Cinema 4D Lite Reference: Changing Pivot Points and Anchor Points

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What is the “Axis”? The most important part of any 3D object.

The “Axis” inside C4D Lite, is the equivalent of the “Anchor point” in After Effects. As far as any object goes, it’s the most important component of the object, as all measurements are made in relation to the Axis. How do we adjust the Axis, any why, are important topics that impact everything, from modelling, texturing and animating.

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- When referring to the axes inside Cinema 4D Lite, we are talking about the equivalent of the anchor point in After Effects. As far as any object goes, it's the most important component of the object, as all measurements are made in relation to the axis. The axes I'm referring to is the same axis gizmo we use to move, scale, and rotate objects. But there's a special mode that allows us to move the axis independently from the object. If you go here and turn on the Enable Axis Modification, what will happen is that we can move the axes independently of the object itself. Now, if I turn it off and use the Rotation Tool, for example, you will see that now we are rotating from that point, and the same applies for scaling. Now, we're scaling from the axis itself. The reason we would do that is to set the center of manipulation to a logical point in space that makes sense in respect to the object. Take for example, our astronaut. The one on the left is going to be floating in space, so it makes more sense to have the axis close to his center of gravity. So somewhere here, in the middle. The guy on the right is on Earth, so it should be right at the bottom where his feet are. If I select it, you will see that it's right in the center. So let me show you a couple of ways you can do that. First of all, I'm going to select this guy here. I'm going to select the axis again, and make sure that with my Move Tool I move it somewhere in the center. Because we're in the 3D view, we don't know how far away from the astronaut this is in depth. So we can go to one of our orthographic views and move it to the position we want easier. But there's an automatic way to do this. Turn off the Axis Manipulation, and go with the object selected to the mesh, Axis Center, Axis Center Tool. This will give you some options, and basically it says, "Action, move the axis to the center of all points." That pertains to the points of the geometry. So if we go to this view here, imagine a square that covers all the geometry. That will be taken into account with these percentage values. In its default state, if you press Execute, you will see the axis is going to go right in the middle of our geometry. So I will select the standing astronaut, bring it here so we see what we're doing, and I want the axis to be placed at the lowest possible Y-point. So go to the Y, drag this to minus 100%, and press Execute. You can close this now. So in this case, we have these two astronauts. This one, because the axis is right at the bottom, if I place him to the Y-0, he will be standing on the floor and any rotations we do are going to be from that point. Undo. Or any scaling we're going to do are from that point. Whereas, the astronaut on the left, because he's in space he can float around from his center of gravity. With this scene, I'm going to present you with a very common problem. In this helmet, the guard has its axis placed over here. For some reason, the person that modeled this put the axis there. He thought it would be a good idea. But if I rotate it from this axis, if this is what you want the guard to do that's okay. But then, I realized that, you know something? I want the guard to open upwards, just like a helmet visor. Let me go to my side view, and what I'm going to do is go to my Move Tool, select the Axis Modification Mode, and move this somewhere to the center. I think it should be here. I have to tell you, it's the wrong position, but I'm going to do this on purpose. Turn this off, and now let's rotate it and see what happens. You can see that although it kind of rotates the right way, it actually goes inside the geometry. Let me undo. How can I eyeball the center? Well, there are a few tricks you can do, and I'm going to make a circle in this view. I'm going to select the circle, go to the object, and click and drag on the arrows to make it smaller until I see it in my viewport. Smaller, smaller, smaller, there you go. I'm going to make this circle approximately the size of my helmet, and then move the circle so that the circumference hugs the shape of my helmet and begins where the visor is. Now, in theory, if I place the axis of the guard approximately where this is, our rotation is going to be much better. So I'm going to place it up somewhere around there. So what we need to do is go to the guard, select the Axis Modification Tool, and move it approximately where the center of the circle is. Turn this off, and now if I rotate my guard, you will see it rotates nicely. Let me undo and go and see it in my 3D view. There you go. Fantastic. As far as the axis modification goes, there's only one exception, the primitives. Because the primitives are calculated based on parameters, these calculations always take place in relation to the axis. Which means that for any primitive, if I select the Axis Manipulation and move it around, the axis does not move independently of the geometry. Because the geometry is created in real-time, dynamically, based on the position of the axis. In the next video, when we talk about hierarchies, I will show you a way around this. Now, you know what the axis of the object is. You know how to use the Axis Modification Mode and the Axis Center Tool to set it to a logical position. A lot of what we covered in this video will make even more sense when used with hierarchies. Just stick around and you'll find out.
