Can you save the absolute position of a parented object or figure?

mikethe3dguy

I'm animating a scene which begins with figure 1 carrying figure 2, and then he releases figure 2 at some frame. Both are G8s if that matters. Figure 2's forearm is parented (in place) to one of figure 1's hands. My intention is to make two copies of the scene, one where figure 2 is parented and one where he is not. I'd then splice them together for a final, seamless animation. My problem is that I don't know how to exactly match the physical position of figure 2 in the first frame of the "non-parented" scene file with the position of figure 2 in the last frame of the "parented" scene file. His xyz coordinates are only relative to the figure he's parented to, and when I unparent him, he of course flies back to his original position before parenting to figure 1.

Richard Haseltine

You can avoid the last bit, and so get the desired values, if you make sure Praent In Place is on. it's a check-box at the bottom of the change parent dialogue, if you use that, or a checkable menu item in the Scene pane option menu (the hamburger/lined button in the corner, or right-click the tab) if you use drag-and-drop.

mikethe3dguy

Richard Haseltine said:

You can avoid the last bit, and so get the desired values, if you make sure Praent In Place is on. it's a check-box at the bottom of the change parent dialogue, if you use that, or a checkable menu item in the Scene pane option menu (the hamburger/lined button in the corner, or right-click the tab) if you use drag-and-drop.

I am parenting in place. "Parent in place" is checked. When I unparent the figure at any point after frame 1, the figure flies back to the position he was in at frame 1. Is this not how it's supposed to work?

Richard Haseltine

mikethe3dguy said:

Richard Haseltine said:

You can avoid the last bit, and so get the desired values, if you make sure Praent In Place is on. it's a check-box at the bottom of the change parent dialogue, if you use that, or a checkable menu item in the Scene pane option menu (the hamburger/lined button in the corner, or right-click the tab) if you use drag-and-drop.

I am parenting in place. "Parent in place" is checked. When I unparent the figure at any point after frame 1, the figure flies back to the position he was in at frame 1. Is this not how it's supposed to work?

I would not expect so - but perhaps it has keys set in frame 0, and of course none in the later frames if it is just being carried by its parent. Try selecting it and setting keys before you unparent it.

mikethe3dguy

Richard Haseltine said:

mikethe3dguy said:

Richard Haseltine said:

You can avoid the last bit, and so get the desired values, if you make sure Praent In Place is on. it's a check-box at the bottom of the change parent dialogue, if you use that, or a checkable menu item in the Scene pane option menu (the hamburger/lined button in the corner, or right-click the tab) if you use drag-and-drop.

I am parenting in place. "Parent in place" is checked. When I unparent the figure at any point after frame 1, the figure flies back to the position he was in at frame 1. Is this not how it's supposed to work?

I would not expect so - but perhaps it has keys set in frame 0, and of course none in the later frames if it is just being carried by its parent. Try selecting it and setting keys before you unparent it.

Well, you're exactly right, thanks! But when I created keys at the last frame I found someting unexpected - maybe you can explain it? In both the Timeline and KeyMate tabs, when I selected just one parameter (G8M X Translate for example) and created a key, multiple keys were created, for all tran & rot on G8M, and numerous keys for his attached items: hair, anatomy, body hair, etc. I was able to create just a single key for one parameter in GraphMate only. Can you explain why that is?

Richard Haseltine

In the Timeline option menu (the lined/hamburger button in the top corner or right-click the pane's tab) look at the Key Creation Scope sub-menu - it defaults to node recursive, meaning it sets a key on every property of the active node and all its children.

mikethe3dguy

Richard Haseltine said:

In the Timeline option menu (the lined/hamburger button in the top corner or right-click the pane's tab) look at the Key Creation Scope sub-menu - it defaults to node recursive, meaning it sets a key on every property of the active node and all its children.

Beautiful - thanks!