Am wondering if it is possible to successfully transform animated geometry after it has been animated. If I have set up the animation of a mechanism in one file. I would like to copy, paste, orient, scale, etc. in any other file where I need. However, though I select all of the model including any proxies, paths, etc., the model does not survive the transformation well.
I can move and scale non animated content around the animated model. But this really starts to get confusing when you start to add lighting, do perspective matching, etc. Would rather animate in a simple orthographic orientation that aligns with axis and then transform as needed.
It is hard to figure out what your problem is. In which way is the copy/past transformation not successful? What is confusing when add lighting is added or perspective matched? What prevents you to ‘animate in a simple orthographic orientation"?
Can you show some screenshots or even better upload your model(s). When it is confidential you can send it via rhino3d.com/upload on behalf of luc@mcneel.com.
Not successful means if you transform the model the constraints blow up. So the model pulls apart. In other words simply transforming the model after animation (Scale, rotate, move) is not updated in Bongo data unless you have a fully associated parent child structure. I think loose IK associations like constraints and models that are only partly animated (leaving components outside of the parent, child structure) are the problem.You can insert a proxy object at the beginning of your animation and use that to scale, move, rotate the model after you have animated it. But you have to make sure the entire model has a fully defined parent, child structure in order to propogate transformations properly. This makes using animations in various contexts very clumsy and difficult. Especially for complex mechanisms. I will compose a simple example and post later.
It seems I’ve missed your last reply in this discussion. I don’t quite understand your exposition. Probably it’s good to synchronize our terminology.
A ‘model’ = a 3D something that is modeled (shaped, molded, formed, sculpted), in particular by a appropriate software application such as Rhino3D. In extension a Rhino file containing one or more of such models is often called ‘a model’
An ‘object’ = every possible element in a Rhino model : point, line, surface, extrusion, polysurface, block.
A ‘hierarchical structure’ (or short ‘hierarchy’) = a topdown structure of parent/child links. Often referred to as ‘a chain’ (or ‘a tree’ in case the chain is forked).
An ‘IK-chain’ = an hierarchical structure (chain) in which one or more object are assigned some kind of joint qualities and a IK-constraint. An IK-constraint marks the objective which the IK engine tries to meet.
A ‘Simple constraint’ = a direct way to animate an object in relation to another. Simple constraints force objects to assign themselves to other objects. They either follow a path (whether or not tangently), face the pivot of an object (LookAt) or simple stick to it (Object to Pivot). A Simple Constraint is not at all similar to a IK-constraint. The relation between a simple constrained object and is target is NOT considered to be ‘a chain’. The video http://bongo.rhino3d.com/video/simple-constraint-versus-ik-in-bongo-2-0-a-clarification deals with the difference.
The BongoCopyChain command indeed only copies the IK-chain. It does NOT include a copy of the target of the IK-constraint. It might be considered to be taken up such a feature (optional) in Bongo 3.0
The copy of a Simple constrained object is focused to the target of its original, even when the target is copy-pasted along.
And yes please send some example models to illustrate the experience of clumsiness.