I have an armature with three bones. Everything is fine, they work. But when I close the file and re-open it the bones are all pointing at weird angles. If I advance the animation one frame they jump right back where they should be. And if I then back the animation up one frame to where it was, they stay in their proper orientation. It doesn’t seem to affect anything, I’m just wondering is I did something wrong or is this normal behavior?
It isn’t normal behavior . Did you Ctrl-A your armature in object mode when you created it ? If not select all bones and Alt-S, Alt-R and Alt-G then Ctrl-A your armature . If that doesn’t fix the problem it might have something to do with the constraints applied and you’ll probably have to upload your blend file unless you can describe what if any constraints are applied and what the various relationships are - so it would be faster though if you post the file .
I was constraining bones to empties and the empties were parented to a single vertex. Later I tried to parent the empty to three vertices (sp?). Still later I deleted the armature and then I noticed the empties were doing the moving around when I closed/opened the file. Now I’m trying to parent the empties to the object. It’s getting frustrating. If it matters I’m using 2.42. I’d post the blend but it would take too long to explain everything going on there.
What are you trying to do with empties parented to vertices , with bones constrained to empties? Sounds like an elaborate setup for ???
MIke
I’m not sure what you are trying to do so this would be a stab in the dark but …
“I was constraining bones to empties and the empties were parented to a single vertex. Later I tried to parent the empty to three vertices”
along with Mike_S sounds very elaborate and also maybe a data loop i.e. mesh whose vertices are “children” of the armature and the armature in turn constrained by empties/hooks parented to the vertices of the mesh ??? This might be the reason you got that odd behavior when opening/closing your file …
Admittedly I don’t know what the purpose for the set up is but maybe you could try explaining what you are trying to accomplish ?
And are the empties a part of animation - i.e. keyframed ? Because when you say the “the empties were doing the moving around when I closed/opened the file” it might be that you added keys with your original set up and now even though the armature is gone the keys for the empties act as though it wasn’t (it’s data acts as though there was an armature)…
You might try opening the outliner window and seeing if the armature really is gone - and if there isn’t one visible switch to the OOP schematic window - I once discovered an annoying plane that was leaving a rendering artifact that way once .
If none of this helps post your blend with the empties you are having problems with selected before you save your file …
It doesn’t seem to be too elaborate of a plan. The basis is the flywheel - piston. Except the flywheel is like a crankshaft with three rods and two of the rods work in parallel on one piston while the third operates alone on the other piston. It’s a copy of a mechanism I saw at work. At the moment the file is deconstructed for trouble shooting, I’ll try to put it back together and post the blend.
Ok now I understand . But like I said you might be having your problem because the data loop you might be causing with the armature->empties->mesh(vertices)->armature->empties->… etc .You might have better luck constructing you mechanism with just bones and empties and not hook the empties to your mesh . Though with mechanical parts like that you could animate it without using any armatures or empties at all … unless a hinge is involved somewhere …
this is my first try at using a public file sharing. I put the file here: http://uploader.polarix.net//files/187/brokenflywheel.blend
I deleted the two armatures. The remaing armature revolves the crankshaft. The three empties for the throws are at the center. If you advance the animation one frame, they will go to their proper place and stay there even if you back up the frame. close the file and reopen and they are back at the center.
Um I can’t seem to download your file …
The file you uploaded has no animation in it (no IPO’s or actions), so advancing the animation frame doesn’t do anything (of course).
Mike
Hmm, mine has an animation for spinning the flywheel. I used the timeline to move ahead one frame and the empties jumped as expected
oops, no animation, just a bone, but still the empties move
Ok I think I figured it out . You still have a bone with somehow a “pose” data associated with it (I think) which I guess you had constrained the empties to when you first started . Go ahead and open your file advance a frame (important! this will move your rotator empties to their proper place - if you delete the bone before you do this they will all stay where they are when you first open the blend e.g. centered to the armature bone) and then select the the “spinner” bone/armature from the outliner and then delete from the 3D window . All three throw_empties should be under your “rotator” mesh and centered to your vertex groups .
I think you missed just that one bone and somehow the empties still reverted to the armature bone’s coordinates when you closed/opened your file . Weird but I did the above and no more empties zipping around now .
I think this has something to do with how Blender handles data blocks - which is very poorly documented …
Ok I guess I need to ask you if you still need the bone there after reading your last post because the empties in the outliner are the same but share vertex groups from the “rotator” mesh and from the armature bone i.e. they are the same empties linked to both the mesh and the bone - this is what is causing the “jumping” empties . If you still need an armature delete the remaining one and create a new one (you might want to save and exit after doing above and then add - Blender sometimes “ghosts” data especially if you name them the same in the same session even though you have deleted it) .
Nice model by the way … If I remember you’re the guy who modeled and rendered a very nice motorbike a few months back …