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miag38742432
Participant
December 1, 2021
Answered

PLEASE HELP - Element 3D - Video Copilot - Anchor Points

  • December 1, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1867 views

Alright, I'll do my best to try and describe my issue... I have a 3D object (made of 3 seperate .obj files), and each one needs to be animated seperatly using Element 3D. It is a massage gun (see 1st screenshot below), and the 3 pieces are :
1. The gun itself (doesn't need to move)
2. The arm of the gun (should rotate to 3 different angles)

3. The attachment (ball) at the end of the arm (should ''pulse'', AKA rapidly move back and forth to massage)

Whenever the arm of the gun rotates to a different angle, the attachment (ball) should rotate from the same anchor point BUT for the life of me, I can't figure out how to do that. The anchor points always seem super random, and even when they're put in the center of the gun, they make the arm and ball move on completely different axis. 

 

What I've tried so far :

1. Put the 3 obj's in the same group, each with it's own ''Aux Channel''. Animate each ''aux channel'' individually. = Can't get the anchor points of the arm and ball to match.

2. Put the Arm & Ball in 1 group (aux channel 1 & 2), and the gun in a 2nd group. Create a null for the 1st group and animate the null directly on the timeline. Yes, both the arm and ball move from the same achor point now, BUT even when I think my anchor point is centered, the entire thing rotates from a weird angle, and again, I just can't get it right. 

3. Have element 3D applied to 2 different solids : first one with the arm and ball, second one with everything else, and animate using ''world transformation''. = now I can't get one to be ''inside'' the other, it's always appearing either ''behind'' of ''in front of''. 

Am I missing something here? I'm fairly new to element 3D, so please let me know if I need to include more details in order to receive any help! I can also send the .ae project.

Please help me, I'm desperate 😞

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer miag38742432

Thanks for your response Mylenium!

My anchor points were all correct in the E3D editor, but I ended up finding the problem! Just posting here in case anyone else has the same kind of issue.

I put the Arm & Ball in 1 group, but instead of assigning each one to a different aux channel (aux channel 1 & 2), I assigned the entire group to a single channel, and then the ball to another channel, leaving the arm without a channel. Hope that makes sense to anyone reading this, but if not, feel free to comment here for more details! 

1 reply

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
December 2, 2021

Well, have you actually checked the anchor points in your 3D program? In the E3D editor? What does the hierarchy actually look like? You need to be more specifc/ provide more useful screenshots. That said, chances are you just need more Nulls to get correct rotation order, but again, impossible to say based on so little actual info.

 

Mylenium

M
miag38742432AuthorCorrect answer
Participant
December 2, 2021

Thanks for your response Mylenium!

My anchor points were all correct in the E3D editor, but I ended up finding the problem! Just posting here in case anyone else has the same kind of issue.

I put the Arm & Ball in 1 group, but instead of assigning each one to a different aux channel (aux channel 1 & 2), I assigned the entire group to a single channel, and then the ball to another channel, leaving the arm without a channel. Hope that makes sense to anyone reading this, but if not, feel free to comment here for more details! 

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