How to Animate...plus Parenting Objects

Hello

The following simple animation takes advantage of a previous thread on making objects emit light. (though it's not necessary in terms of learning to animate)

In animating, it is important to realize that Blender uses KeyFrames. We set objects where we want them and then "lock" those positions with KeyFrames. The Blender software will cleanly do all the tweening to get the in-between frames.

When setting KeyFrames, there are various properties that can be tweened. You'll want to select the minimum number that you need. You can set (among other things) the object's Location, Rotation, and Scale.

In the animation below, I merely set the location of the objects in the scene and then (at frame 1) Set a KeyFrame for the pyramid. At frame 61, I took the same object and put -360° rotation on the Z axis, and set another KeyFrame.

Why frame 61? I wanted a 60 frame anim that looped smoothly. I could either calculate the exact spin (354° for frame 60) OR, I can set the full spin for one frame more than the animation and then it always works smoothly. (ie. letting Blender do the math)

Now, what about those spheres? Well, I of course didn't want to have to animate those separately (though that's not difficult), but since they are following the spinning pyramid, I clicked on each (with shift, in order to select all three) and then (while still holding shift) selected the pyramid. The pyramid, being the last selected, is the active object. Pressing Ctrl-P sets the three spheres to be children of the pyramid. Whatever I do to the pyramid, also happens to the three spheres. Simply connecting the spheres to the pyramid in this way, makes the spheres rotate around the same center that the pyramid rotates about.

The last step, since I want this to rotate uniformly... ie. NOT ease into and out of the animation, which is the default... is to go to the Graph editor after having the KeyFrames set and just choosing Linear Interpolation.

After this, I merely animated the frames and made a quick animated GIF out of them.

This really only took moments. The rendering the frames for the animation took longer than the scene set-up and it still was pretty fast.

Enjoy... hope this gives some ideas for the future and also that it helps in understanding the basics of animating in Blender.


James

http://www.jamesalexander.de/AnimExample.gif

Here is the scene from a different vantage point...

http://www.jamesalexander.de/AnimStill.png

James

And one without Parenting...

http://www.jamesalexander.de/AnimExample2.gif

James

Hi James.

All that looks brilliant.

I believe that Blender is freeware so a quick guide on how to do this (after all you said it's easy to do) would be good.
I've never used Blender, so wouldn't know where to start.

So, how about starting a thread with some easy Blender tutorials‽

Hello Rik,

Thank you very much for the glowing comments!

I'd be happy to go through the steps that I used to create either of the animations.

Here is the Blendfile for the Pyramid.

Peace

James

That's very kind of you James.
I have installed Blender 2.59 and opened your file.

Just one problem.

I haven't got a clue what I am really looking at or what to do‽

How do you start?
How do you draw something?
What do you do to make anything 3D and animated?
etc...!

Sorry to sound as if I don't know what I'm doing.
It's just that I don't know what I'm doing!

Hello Rik,

The first step (generally) is to get some kind of idea....a first cause.

Once you decide what you want to do, then you can either bring in primitive shapes (under Add, Mesh) or you can model from scratch. If it doesn't start from primitives, then you're going to have to basically build it almost as a draftsman would draft it. (ie. piece by piece)

Starting out, I would probably bring in a primitive and then go into Edit mode and learn through "malforming" the primitive shape. When editing, you're either editing Vertices, Edges, or Faces. Right Mouse Button is the selector in Blender. Seems counter-intuitive, but is easy to get used to (after a few days). You can change it to Left Mouse Button select, but I would recommend against it. It won't help you in the long run...only seems more "comfortable" in the short run.

There is also the possibility of using Xara's SVG export option in order to bring shapes right into Blender. (color and all) If you're going to extrude and edit the shape, then you'll need to convert it to a mesh. If you're just placing the flat shape into the scene, then you can work with while it's a curve.

To give objects their look, you will need to create Materials for your objects. The Diffuse setting is the basic color of the object. Many of the other settings are easy to understand...some are obscure and require experimentation. (or referencing some of the documentation and tutorials that are available)

When I first started with Blender, it was (of course) intimidating. It felt like I could create anything (with the software), but didn't have clue one about taking the first step. I chose to go and start reading through the online documentation, forcing myself to constantly go in and TRY whatever it was I was attempting to learn.

Perhaps, if you think of something that you'd like to try to make, you can describe it in whatever detail is necessary and then I can tell you how I would go about trying this, including the main elements of each step.

If you start to learn and then start trying to make little projects, then you force yourself to get to the bottom of things. On one of the main Blender Forums, the comment was made that one of the very most important things for Blender learners and users in general, is to FINISH projects.

