Q: Parenting rider to mount for animation?

Mouser

I have a camel walking but cannot get the rider M8 to ride it.

I am using the Camelia Camel and have converted the G2M ride pose to GM8 (M8), all okay.

I parented the rider to the sadle of the camel after posing him, all okay.

Unfortunatly the parenting isnt functioning as I expected as the camel walks of leaving the rider behind? (DOH!)

Again I am missing somthing somewhere;)

Faeryl Womyn

I would like to know this as well, seems strange that after parenting it doesn't follow.

NorthOf45

Works fine for me. Parenting G8 (or the original G2) to the saddle, the saddle expansion, or Camelia the Camel drags him along.

(I am still using 4.12, but I don't imagine something like that would have changed with 4.15)

Richard Haseltine

Is this a Timeline animation or an AniBlock?

Mouser

I just added the walk file (.duf) to the camel  I didnt choose either timeline or aniblock so I must admit I am unsure.

1)Loaded camel

2)Loaded and parented M8 to the saddle

3)Loaded the .duf  animation file to the camel

4)Clicked the play and noticed the rider was left behind.

I have aniMate2, keyMate and graphMate all installed.

Richard Haseltine

Which .duf is it, from which pack?

Mouser

The person who made the walkcycle file has had no problem parenting the rider so my file must be corrupted or something.

NorthOf45

Try something different, no animation: just parent M8 to the camel and move the camel. Does M8 move with the camel?

Mouser

When I move the camel via Parameter/Transition the rider comes along with the camel no problem.

But when the camel walks the rider is left behind?

NorthOf45

Then there is something about the animatin that might be breaking the link. With the animation loaded, does the rider follow the camel if you just use the translation sliders on the camel?

Mouser

Thats what I said.

When I move (not animate) the camel the rider is parented and moves with the camel.

When I run the animation the rider stays in place while the camel moves.

NorthOf45

I wasn't sure if the animation file was in fact loaded. What does the Timeline look like? Expand the relevant entries to show the camel's and the rider's translation parameters.

I did a quick animation sequence (not with a camel and rider, but just one object parented to another) moving the parent object. The child object sticks with the parent, and there is no relative movement between the two. Selecting the translation parameters for both in the timeline (or Keymate, if you prefer) the graph in the timeline (or Graphmate) shows the change in values for the parent object, but the child's remain at zero, because it does not move relative to the parent.

Try something different again, without loading the animation file. Set the camel and rider at zero, set a keypoint, move the camel forward a few meters, and set another keypoint. When you run that little masterpiece, your camel and rider should show the same sort of behaviour on the graphs. The camel's translation parameter will move (X or Z, I presume), but the rider's should be flat.

Then repeat the whole thing using the animation file, and compare the graphs. (You could string the two together to see what happens when the animation.duf kicks in). Do they show anything interesting?

Squishy

Animations for movement can do it either from the root bone, or from the one below that (typically the hip on humanoid rigs); I see you've made the G8 character a child of the sadtle's root bone, try making the parent the camel's hip.

e: if the saddle is following the camel because of Fit To yeah this is probably what it is, try this

Mouser

Yep its the hip!

I stand on your shoulders as I do other giants;)

NorthOf45

So it is a hierarchical animation set? Yeah, the parent-child order matters.

Squishy

Mouser said:

Yep its the hip!

I stand on your shoulders as I do other giants;)

In the pic you posted, it's not a child of the hip, it's a child of the root bone of the saddle. Are you really sure the character is a child of the animal's hip bone?

Mouser

The screenshot was before your hip suggestion.

Squishy

The hip of the camel, or the hip of the saddle?

Mouser

I had parented the saddle, no particular part.

Squishy

Please (again) try this specific thing:

Make your rider character a child of the camel's hip. not the saddle. not the parent bone of the camel. the camel's hip bone.

Mouser

I already have, problem solved.

Squishy

oh good, ok.