path constraint in 3DS Max 2011

[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