How do you set up a group of armatures to follow path in snake like fashion?

Support Animation and Rigging
1

I’ve got a line of cars in a scene and I want them to bank on a curve one after the other. The problem is the cars are rotating of their own axis. Does anyone know how to make that happen?

2

In F7 buttons, Anim Settings tab you set the TimeOffset for each sequentially; so the first will be 0.00, the second 10.00 to come in ten frames behind the first etc etc…
Then to bank, make the Curve 3D in F9, also in F9, Curve and Surface tab, make sure CurveFollow is on.

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3

hmm. I tried this but what I wanted know was how to make the objects on a path rotate on their own axes. When I parent an object to the path there’s a dotted line that goes from the axis of the object to the first point of the path. When the object banks it doesn’t stay exactly on the path. It rotates from where the dotted line goes to (the other end). There are two other cars that follow this object. I want them to also stay on the path and bank in succession (one after the other) after the first car. So the line of cars is to move in snake like fashion. Is there actually a way to make the car objects rotate from their own individual centres rather than from where the dotted lines go to when they are parented to the path? If not what other way is there?

4

You can get the object exactly on the path either by Alt-O, or, when you Parent it use Shft-Ctrl-P. The car will bank relative to the amount of Tilt on the path (T in edit mode and Rotate the selected CV(s) ).

If you don’t like that way you can use D-Rot IPO Curves on the car. You can then Copy that IPO and Paste it to the next car sliding it the necessary amount of frames to the right.

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5

yes, this is what i’m trying to figure out. animating a series of objects along a path. the next thing i want to try is, making the objects softbody. and move along the curve like a ribbon… export avi, import into AfterEffects, i can have an intro with ribbons flying around. fun.

6

There’s an easier way to do that:

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/111/FlighSnake.blend

It can go moggy when it’s a 3D Curve (Path or Deform) though.

Actually, cancel that last remark; as long as the Path is 2D the Deform can be 3D:

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/111/FlighSnake3D.blend

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