Cineversity

Hey guys, I know there is a probably a simple solution for my question but I haven’t found it yet. I know how to center an object axis to itself however, is it possible to center an object axis to another object’s axis?

I have (object A) with it’s axis centered. I want to position (object B) where I need it and then center only it’s axis to (object A), without moving (object B). I’m sure it’s not difficult but I haven’t found anything out there that has pointed me in the right direction. Thanks!

Hi TobyC84,

The ‘axis center” doesn’t provide an option for two independent objects, AFAIK.

My suggestion is to use Snapping set to “Axis Snap” only while active and drag the axis in question to the other one. Holding down the “L” key or going into “Axis modification Mode” and then snap the axis.

This works only with Polygon objects or created splines, in other words no Primitives nor generated object will work that way.

A more or less useful way (please test this carefully!) is given in the following
Place the object with the main axis above the one or other objects (object manager “OM” position), then select all and use the OM>Objects>Connect and Delete function.
Then select the Object if not active already, and use the Mesh>Conversion>PolygonGroups to Objects (again this need to be tested and works only for objects that are not already have been a group already).

Another way would be to call up a Create>Object>Empty Polygon, place that as cild under the main object. Use the Character.Commands>“Reset PSR” while the Empty Polygon is active. Move the Empty Polygon away from the main, and place the other object as child under it, use the Connect and delete again. (This might transfer the scale!) BTW, I use this option to get a scale 1,1,1 back to an object that other wise behave not in the way I want, based on an previous scale, just as a quick workaround, of course without the initial “Reset PSR” step.

All the best

Sassi

Thanks for the quick response! I tried the snap method however, I have multiple objects so its kind of tough but I’ll give your other suggestions a try. Thanks again!

Hi TobyC84,

I wish the “Transfer” Tool would allow for that. I have not seen a plug-in nor a Python script for that, but I think someone savvy in Python might have an idea, which would make sense for many objects.

http://www.maxon.net/support/suggestions.html  ...just saying ;o)

Perhaps it is easier to use Null objects as parents with the Axis position. AS I do not know your complete problem, I can’t tell anything more. (Axis changes shouldn’t be done after any animations, just to have mentioned it)

All the best

Sassi

Dr. Sassi,

I appreciate your responses! I am trying to take several parts of a car tire and animate them in After Effects using Element3D. I bought the model that I’m working with. My initial thought was as you suggested in your last post, create parent/child relationships. However, trying to build a car rig using multi-object properties in Element3D nullifies any parent/child relationship (that was expected but I tried it anyway) and causes the individual objects to rotate according to their individual axis centers. However, I figured if I could get all of the axes in the exact same position it would solve this issue. I may just have to put some extra time in and use the snap, then duplicate that tire and reposition in the other tire positions on the car. Thanks for your time! If I find a solution I’ll be sure to post it and I’ll go suggest that. Thanks again!

Toby C.

Thanks for the feedback, Toby C.

First of all, I do not have access to Element3D, but I checked a while ago a longer tutorial about. (I found [BTW] a good example of why a depth path shouldn’t be Anti Aliased in it, which I teach since a decade, but now it is even more important than ever :o)

Having admit my limited access about it, I can’t test things here, which I would like—to give a better answer. So I have to guess. Is the Polygon selection, and with that the “Material Selection” done in C4D, working in this plug in?

If so, why not go ahead and merge the many parts of the wheel to a single object? This would simplify the work anyway. Perhaps a merge and bake to a single texture will help to degrease the render time as a nice side effect (If you optimize the final object—which means, delete invisible polygons, merge points etc).

In that way you would have only one object to prepare (I assume all four wheels are the same (You mentioned duplicate)}. If you load in more objects into Ae which have to move in sync, you have to connect the animation for each single part, if I got you correctly, parenting is not an option. I’m not certain what makes work, to prepare the object one time and optimize it even, or, to just load it in after only centering the axis and do anything later on.  Again, I’m not familiar with this product in detail. A clean and simple to load model will save time as well as for future projects. Just my two cents.

All the best
Sassi

Dr. Sassi,

After testing this further, connect and delete worked brilliantly! It even preserved individual textures when taking it into Element 3D! In regard to Polygon Selection and Material Selection, you can’t select individual polygons in Element 3D. Polygon groups are based on materials. If you have a material or several materials for an object then when you import that into E3D, you will have the ability to put that materials back in exactly how you modeled it. It also recognizes UV maps so if you have unwrapped your texture then you can use those as well. It’s actually quite flexible.

Correct, parent/child relationships going from C4D to E3D are not recognized, at least not that I’ve experienced with this. Also, it appears that it doesn’t matter where your object axis is. The object will always rotate around the object center, regardless of axis positioning, I just learned that myself. I’ve got quite a bit of experience with E3D but I’ve never animated something quite like this. I only recently switched from 3DS Max to C4D and even still, I don’t get to work in 3D programs very often so my experience is limited. Thanks again for your help!

Toby C.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, Toby C.

I hope that will support many other peoples workflow.

So it takes the center point of the object. I think this might cause problems if you like to have it in a different way. So I like to suggest to have a “Virtual Boundary Box” around the object, to set this point always where you like to have it, for all not centered elements. A ring of points should help here, which can be done with a sphere or a cube, by deleting only the polygons and leave the few points untouched. Deleting active polygons never delete the points, hence the Optimize>[Remove] “Unused Points” option, if called up from the menu with the cogwheel.

I hope that comes in handy one day, if that works in E3D, please let me know then.

Have a great day

Sassi

example—points
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share?s=4QF1oKkoSIAoG6PLkKDnz8