- When referring to the axes inside Cinema 4D Lite, we are talking about the equivalent of the anchor point in After Effects. As far as any object goes, it's the most important component of the object, as all measurements are made in relation to the axis. The axes I'm referring to is the same axis gizmo we use to move, scale, and rotate objects. But there's a special mode that allows us to move the axis independently from the object. If you go here and turn on the Enable Axis Modification, what will happen is that we can move the axes independently of the object itself. Now, if I turn it off and use the Rotation Tool, for example, you will see that now we are rotating from that point, and the same applies for scaling. Now, we're scaling from the axis itself. The reason we would do that is to set the center of manipulation to a logical point in space that makes sense in respect to the object. Take for example, our astronaut. The one on the left is going to be floating in space, so it makes more sense to have the axis close to his center of gravity. So somewhere here, in the middle. The guy on the right is on Earth, so it should be right at the bottom where his feet are. If I select it, you will see that it's right in the center. So let me show you a couple of ways you can do that. First of all, I'm going to select this guy here. I'm going to select the axis again, and make sure that with my Move Tool I move it somewhere in the center. Because we're in the 3D view, we don't know how far away from the astronaut this is in depth. So we can go to one of our orthographic views and move it to the position we want easier. But there's an automatic way to do this. Turn off the Axis Manipulation, and go with the object selected to the mesh, Axis Center, Axis Center Tool. This will give you some options, and basically it says, "Action, move the axis to the center of all points." That pertains to the points of the geometry. So if we go to this view here, imagine a square that covers all the geometry. That will be taken into account with these percentage values. In its default state, if you press Execute, you will see the axis is going to go right in the middle of our geometry. So I will select the standing astronaut, bring it here so we see what we're doing, and I want the axis to be placed at the lowest possible Y-point. So go to the Y, drag this to minus 100%, and press Execute. You can close this now. So in this case, we have these two astronauts. This one, because the axis is right at the bottom, if I place him to the Y-0, he will be standing on the floor and any rotations we do are going to be from that point. Undo. Or any scaling we're going to do are from that point. Whereas, the astronaut on the left, because he's in space he can float around from his center of gravity. With this scene, I'm going to present you with a very common problem. In this helmet, the guard has its axis placed over here. For some reason, the person that modeled this put the axis there. He thought it would be a good idea. But if I rotate it from this axis, if this is what you want the guard to do that's okay. But then, I realized that, you know something? I want the guard to open upwards, just like a helmet visor. Let me go to my side view, and what I'm going to do is go to my Move Tool, select the Axis Modification Mode, and move this somewhere to the center. I think it should be here. I have to tell you, it's the wrong position, but I'm going to do this on purpose. Turn this off, and now let's rotate it and see what happens. You can see that although it kind of rotates the right way, it actually goes inside the geometry. Let me undo. How can I eyeball the center? Well, there are a few tricks you can do, and I'm going to make a circle in this view. I'm going to select the circle, go to the object, and click and drag on the arrows to make it smaller until I see it in my viewport. Smaller, smaller, smaller, there you go. I'm going to make this circle approximately the size of my helmet, and then move the circle so that the circumference hugs the shape of my helmet and begins where the visor is. Now, in theory, if I place the axis of the guard approximately where this is, our rotation is going to be much better. So I'm going to place it up somewhere around there. So what we need to do is go to the guard, select the Axis Modification Tool, and move it approximately where the center of the circle is. Turn this off, and now if I rotate my guard, you will see it rotates nicely. Let me undo and go and see it in my 3D view. There you go. Fantastic. As far as the axis modification goes, there's only one exception, the primitives. Because the primitives are calculated based on parameters, these calculations always take place in relation to the axis. Which means that for any primitive, if I select the Axis Manipulation and move it around, the axis does not move independently of the geometry. Because the geometry is created in real-time, dynamically, based on the position of the axis. In the next video, when we talk about hierarchies, I will show you a way around this. Now, you know what the axis of the object is. You know how to use the Axis Modification Mode and the Axis Center Tool to set it to a logical position. A lot of what we covered in this video will make even more sense when used with hierarchies. Just stick around and you'll find out.
