3DS MAX Animation Question: Rotation and Hierarchies

[FalTorPan]

I'm working on an animation with 3D Studio MAX, and I'm having difficulty with rotating an object about one of its local axes when the object is part of a hierarchy. Here's the setup:

Object Thing01 is part of (neither the root nor a leaf) of a hierarchy of objects.

Object Thing01's rotation controller is Euler.

By being part of a hierarchy, Object Thing01's inherited orientation is different than the World coordinate axes.

At some point in time, say t = 1.0 sec, I set a keyframe and rotate Object Thing01 about its local Z axis.

When I scrub the timeline from t = 0.0 sec to t = 1.0 sec, Object Thing01 and its descendants in the hierarchy don't rotate about Object Thing01's Z axis. Instead the objects rotate very strangely -- although they are in the proper orientation as of t = 0.0 sec and t = 1.0 sec.

What am I doing incorrectly? Thanks in advance for any replies.

(For the record, I'm a legit 3DS MAX user, and I have manuals and third-party books out the kazoo, but I've had a heck of a time figuring this out. Obviously animating hierarchies isn't one of my areas of expertise.)

 

[NBTrekie]

Hm. Maybe you should realign your pivots. But that's just a guess, it would be helpfull to see your model, or at least the part you are rotating.

 

[FalTorPan]

The problem was "gimbal lock," since I'm using an Euler controller. I rotated the object's pivot point and instead rotated it about its local X axis, and all is again right with the world.

Thanks! I'll post a link to the animation once it's finished.

 

[22 Stars]

Look forward to seein the animation! BTW, I think it's ..out the "Wazoo"...

 

[Magic04]

^

Now I have a mental image of books flying out of the Flinstones martian's arse!

 

[FalTorPan]

22 Stars said:
Look forward to seein the animation! BTW, I think it's ..out the "Wazoo"...

I think my parents used the term "kazoo" instead of "wazoo" in the same way that some people use the term "dang" instead of "damn."

I should have the animation ready to post within a few days.

 

[FalTorPan]

Here's the animation...

I finished assembling Astronuts shots 100 and 104. Here's an excerpt from Act Two, showing the shots in context. Note that this excerpt is a temporary edit, the audio is unprocessed (and compressed), and no sound effects or music have been added.

http://www.shoestringscifi.com/temp/astronuts_temp_shots099-105.avi
(AVI file, approximately 8 MB)

Shot 100 is the first space shot, and shot 104 is the second space shot.

As always, you can view an illustrated "checklist" of completed shots on this page.

 

[22 Stars]

Nicely done! I really have to start doing some 3D animation, great job!

 

[FalTorPan]

Thanks! The arm animation -- in particular, unfolding it from the ship's payload bay -- was what drove me to post in this thread.