I have a chainsaw, with 34 subprops (rotating blades) to simulate a rotating chain.



I animated them in the timeline x-rotate frame 1:0 to frame 1800: 9000...






Is it possible to give my main-prop this animation in one perform??
Found no way, exept for giving each blade a perform, but that's silly


Toystorylab on Vimeo :     Crassitudes (my "Alter Ego") on Youtube: 

I haven't tried this but my fist inclination is to pick one tooth and attach all the others to it. Then attach that tooth to a small 3d prop (ie: ball)).
At that point you can merely animate the ball along the length of the blade. The teeth should follow the ball around.

As I say, I haven't tried it on a saw but I think the theory is sound. hope that helps you get to a solution.

pete

Prop looks great. You did a great job animating so far, but I can see why you want to make it easier. 


http://www.youtube.com/user/peterblood50?feature=mhee

Have you considered "bonning" the teeth in Blender or such? I would go for that approach.
I understand this would be a little more work and would scrap your current, nicely done animation,
but it'll give you a solid prop with a freedom of bones movement/rotation for teeth and a single, extendable perform action.

Try adding the perform animation to each sub-prop before attaching the sub-prop to the saw. After testing that each sub-prop perform works correctly, then attach the sub-prop to the saw. I think the performs are cumulative that way, so that they will all end up in the Perform menu of the parent object.

@Peter Blood
@4u2ges
@Rampa
Thanx for suggestions

As i am quite happy with the existing animation, and the animation is done by rotating discs,
the idea of Peter Blood is not really an option...
Thanx anyway!
And the idea of 4u2ges is kinda "work" and i still didn't start with "Blender for dummies", so that's no option for me
Thanx anyway!
I tried Rampas suggestion and yes, after doing that, all performs show up in my main prop,
but the rotation has "hickups" that way AND there is no way to put them all together in one perform.
Thanx anyway!

For now i have a prop with the rotation of the discs saved, so it's easier to adjust those in the timeline than loading 34 performs.
And the perform does not really work well, stuttering...



It would have been cool to have it in one click with adjustable speed, but selecting all transform-keys of the discs and move them in the timeline is no big deal,
i can copy them and put two with the same value next to another to stop the saw, adjust speed by putting them tighter or further...
So the woodwork or the Chainsaw Massacre can get started



Toystorylab on Vimeo :     Crassitudes (my "Alter Ego") on Youtube: