Moving an imported model with bones

[R Reynolds]

I have a model of double swinging doors with bones and poses that I want to import multiple times into a new model. After the import, I can select all the CP's and translate and rotate  them into my desired positions but the bones stay anchored at their imported positions. Is there a way to move the entire model, bones and all, within a model?

I'm fairly certain the answer is "No" but I thought I'd ask before doing the grunt work or installing them in the chor.

[robcat2075]

2 hours ago, R Reynolds said:

 Is there a way to move the entire model, bones and all, within a model?

 

My gambit would be, before import, to add one bone in the double-door model that is parent to everything else. Then after you import to another model you can use that "everything" bone to move the assembly as a  unit (hold down CTRL while using the Translate, Rotate, or Scale manipulators to make mesh follow bones)

 

After the first import, the copies will have a number appended to them if they had no number before, or get their number modified if they had one.

[robcat2075]

Another possibility, perhaps easier, it to not import at all but add the double door model as "Action Objects"".

[robcat2075]

Coverage of "Action Objects" begins on p.131 in the TechRef

[R Reynolds]

Quote

to add one bone in the double-door model that is parent to everything else

I may have done something wrong but I couldn't get this to do what you expected.

Quote

Coverage of "Action Objects" begins on p.131 in the TechRef

Oh I'm well familiar with Action Objects. When I first started building Pennsylvania Station in 2009 I ended up with a model that had 74 of them. I returned to that model recently and the first few screen renders were frustratingly slow in v19o & p.

 

On a hunch/whim I decided to rebuild it as a single model importing all the parts that used to be action objects. As of today the model is 18Mb but renders are back to being typical. However finding patches and aligning normals during a save is more than a minute so I'll probably start a new interior detailing model with the double doors and many other additional components and add & constrain it in the chor.

Thanks for your suggestions, Robert.

[robcat2075]

I believe you can export a new model from the Chor to incorporate all Action Objects into one model.

[R Reynolds]

Sure! Now you tell me. 😄 

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

[robcat2075]

That's  a great looking scene you've got going there. Is that all conventional CG lighting or is there radiosity in that?

[R Reynolds]

Its almost entirely kliegs. The sunshine is my typical sun klieg plus negative blue sun klieg combo about four miles away to give the window frame shadows the right blur.

Each semi-circular window gets "filled" with five overlapping kliegs that are just outside of the window frames, so forty in all. They're all greyish blue but I highlighted one set in white for illustration. Each klieg is about 360 in. in diameter and has a cone angle of 179.9 deg. I still have to play with number of rays and how they're distributed because you can see grey banding in each arch close to the windows. I may need to go with more lights per window but this is a reasonable place to start. Maybe the banding will become less noticeable once I start adding materials? The upper right inset is a more distant shot showing the circular array of eight, tilted up, inward pointing, low intensity, no shadow suns that I trying to use as reflected floor fill light. This trick works quite well to fill in shadows under full sun outside. But inside, the floor and similar horizontal surfaces are unacceptably darker than the floors and ceiling. I should give radiosity a try but I have yet to look for any tutorials.

[robcat2075]

I've used a negative light before but what is the negative blue doing?

[R Reynolds]

That's an integral part of the outdoor sunshine light model invented by Yves Poissant. The yellow and -blue suns are both kliegs with identical properties other than their colours. The -blue is "translate to" and "orient like" constrained to the yellow with zero offsets. It's an easy way to give shadows a bluish tinge to simulate fill light from the surrounding sky. But as I'm describing it to you I realize that it's probably unnecessary in this case since I'm supplying the sky light with at least 40 kliegs.