Animation
Parenting
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
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Introduction to Parenting
Parenting is a powerful tool for animators.
Imagine placing a 3D model of a football inside
a 3D model of a wagon. If you moved the
wagon, the football would stay in place. The
solution to this problem would be to parent the
football to the wagon. Once parented, the
football would stay in the wagon when the
wagon was moved.
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2
Football in a Wagon
Without Parenting
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3
Parenting Definition
Parenting is an animation
term that means when the
parent object moves, the
child follows. Imagine a
family with school aged
children. If the parents
were to move to a new
house, the children would
follow.
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Dog Leash Analogy
Parenting is like a dog
on a leash. The dog is
parented to the owner.
If the owner moves,
the dog will follow. The
dog (or child object)
still has the freedom to
move on its own.
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5
Cameras and Lights Can
Be Parented
Parenting can also be
used with cameras
and lights. A camera
parented to an object
would follow as the
object moved.
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Parenting Arms
When the forearm of this robot rotates (parent),
the hand (child) will follow.
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7
Articulated
Articulated objects consist of segments held
together by joints. A train is articulated because
of the separate cars. A leg is articulated
because it includes the femur, the shin, the
foot, and five toes.
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Hierarchy
The hierarchy is the order of the parts in the
parent-child chain. (Back>Right Shoulder>Right
Upper Arm>Right Lower Arm>Right Hand). A
rigid body character is composed of many
different separate objects. A soft body
character uses digital bones that distort the
mesh. In either instance, the sections or digital
bones must have the hierarchy set.
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Kinematics
– The study of the anatomy, physiology, and
mechanics of body movement, especially in humans.
Kinematics – The manner in which separate parts of a
hierarchy rotate to create movement.
Forward Kinematics (FK) – FK is the typical movement
where the children follow the parent. FK of a leg would
require the animator to rotate the thigh, then the shin, then
the foot.
Inverse Kinematics (IK) – IK is a setting that allows the
children to move first and the parents to follow. A typical IK
set up is often used with each leg where you can move the
foot and the shin, and thigh will rotate into the proper
position. IK is necessary when a character walks to keep the
feet from sliding out of position.
Kinesiology
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10
Null Definition
Parenting can also be used with a null. A null
object is not seen when the animation is
rendered. Several objects can be parented to a
null so the entire group can be moved simply
by moving the null.
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Null as Light Rig Master
If you had a light rig
of three lights and
wanted to move all
three at the same
time, you could
create a null, and
parent the lights to
the null.
Three lights parented
to the null
Null
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Null as Camera Rotator
By placing a null
in front of a
camera and
parenting the
camera to it, you
can create a
smooth circular
path by rotating
the null.
Rotating the null
moves the camera in a
circular path
Null
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Images and other multimedia content used with permission.
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