It's not been that long since Frances started working with Blender and she's already made several leaps in both making things, but also in getting an understanding of how to do important tasks. As the projects that she envisions become more complex, then she will have to "grow" in order to bring them about. I think that is a very good approach. Working on your own ideas for projects makes one feel inspired and (often) provides the energy to get through the sticking points.

I think Frances would also say that she was quite intimidated at first about the interface. I think that's a normal reaction. If you're not used to doing things in 3D at all, then there is a perceptual paradigm shift that has to happen and a familiarity with Blender's controls. As I've mentioned previously, it is such a large, option-filled program that "divide and conquer" was the only way that I felt comfortable approaching it. I would say to myself...okay, I want to understand (say, parenting) and then I would go and force a project that centered on Parenting of objects. Often, I would have to go read a reference or watch a tutorial to really understand what needed to happen, but the desire to make something (mine) kept me inspired to keep trying, even when I created the 3D equivalent of a discolored dung heap.

One of the early projects that I did was to try and make a large wooden "table" with a hole in the middle. Around the outside were 4 "builidings" from which mirrored spheres would run along tracks. I realize now that it was an ambitious project for a very early user of Blender, but forcing myself to finish made me learn quite a few important things. If I'd given up, I would have only learned the (seeming) ease behind saying "oh, screw it." Though now, that same image looks amateurish, it still is a pretty good representation of what I had imagined to make, so on that level it is a happy maker.

Again, I would start small and use little mini-projects as the catalyst for learning the ins and outs.

France might have a good tip or two about what worked for her to feel somewhat familiar with the interface and feel like just going for it.

I'm still of the opinion that it is better (for growth) to try an image that perhaps fails than it is to try no image at all.

Rik, since you do very good work with Xara, that's where I would start if I were you. Make things that you can image in a scene, but make them using your Xara skills and then import them. Once you have them into Blender, then you can start to worry about placement and lighting and various other things, without going nuts trying to figure out the modeler right from the start. (which does take some time)

If you can imagine something that you're interested in trying to make, then again, I am happy to try and help you realize it. Through seeing what is involved and the steps, you can learn a lot about Blender and also see if 3D is something you'd like to explore. ie. you have the patience for it and feel inspired

Frances has already impressed me several times with how quickly and naturally she is taking to the concepts. No slight against Frances, but I didn't expect it would start quite so smoothly, so I can say with confidence that she has a natural aptitude at it, which is not to discount the amount of work and study that I know that she is having to make behind the scenes.

I really don't have THAT much experience with the program either. I mean, time-wise it really hasn't been that long since the initial download. (Blender 2.49 was the current version when I first downloaded it. Now, we're up to 2.59 at last check... so really not that long.)

I do think that people that show a natural aptitude in artistic concepts and in using Xara software have a predisposition towards being able to learn Blender. (overlap of skills)

If you really want to learn, I'm honored to help if I can. I do think you'll have great fun. There's something about that feeling that really ANYTHING is possible with Xara and Blender together. One of the great elements, is that Blender is free. It doesn't cost anything to try it out and work with it as long as you'd like.

Peace

James

Wow such glowing comments! Thank you James, you are right that I did feel intimidated at first, but a couple of things have kept me from saying "Oh screw it" One is my very supportive husband, the artistic stuff I do is not really his thing, he does do ad layout and some design stuff with Xara, but views that mostly as work, not fun. He has always loved my artwork though and while he may be a bit biased, always encourages me in any project I undertake. Another thing that has helped and encouraged me is being able to get help and feedback here from you and others. The 3D discoloured dung heap would be a good description of my first experiment last night with the sculpting brushes ;)) But I did learn from my pile O' poop lol and applied what I learned to a real piece which became the depression glass.

@ Rik, I think it's cool that you have decided to give Blender a go. Like James said, start small play around and ask here for help. One thing I found really helpful was to watch the Getting started video tutorials by Jonathon Williamson. I have found Jonathon's videos very good because (at least the ones aimed at beginners) he takes the time to do things slower and his explanations are clear and easy to understand. I often have a video window and a Blender window running at the same time and go back and forth between the video and my blender project. I also like to experiment with stuff and sometimes a project started with one thing in mind will lead me in another direction, for example the depression glass piece I did started out to be a clay pot!
I started playing around with spheres, then moved on to modeling simple objects. I did find Blender's right click to select a little weird at first, but now I have actually on more than one occasion right clicked something in Xara in an attempt to select it!