Animating a plane to grow at RIGHT ANGLES

Support Animation and Rigging
1

Hello all,

I’m still quite a noob in terms of animation, and I’m wondering if it’s possible to animate a 2D plane to scale out horizontally, then appear to extrude 90 degrees from its end point… like some of those popup graphics on sci-fi HUDs in first person shooters. I tried the following a path technique, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsST6pXVptI which worked okay, but I couldn’t get quite a perfect 90 degree angle even after adjusting all the settings.

I also tried shapekeys, but couldn’t quite figure out how to make the plane change directions (I know you can’t add/subtract any more vertices than you started with). Is there a way to animate this? Or can one animate an extrude?

If you know of any helpful links to point me in the right direction or if you have any advice, I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks,
Adam

2

So start with as many vertices as you need for the final shape, even though it is more than you would otherwise use for the initial one.

Best wishes,
Matthew

3

Stupid question: Why not to use 2 planes?

You start with the first one which grows horizontally. The second one is hidden. When the first one has the size you want, you make the second one visible and it can grow in any direction.

Not need for a curve, a simple array is enough.

No? :confused:

4

Thanks Matthew and Kaluura for taking the time to respond. That’s good advice! I’m thinking that I’d probably be better off using GIMP or Sony Vegas Pro to create the shapes, then wipe them in using keyframed masks in Sony Vegas.

I really appreciate your input!

~Adam