Greetings,
I al trying to get a specific animation. I would like to get this pod from its “active” position:
…to its “rest” position.
I use a local axis, along the “screw”. Manually, it works. But after configuring the timeline, the animation isn’t the same: a part of the pod gets in its support:
I would like to know how to rig the animation to follow the local axis. Is there a way?
Thanks in advance.
Look at Graph Editor. It will show that the rotation curve generated by the key frames are done in Global coordinate system. It doesn’t function under Local coordinate system. So you get the starting and ending key frame coming out correct, but not in-between. Blender doesn’t know what the hell you are tying to do!
You need to give constraint to a pod, to tell it to convert Global input rotation to Local. I tried it with “Copy Rotation”, constraint. I added Empty as controller; Z axis up / screw axis, and X axis forward. When I rotate Empty Z axis, it get converted to Pad Local Z axis movement. For the pod on the other side you need to have “Invert” checked on the modifier.
Thanks for the idea. I guess it may work, but: do I have to rotate the empty? Where should I place it exactly?
Ya, you need to key frame Empty rotation. Empty will drive the pod rotation and correct the rotation axis for you. The Empty can be placed anywhere. It will not render.
Finally keep the axis consistent between Empty and pod. In my example Empty was placed Z up, X forward. The pod was built flat on XY plane. X forward. Object axis was placed at Screw hinge axis with Z up. Finishes modeling the pod, then rotate it to stowed roll angle. Keep object axis intact.
Excellent! It works! Thanks a lot.
