Hi-
Here's a quick guide to path animations.
1. To make this easy - Set your time line to how many frames you want for your animation. For simplicity - Let's say 90 frames. Make sure you're on frame one as you do all this.
2. Put your cat in the scene.
3. Click on the Animation tab at the top and choose "Path".
4. Click "Create Path" in the Modify Panel and draw out your path.
5 Right-Click on your cat and choose"Path">"Pick Path" then left mouse click on the beginning of your path. Your cat should snap to it.
6. In the Modify panel click on the check box "Follow Path" - your cat should turn itself around in line with the path.
7. In the Time Line move the marker to the last frame of your animation (frame 90)
8. In the Modify panel under Path you will see "Path Position" enter 100.0 in this box. This means that when you reach frame 90 of your animation the cat should have traveled 100% of the path.
Ok - I had to do some experimenting to figure this part out
Just so you can get an idea of how it looks -
For a nice 'fast walk' - set your time line to 300 frames and make your path about 3.5 grids long (with grid spacing at 100) Remember to go to Path Position and enter 100.0 for frame 300. Then go to frame 1 and Right-Click on your cat - perform "Walk Fast" and then in the perform section of the time line - under 'command' - copy and paste the 'Walk Fast' over and over until you reach the end of your time line. You should have 7 iterations of the "Walk Fast" animation on your time line.
Here's a little video capture, if you watch it in HD you'll see the animation iterations in the perform time line:
http://vimeo.com/18184384Hope this helped.
Cathy
Just click on the graphic to go there.
Edited
14 Years Ago by
Anim8torCathy