AnimateCenter

The Duplicate->AnimateCenter command in the Motion module allows you to animate the centre of a destination object according to the location and animation applied to a source object's centre. This is useful for orbiting one object around another, such as a planet around the sun.

Any transformation already applied to the destination object is interpreted relative to the source object's centre.

The Duplicate->CopyCenter command in the Model module copies the location of a source object's centre to the location of a destination model's centre.

Procedure

1. Create two models: a source and a destination model. One or both of the models must be animated.
2. Choose the Duplicate->AnimateCenter command in the Motion module.
3. Select the source model, then the destination model.
   
   The effect icon appears.
   
   The destination model is now animated according to the centre of the source object, yet the destination's centre is still drawn in its original location.
   
4. Play back the animation to view the result.

Note:

The AnimateCenter effect applies to nodes, not hierarchies. For example, if the top node of a hierarchy is the destination object for AnimateCenter, none of its children are modified by the effect.

Last updated 02-apr-1998