How to Prevent Parts of an Assembly from Moving Out of Position in Rotation

Support Animation and Rigging
#1

Hi All,

This is my first post, as I’m using Blender for the first time to create a short animation for my product design class.

The model is really simple, consisting of only 3 main parts,

  • The plastic blister pack (transparent)
  • The gold foil backing
  • The 10 capsules

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b164/edwardchuajh/rotation_capsule.gif
rotation_capsule.gif800×600

However, when I try to get the whole assembly to rotate as shown in the image, the capsules “jump” out of their position relative to the blister pack during the course of the 2 keyframes. When translating, the gold foil too, leaves the blister pack before joining back up again.

Is there any way to keep all the components in relative position to each other when I do rotation, translation on the entire assembly?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :eek:

#2

edwardchuajh,

Welcome to the forums!

The default method for rotations is to pivot around the object center. My guess here is that each of you objects has a different center. Try this:

  1. Place the 3D cursor on the desired axis of rotation - right click (Unless you have changed preferences to select with rmb - if you have, then it is a left click) or, at the lower left of the 3d window, click on view…view properties, and change the values to position the 3d cursor explicitly.

  2. Select each object in turn, then select Center cursor in the mesh panel.

Now each of your objects will have their center located at the same spot, and rotation should be fine.

Best of Luck!

#3

the easiest way would be to parent all the small parts to the big base…

#4

OBI_Ron & nirmaldavid:

Thanks for both tips! I will go try them out and see how it goes. =)

#5

nirmaldavid:

I tried parenting the capsules and foil to the base, and it works perfectly =) thanks again.