Making objects follow

Canden Picard

Im making a scene where a character is shooting a practice dummy. The dummies hat flies off then his head. The dummy then is retracted back into the floor accept; I need the hat and head to follow at first but when they are knocked off I need them to stay behind.
If I just animate it it would look crappy.
Usually I would just link objects but when parent obj moves they move too. Which is what I want (at first) I dont want this. If I Break LInk the objects dont follow at first and the parent objects spazzes out. ANy Ideas?

Basically the same idea making a gun follow a char while still being free. Or any object following a char (armor, accessories, back pack) anything removeable.

Vailias

What you need are controllable constraints. WHen the control is in one position it stays with the character, when in the other position it follows a dummy/null/locator and when inbetween it shifts from one to the other.

What program are you animating in? That will make the specific steps easier to outline

Mark Dygert

In 3dsmax you want to use a link constraint. It lets one object be parented to the world on one frame and other objects at other frames. You set frames and parent objects in the motion panel.

In Maya its called a Parent Constraint, same functionality same purpose.

Sage

in decent programs you can have an object follow one for a set duration then have it follow something else. It's pretty cool. If your program doesn't allow for this you can always have two objects. When the hat starts to fall off for example have the new copy start off there then it animates away and the hat that was on the head just have it stop existing. The other solution would just be to suggest it by making a cut.

Canden Picard

Its 3ds max, I know about the link constraint. The issue is when Unlinking. When I unlink previous animation that was dependent on the link is undone. CAn an object link to itself? Kind of like affecting to pivot an object to itself?

NoisyMonk

I think you may be confusing what they are refering to as a 'link constraint' to the 'select and link' action, because what they are saying will definitely work.

A 'Link Constraint' is used by;
-selecting the object you'd like to link to something eles (in your case, the hat)

-going to the motion tab (the wheel beside hierarchy)

-under the 'Assign Controller' sub-tab, click and highlight 'Transform'

-there is a small clickable box with a question mark in it, just above where you clicked 'Transform', click it.

-select 'Link Constraint'

-now in a new sub-tab called 'Link Params' you can click 'add link' and then select your dummy (do this on the first fram that you want your hat to be following the dummy, and in the correct position, probably on the dummy's head at the start of the animation)

-scrub your timeline to where the hat is supposed to fly off the dummy, and no longer linked to the dummy, and then click 'Link to World' (this will 'unlink' the hat from the dummy) and then you can animated it falling off.

Hopefully that makes sense and is easy enough to follow. Let me know if you have any questions.
Noisymonk

edit: Ah yes, as Vig mentions below - linking to world on your first frame is very important, and you can also access the link constraint by either method.

Mark Dygert

CAn an object link to itself? Kind of like affecting to pivot an object to itself?

Linking it back to the world will allow you to animate the object by its self.

Make sure you're using the actual animation constraint, not the select and link tool which will set permanent links that can not be undone during animation.

Click the hat, click Animation > Constraints > Link Constraint. (Or assign it via the motion tab > Assign Controller.)

Then link it to the world first. Always link it to the world first even if its just for a single frame. It avoids a lot of problems. Then move the time slider to the next frame and "add link" the object to the parent then when you want the object to be animated by its self you link it back to the world.

Canden Picard

Thanks guys that clears things up. I prameciate it.