Aaack!

For some time, I have been trying to make an object follow a path, but not until a certain frame, or have the camera change views, without making two seperate .blend files. Also, I am experimenting with making meshes explode, but I can’t make it go away.:mad:

Like this is the right forum to post a blender question?
Please post in the right section.
There is a place called Support. And I feel this question is related to animation. So I’ll move it over there for you. :wink:
Ho and welcome to BlenderArtists!
[moved]

follow a path, but not until a certain frame

F7 buttons, Anim Settings tab, TimeOffSet value (works in frames).

or have the camera change views

You can Keyframe the Camera like any other object (I-Key), use a TrackTo Constraint with the LookAt Object as the Target (and probably set the IPO Curve(s)'s interpolation to Constant (in the IPO window header Curve >> Interpolation).

making meshes explode, but I can’t

If you tell us what you’re doing and what you want we could maybe help.

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If you want to switch between multiple camera views there are 2 ways to do it:

  1. Set up several cameras and use the built-in Camera Changer script. Open a Scripts Window, go Scripts->Animation->Camera Changer. Rename your cameras with names like “1,10” where the first number is the frame where you want this camera switched on and the second is where you want it turned off.

  2. Use one camera and keyframe its positions as Fligh describes. To simulate an instantaneous change to a “new” camera (rather than a movement), set the camera’s Loc and Rot IPOs interpolation modes to “Constant”.

@Fligh: You lost your % !

@Fligh: You lost your % !

It’s the cyber version of getting a haircut!

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Well, it’s more like, two space-ships encounter each other. They start dueling, and when one explodes, I can make an explosion using a particle system, but the ship is still there.

Aha… you can animate the Alpha value of the material(s) (I-Key with the mouse cursor in F5 buttons window) and make it fade to nothing, or you could move it to an unseen Layer (I-Key in 3D Window), or you could put a Build Modifier on the Object and put a Time IPO on that to run it in reverse.

Your best bet is probably to have a duplicate Object running the Particle Emitter and pop that into a visible layer a few frames before you pop the original Object onto an invisinle one.

jms also has an Explode.py script that can blow the mesh into polygons which migh be neat but I’ve never tested it with particles.

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