

 

There has to be an easier way- to rotate the ball, while keeping the translation angles pointing in consistent directions. But how??

[Rodney]

What Bones, if any, have you placed in your ball?

[heyvern]

It took me several minutes to figure out what you were describing... I'm slow today... haven't had my coffee. Now I get it, the translation constraints are based on the models orientation so if it is rotated constraining won't let it move in the "correct" direction. Even with bones if they are rotated constraining movement with the keys or using the translation mode is based on the orientation of the bone.

 

There is of course a "magic button". At the top of the screen look for a button with a "globe" on it. This is the "world space" button. Clicking that will now change how movement constraint and "nudging" works. Instead of moving in the direction of the model or bone's orientation the movement is always based on the orientation of the choreography, straight up and down, back and forth etc.

 

I hope this helps.

 

-vern

[danf]

No bones, but heyvern's magic button did the trick!