topic Betreff: Animate Rotation Pivot Point in VRED Forum

Animate Rotation Pivot Point

fbruchD4CS2 — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 08:57:17 GMT

Hi,

Is there a way to animate / key the Rotation Pivot Point of a node in VRED? I am trying to animate a vehicle driving and turning, for which I need to continuously change the location of the Rotation Pivot based on the current Steering Wheel rotation. The Curve Editor does not seem to have channels for the Rotation Pivot, so all rotations I am keying will be performed around the same Rotation Axes when played, even if I had different Rotation Axes defined at the time of Keying. A Python API solution would be ideal.

Thanks in advance!

Kind regards,

- Florian Bruch

Re: Animate Rotation Pivot Point

michael_nikelsky — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 09:22:53 GMT

There is no direct way to animate the attribute in VRED at the moment. With Python you should be able to animate it using the vrdTransformNode functions.

However, I wonder what exactly you are trying to animate since in many cases I would probably recommend to add some additional group nodes in your hierarchy, set the pivots for them and then just animate them. Or, for some more complex dependencies, using constraints might be a solution as well.

Betreff: Animate Rotation Pivot Point

fbruchD4CS2 — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 10:18:07 GMT

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the quick response! How do I animate anything using the vrdTransformNode? Is there a way to actually create key frames of the vrdTransformNode properties or are you saying I could implement my own animation system by storing the vrdTransformNode properties in a frame -> property dictionary and "play the animation" by resetting the saved properties frame by frame, e.g. with a vrTimer?

What I am trying to animate is a vehicle driving in a city environment and turning left and right with continuous steering wheel rotation, which continuously changes the position of the vehicle's pivot point. I attached an image that hopefully explains what I mean, regarding how the vehicle's turning pivot point changes in relation to the rotation angle of the front axis.

Let me know if you think this could be achieved by either grouping nodes differently in the hierarchy or using constraints!

Kind regards,

Florian

Re: Animate Rotation Pivot Point

Christian_Garimberti — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 07:35:06 GMT

Hi, maybe you can use transform variants, disabling the transform, rotation and scaling values.

Setting up many variants for each rotation, then creating a variantset with each transform variant, and putting the variansets in your clip...

If don't have to gradually move the pivot, should be ok.

The best way to do that should be a "path constraint", a constraint on a spline, but there is no that constraint in Vred.

Maybe you can set up the animation of a path constraint in 3dS max or another software, using a dummy geometry, export the animation in fbx, and then constraint your car to that dummy.

Maybe in the future also a path constraint will be possible in Vred.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/vred-ideas/path-constraint/idi-p/11540319

Best

Chris

Re: Animate Rotation Pivot Point

fbruchD4CS2 — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 09:28:43 GMT

Thanks Chris!

I did figure out a solution that works for me for now using a custom class that stores all translation, rotation and pivot properties I need and then plays them back "frame by frame" using a vrTimer. That way I can freely drive the vehicle around in my scene and record it live and play the recording later without the need for other software or a bunch of VSETs in my scene.

I like your idea about the path constraint, I gave it a vote. Thanks for your help!

- Florian