Animation Parenting 1Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved. Images and...

Animation

Parenting

1Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission.

Introduction to Parenting

Parenting is a powerful tool for animators. Imagine placing a 3D model of a football inside a 3D model of a wagon. If you moved the wagon, the football would stay in place. The solution to this problem would be to parent the football to the wagon. Once parented, the football would stay in the wagon when the wagon was moved.

Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission.

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Football in a Wagon Without Parenting


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Parenting Definition

Parenting is an animation term that means when the parent object moves, the child follows. Imagine a family with school aged children. If the parents were to move to a new house, the children would follow.


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Dog Leash Analogy

Parenting is like a dog on a leash. The dog is parented to the owner. If the owner moves, the dog will follow. The dog (or child object) still has the freedom to move on its own.


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Cameras and Lights Can Be Parented

Parenting can also be used with cameras and lights. A camera parented to an object would follow as the object moved.


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Parenting Arms

When the forearm of this robot rotates (parent), the hand (child) will follow.


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Articulated

Articulated objects consist of segments held together by joints. A train is articulated because of the separate cars. A leg is articulated because it includes the femur, the shin, the foot, and five toes.


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Hierarchy

The hierarchy is the order of the parts in the parent-child chain. (Back>Right Shoulder>Right Upper Arm>Right Lower Arm>Right Hand). A rigid body character is composed of many different separate objects. A soft body character uses digital bones that distort the mesh. In either instance, the sections or digital bones must have the hierarchy set.


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KinematicsKinesiology – The study of the anatomy, physiology, and mechanics of body movement, especially in humans.Kinematics – The manner in which separate parts of a hierarchy rotate to create movement.Forward Kinematics (FK) – FK is the typical movement where the children follow the parent. FK of a leg would require the animator to rotate the thigh, then the shin, then the foot.Inverse Kinematics (IK) – IK is a setting that allows the children to move first and the parents to follow. A typical IK set up is often used with each leg where you can move the foot and the shin, and thigh will rotate into the proper position. IK is necessary when a character walks to keep the feet from sliding out of position.


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Null Definition

Parenting can also be used with a null. A null object is not seen when the animation is rendered. Several objects can be parented to a null so the entire group can be moved simply by moving the null.


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Null as Light Rig Master

If you had a light rig of three lights and wanted to move all three at the same time, you could create a null, and parent the lights to the null.


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Null

Three lights parented to the null

Null as Camera Rotator

By placing a null in front of a camera and parenting the camera to it, you can create a smooth circular path by rotating the null.


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Rotating the null moves the camera in a circular path

Null

Animation Parenting 1Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved. Images and...

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