Is it possible to make bodies fallow the leader

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

Hello,
I’m new to blender and the forum so hello to everyone,
I was wondering if there is a way to make bodies fallow the leader. I’m currently using blender to try and make marching drill charts but in 3d, and the move in marching is called fallow the leader, which is a visual effect in which one band member follows the next. The move can be from side to side, front to back, or diagonal. Advanced follow-the-leader movements may have Bézier curves.

           Thanks
#2

I believe what you are looking for is “parenting”.

Cheers

Hamu

#3

thanks that helped a lot, but not quite what i’m looking for see in this pic
i have that spiral in the center that i want to tighten up and twist into the center, i cant seem to get them to fallow each other they more just go in the same direction is there a way to do this still with the parenting.
thanks again
[IMG]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3654/drillpaint.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/drillpaint.jpg/1/w1130.png[/IMG]

#4

isnt that part of the flock system?

#5

Hello, i dont know if this will work propely for what your need, but look for ‘Boids’ in Particle System, you can use that system to make the bodies follow your leader.

#6

Boids yes of course, … not flock grrrr my bad

#7

is there a way to make the pieces fallow along a bezier curve?
thanks

#8

Following a curve gets tricky. As you go through a curve greater than 180 degrees, you can end up with objects suddeny going inverted. As best I recall, you need the curve to lie on a specific plane for best result. With globes representing the objects (for the sake of demonstarting) it won’t matter if their orientation shifts So maybe that would work for you. I seem to recall a tutorial about making a cart follow a track using a curve. Maybe someone else will recall where it is.

To try it out, add a ‘curve-modifier’ to your object.