Cuando se hace referencia a los ejes dentro de CINEMA 4D Lite, estamos hablando deL equivalente del punto de anclaje en After Efects. Por lo que cualquier objeto, es el componente más importante del objeto, ya que todas las mediciones se realizan con respecto al eje. Los ejes me estoy refiriendo es el eje que usamos para mover, escalar y rotar los objetos. Pero hay un modo especial que nos permite mover el eje independientemente del objeto. Si va allí y habilita la modificación de eje, lo que sucederá es que podemos mover los ejes de forma independiente del objeto mismo. Ahora bien, si lo giro fuera y utilizo la herramienta de rotación, por ejemplo, verá que ahora estamos rotando a partir de ese momento, y el mismo se aplica para el escalado. Ahora, estamos escalando desde el eje mismo. La razón por la que haría esto es para establecer el centro de la manipulación a un punto lógico en el espacio que tiene sentido en relación con el objeto. Tomemos, por ejemplo, nuestro astronauta. El único de la izquierda va a flotar en el espacio, por lo que tiene más sentido es tener el eje cerca de su centro de gravedad. Así en algún lugar aquí, en el medio. El tipo de de la derecha está en la tierra, por lo que debe ser la derecha en la parte inferior, donde están sus pies. Si lo selecciono, verá que está justo en el centro. Así que deje que le enseñe un par de maneras como usted puede hacer eso. En primer lugar, estoy yendo para seleccionar este tipo aquí. voy a seleccionar el eje de nuevo, y asegúrese de que con mi herramienta mover lo muevo en alguna parte en el centro. Debido a que estamos en la vista 3D, no sabemos a qué distancia de profundidad del astronauta. Para que podamos ir a una de nuestras vistas ortográficas y mover en la posición que queremos más fácil. Pero hay una forma automática de hacer esto. Giro de la manipulación del Eje, e ir con el objeto seleccionado a la malla, eje central, Herramienta central de eje. Esto le dará algunas opciones, y básicamente dice, "Acción, mover el eje hacia el centro de todos los puntos "que se refiere a los puntos de. la geometría. Así que si vamos a este punto de vista aquí, imagina un cuadrado que cubre toda la geometría. Que se tomará en cuenta con estos valores porcentuales. en su estado por defecto, si se pulsa ejecutar, usted verá el eje se va a ir a la derecha en el medio de nuestra geometría. Así que voy a seleccionar el astronauta de pie, llevarlo aquí, así que a ver lo que estamos haciendo, y yo quiero el eje que se sitúa en el nivel más bajo posible Y-punto. Así que voy a la Y, arrastrar esto a menos del 100%, y pulse Ejecutar. Puede cerrar este ahora. Así que en este caso, tenemos estos dos astronautas. Éste, debido a que el eje se encuentra a la derecha en la parte inferior, si lo coloco a la Y-0, que será de pie en el suelo y las rotaciones que sí van a ser desde ese punto. Deshacer. O cualquier escala que vamos a hacer son de ese punto. Considerando que, el astronauta en la izquierda, porque es en el espacio que pueda flotar alrededor de su centro de gravedad. Con esta escena, voy a presentar un problema muy común. En este casco, la guardia tiene su eje colocado aquí. Por alguna razón, la persona que esta modelado poner el eje allí. Él pensó que sería una buena idea. Pero si puedo rotar desde este eje, si esto es lo que desea que el guardia haga eso estará bien. Pero entonces, me di cuenta sabes algo? Quiero que el guardia se abra hacia arriba, al igual que el visor del casco. Déjame ir a mi vista lateral, y lo que estoy va a hacer es ir a mi herramienta Mover, seleccione el modo de modificación del Eje, y mover este en algún lugar del centro. Creo que debería estar aquí. Tengo que decir, que es la posición incorrecta, pero voy a hacer esto a propósito. Desactivar esta opción, y ahora vamos a girar y ver qué pasa. Usted puede ver que a pesar de girar el lado correcto, que en realidad va dentro de la geometría. Déjame deshacer. ¿Cómo puedo calcular visualmente el centro? Bueno, hay algunos trucos que puede hacer, y voy a hacer un círculo en esta vista. Voy a seleccionar el círculo, ir al objeto, y haga clic y arrastre sobre las flechas para hacerlo más pequeño hasta que lo vea en mi ventana. Más pequeño, más pequeño, más pequeño, voy a hacer este círculo de aproximadamente el tamaño de mi casco, y luego mover el círculo para que la circunferencia abraza a la forma del casco y la visera comienza donde está. Ahora, en teoría, si me coloque el eje de la guarda de aproximadamente donde es esto, nuestra rotación va a ser mucho mejor. Así que voy a colocarlo en algún lugar alrededor allí. Así que lo que tenemos que hacer es ir a la guarda, seleccione la herramienta de modificación del Eje, y moverlo aproximadamente donde es el centro del círculo. Desactivar esta opción, y ahora, si puedo rotar la guarda, verá que gira muy bien. Déjeme deshacer y vaya a ver en mi vista 3D. Hay que ir. Fantástico. En cuanto a la modificación del eje, sólo hay una excepción, las primitivas. Debido a que las primitivas son calculadas con base en los parámetros, estos cálculos se realizan siempre en relación al eje. Lo que significa que para cualquier primitiva, si selecciono el Eje Manipulación y movimiento a su alrededor, el eje no se mueve de forma independiente de la geometría. Debido a que la geometría se crea en tiempo real, de forma dinámica, basado en el posición del eje. En el siguiente video, cuando hablamos de las jerarquías, mostraré una forma de evitar esto. Ahora, usted sabe lo que es eje del objeto. Ya sabe cómo utilizar el modo de modificación del Eje y la herramienta centro de eje para establecerlo en una posición lógica. Mucho de lo que hemos cubierto en este video hará aún más sentido cuando se utiliza con las jerarquías. Acaba de pegar la vuelta y se dará cuenta.
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