Help with hinges and animation

Help with hinges and animation

Hi there, i am a total noob to Cheetah3D, but was a heavy user back in the day of Swivel3D, Infini-D, and MegaCadd.

I'm trying to create a simple animation of a box. I lay out six square planes in my work area using the "add polygon object to scene" button. The difficulty I'm having is twofold:

1.) How can I connect certain plane edges so that they are hinged together?

2.) I see the animation tool animates through 120 frames. How can I make it animate through a smaller number, like 15 frames only?

Thanks for any help you can offer.
 
Hi and welcome.

1. Look into the file please - hopefully I got it right. You need to line up your planes and adjust the pivot points to work as hinges and small hierarchies are involved.

2. Click&drag left from where the default "120" is.
BoxFold.gif

Cheers
Frank
 

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Yes! The file you shared is exactly where I need to be, and what you showed is what I need to recreate with many different box folding combinations.

So I'm still struggling with how you did that. To simplify, I'll try this with just two panes. I'm guessing the process is something like this?

1.) Place two planes in the work area
2.) Align two planes edges in the Properties window
3.) From the Objects menu, select Make Editable (shift-cmd-c)
4.) Drag one of the planes ("Plane.1") on top of the other ("Plane") in the Object browser tab.
5.) From the Tools menu, select Import Children (I'm not sure why)

I'm not sure how to get into Gadget mode or where Optimize is located.
Also, in order to hing one plane to another, then animate, don't I need to relocate the center point of one plane to the edge of another plane?

Sorry, like I said, I'm quite the noob.
 
Forget my first post I deleted - as I was misguided.
Steps are:
1. Place 2 planes, lining up.
2. Under transform tool activate Snapping to Component->"Edges".
3. in Pivot mode let snap the pivot to the edge where the hinge should be.
4. Back in Object mode: keyframe "rotation" by rightclick onto the record button. Scroll further in time. Rotate plane via transform tool. Record rotation again.

That´s mostly is it.

Cheers
Frank
 
Okay, so...

1.) Place two planes in the work area, lining edges up.
2.) In the Transform Tool, look for the "Snapping" label. Default will say Snapping "None". Click on word "None" and change it to "Component"
3.) Make sure "Edges" is the only check box checked (uncheck "Points" and Polygons". No others check boxes should be checked.)
4.) Select one Plane. In Pivot mode, double click on the center yellow ball then drag it to the location where you wish the hinge to be located, that being the edge of the other Plane where the two planes connect. The ball should snap to that edge.

At this point I can't get the plane to rotate on the hinge correctly.

If I could get the hinge working correctly, then I would set my key frames with the animation controller by clicking the red circular record button on say frame 1,then rotate the plane again, and record the keyframe again at say frame 15.

Closer?
 
4. In Pivot mode with component snapping enabled move Pivot point to edge where hinge should appear.
5. Change to object mode. Now rotate plane from the new Pivot point with transform or rotate tool and make your keyframes.

After record rotation on key 1 move "frame handle" to new frame, adjust rotation and record and so on.

Cheers
Frank
 
Thanks Frank. I have it now and here's the complete step-by-step solution:

1.) Place two planes in the work area, lining edges up.
2.) In the Transform Tool, look for the "Snapping" label. Default will say Snapping "None". Click on word "None" and change it to "Component"
3.) Make sure "Edges" is the only check box checked (uncheck "Points" and Polygons". No others check boxes should be checked.)
4.) In Pivot mode (select 8th tool from left on top of window, the one with red arrows pointing in three directions. This is located next to the four mode buttons that look like red squares) with component snapping enabled (step 2 & 3 above) move Pivot point (white center ball or "gadget" found in the center of the Transform Tool) to the edge where hinge should appear. It should snap into place.
5.) Change to Object mode (fourth red square on the right in top of window). Now rotate plane from the new Pivot point with Transform or rotate tool.

Now you're ready to set your keyframes to create the animation sequence!

Best, Scott
 
Ready, steady, go!
To make something happen like shown in the image you have to establish kind of hierarchy; so "Plane.1" will move "Plane.2" accordingly.

Cheers
Frank
 

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