path constraint in 3DS Max 2011

[caboddie1]

hi I am trying to get my bike to follow a line i have made using path constraint but my bike is in multiple parts due to conflicts with materials and with me wanted to animate the pedals and wheels spinning. when i try doing it, it jumbles it all up. can anyone help me sort this problem. I am using 3DS Max 2011 and i am fairly new.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4666/88017099.jpg
Shot at 2012-04-12
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/8745/44161041.jpg
Shot at 2012-04-12

[needse]

select the bike and group it together. then group the pedals and wheels as separate objects. animate them spinning for the duration of your animation then select and link the pedals and wheels to the bike frame then attach the bike frame to the path constraint and all should work :) anymore probs let s us know

[caboddie1]

thankyou for the help i will let you know how i get on

[caboddie1]

also what is the best way to draw my line, view ect. i want it to go over a series of jumps

[rocneasta]

draw it in 2D view (not orthographic/user or perspective) from the view where you can make the most of the line shape

that way you have less to modify after

if you can try thinking about where will verticies go, and add a few so you can later move then, or simply Refine the spline as you go

[caboddie1]

thanks for the help. I don't know if it's just my poor laptop (3ds max runs very slow) but while testing it the bike just jolts from position to position is there something i need to change or just my laptop lagging.

[rocneasta]

depends on the effect you are seeing

you can always watch the playback in 1/2 of speed, or perhaps you need to increase the interpolation of the spline that he is running along

[caboddie1]

it's just my laptop its running fine now. how do I edit his posture while going down ramps and up ramps without making it that way the whole time. sorry for the noobish questions I am new to 3ds max and need to finish this for a uni project.

[rocneasta]

just animate him, let the animation run up to a point, get a keyframe in and adjust his pose, after a few more frames change him up again adding a new keyframe.

rinse and repeat

[caboddie1]

ok thank you

[rocneasta]

np, glad it works out as you want it

[needse]

so the bike is going along the path ok now ?

[caboddie1]

ye. but my cog is stuck on the path and i don't know how to unlink it. other than it's going good so far.

[poopipe]

if you want to stop it following the path you need to change its controllers back to normal to get it off the path
- you want to put positionXYZ in the position controller and EulerXYZ in rotation controller

if you want it's position offset from the path then you're doing ti wrong

make a point helper or dummy , constrain that to the path and link the bike to it - then you'll be able to move the bike around while it's still following the path


fwiw, it's usually not a great idea to animate groups - better to build a proper linked hierarchy.

[caboddie1]

i tried changing it to them settins but my cog is stuck still stuck to the line thats the only problem the bike is fine

[needse]

what is the cog mate

[needse]

if you did it the way i said nothing other than the bike should have a path constraint

if so just select the cog remove the path constraint from it and then select and link it to the bike

[caboddie1]

just went back to a previous file to try it again but it does the same thing the bike goes into the right position but the cog just snaps onto the line i really don't know how to solve this problem

[needse]

if you want you can send me the file and i will have a look for ya

the cog shouldn't be snapping to anything you should be just moving it into the right place then link it to the bike


or if you got skype i will show you on screen share

[caboddie1]

heres the download link

http://www.sendspace.com/file/c7vb6p

[needse]

kool 2 mins

[needse]

i can tdo it for you because i dont have you r version of max

to remove the path constraint from the cog do this then it will go back to it original position

[caboddie1]

thanks it worked. I appreciate your help

[needse]

noworries dude glad its sorted good luck with your project

[caboddie1]

i hate to be a pain but i still have a problem if i select and link the cog then group everything jumbles up. if i try connect the cog to the bike then group it jumbles up and when i group it stays stuck to the line like it was before

[Munkybutt]

it would appear that you have got yourself in a massive issue where you have a confused hierarchy which you are attempting to regularly alter or change. You need to get your rig sorted first, link it all so that it has 1 master root control and then freeze the transforms of all the objects in the rig and then attach the root ONLY via the path constraint.

[caboddie1]

ok how would i do that. sorry i am new to max

[needse]

ungroup everything then link it all correctly in the hierarchy

tyre to wheel ,wheel to axle axle to frame etc so the main body of the hierarchy is the frame then path contrain that and all should be good

or like munkeybutt said ;)

get rid of groups altoghter and just select and link everything

and make sure before you ungroup everything select all objects and unlink them otherwise they wont ungroup

[Munkybutt]

* Select your whole scene with ctrl+a.
* Press the unlink button (top, second from left button that looks like a broken link)
* Un-group everything, who ever told you to do that told you the wrong thing.
* Go into the create panel under the helpers section and select point. Create a point helper by clicking in the view port.
* Rename it something like "Rig Root"
* Change the size of it so you can see it nicely around your bike by changing its size attribute in the modify panel
* DO NOT USE SCALE as it will **** it all up again.
* Make sure at everything is as aligned as possible, so that they are all pointing in the same direction as each other.
* Now select your bike, make sure it as in the center of the point helper as can be
* Now use the button to the left of unlink button (select and link is the tooltip, that looks like 3 chain links)
* With this mode active and the bike selected, hover over any part of the bike, click and drag until the cursor is over the point helper and let go.
* This will make everything a child of the point helper.
* Now you can double click the "Rig root" and it will select all of the bike for you.
* Press alt+right click and you will see in the quad menu an option to "Freeze Transforms"
* Select that
* If nothing pops at a silly place you should be good to then link the point helper to the path.



I have just looked at your file after writing all that down and you can do with the following tips;
to animate, turn off the turbosmooth modifier. It will slow down your frame-rate terribly.
also, convert all the objects into editable pollys by selecting, right clicking and then convert to> editable polly.

when you build a rig in the future, do it on world zero with a rotation value that has it facing forward when you look at it using the front view panel and that lines up using the various other window angles too.
This will let you add/remove stuff a lot easier as it is always at world zero whilst making it.
At the point of animation, you really do not want to be changing the rig at all as it will start doing all this crazy stuff.

Good luck, hope this wall of text helps.

[caboddie1]

thank you very much that has worked just need to fine tune the line and the positions

[caboddie1]

when i rendered the scene it took like 6 hours to do and it finished ok but it only plays half the video then skips to the end? also does anyone have any tips on how to shorten the render time.

[poopipe]

Impossible question to answer without knowing all about the setup.

Don't render to video though. render to still frames and stick them together later - that way you can re-render sections if you need to

[caboddie1]

whats the best way to stick them all together?