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[falloffalot]

I am thinking of animating a runaway mine cart using Anim8or.
The veiw would be from inside the cart with only the tracks and scenery visible.
Is this possible?

Thanks

[thecolclough]

yes!  if you wanted to see some bits of the cart, then there are three ways to do it:

• make the cart a child of the camera, and animate the camera moving around the tracks
• make the camera a child of the cart, and animate the cart moving around the tracks
• or if you want to be really weird, keep the cart and camera static, but attach all the tracks and scenery to a single target, and animate that to make the set move around the camera

(don't take option 3, it'd be way too much work )

and if you don't want to see the cart at all, then it's even simpler:

• animate the camera moving around the tracks - just make sure it stays at a constant height above the track, and doesn't veer off course
• or if you want to be really weird, keep the camera static, but attach all the tracks and scenery to a single target, and animate that to make the set move around the camera

- colclough

[hihosilver]

Yes it's possible, I'd check this out if I were you: http://mongoose.anim8or.org/m2p/index.html

[falloffalot]

Cheers guys.
I can't view the video on that link 
Does anyone know of any other tuts or helpful links to help me out? 
Thanks

[hihosilver]

I can't view the video either, but don't worry about it.  It's not a video tutorial, it's simply a render of a car going over terrain that he used.

[falloffalot]

I have made a small test track with a straight and a bend
to get use to the camera angles and movement.
I can get the camera to move nicely down the track at the right height and speed but,
How do I turn the camera so it keeps facing the track and get it to follow the track round the bends?

Thanks for the help

[boron]

http://www.anim8or.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000484.html    search button is your  friend

[falloffalot]

Thanks for the help,
 I've already checked out that thread, and thick as I may sound, I still don't get it. 
The pic below is my test track. I’m trying to make the little red block move along the yellow track keeping the correct orientation in relation with the track.

Could someone please simplify how I make the path go straight then turn also how to create a chase style camera view?
Thanks guys I really appreciate all the help.

[almost cool]

Well to get the camera to stay oriented at the block would be a nice start , just set the orientation of the camera to "Facing other",then as "other" put figure or object name.then for the instability feel put enable roll.Glad to help!

[ENSONIQ5]

All you need to do is set the cart's orientation at certain key points, or nodes on the track.  Nodes are where the track changes, from straight to curved or vice versa, as shown here:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q11/Boney_Moroney/TrackTest2.jpg

So, effectively, you have to define the orientation of the cart at these points only.  In scene mode, with the green button on, use the rotation tool to pivot the cart until it sits correctly at each frame that coincides with a node point.  The cart will smoothly pivot from one node to the next, or remain straight on the straight bits.  If it goes a little off track at times you may need to pop in a few more key frames.

For a follow cam, place a camera behind the cart and animate its movement to follow the track, the same way you did for the cart itself.  Then, in Camera Properies, just set the Camera Target to the element name of the cart.  That way the camera will always face the cart no matter where they both are in the scene.

Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing the result.

[boron]

What ensonique said.

Or (this is rpobably a rehash of that link I posted)

Make your cart.

G0 to scene mode and make a target 1, move the target around as if it is outlining the track. Turn on spline path so you can see the spline that represents the movement of the cart.
Use shift printscrene to take a pic of your spline.
Go to object mode. Import that pic as a reference pic.
Use the spline tool to make your tracks in the same shape as the reference pic.
Extrude them.
Import the new tracks into scene mode.
Import cart.
Place the tracks  so they are sumperimposed on your spline path.

Make the target 1 the parent of the cart and the camera.
Make another target 2. Make target 1 the parent of this also.

Set both the camera and the cart to face other. Make this other target 2.
The camera and cart will both follow the tracks exactly.

You use the position of target 2 to determine where they point.

please find rough an8 example attached.

move target 2 (called 2 in scene mode) with the green key pressefd on and you will see the orientation of the cart change.

Boron the moron

[falloffalot]

Thanks for all the help guys.   
I have now got a camera that chases the cart down a straight track, but I am still having trouble with the corners. 
I can't seem to add other key points / nodes to change direction.
I know it's going to be something really simple and will no doubt make me look like an idiot. 
All I think I need now is how to go round the corner and I should be able to figure the rest out.
Can you make it so an idiot can understand. Lol 

[falloffalot]

Sorry for the double post but,
I've finally got it. 
All I need now, is how do I now make the cart keep facing the way it's running
When I try to rotate the cart to face the way the track is running it seems to rotate around the centre of the screen and not on its own axis.
Any ideas guys?

[ENSONIQ5]

It has to do with the mine-cart's orientation point not being central to the mine cart itself.  I just posted the way to fix this in your Tutorials thread in animanon.com.  Let me know if it doesn't make sense and I'll do a tutorial or something.

[falloffalot]

That's got it.
That’s exactly what the problem was, thanks for the help.

What are the best settings for rendering the movie so I am able to post it on here?