Now that the mechanical arm and cargo box are fully set up for animation it’s a simple matter to pose the arm and set keyframes. Prior to setting any keyframes you should take a few moments to plan the action for the scene.
Planning the action usually involves sketching a simple storyboard, and writing out a brief timeline for the action for each component. In this lesson we’ve provided a simple version for you. The basic premise for the action is as follows:
The table below breaks down the action indicating what action occurs for each object at the specified keyframes.
Frame | Mechanical Arm | Cargo Box |
---|---|---|
1 |
Collapsed position |
Initial position |
30 |
Vertically extended position |
Initial position |
60 |
Vertically lowered so that cargo magnet is positioned on top of cargo box |
Initial position |
80 |
Vertically lifted to extended position with cargo box |
Cargo box lifted with mechanical arm |
100 |
SwivelBase rotated along with arm to side |
Cargo box repositioned along with mechanical arm |
120 |
Vertically lowered along with cargo box to second position above surface |
Cargo box is lowered along with mechanical arm to second position |
140 |
Vertically lifted to extended position |
Second position |
160 |
SwivelBase rotated with arm to original position |
Second position |
180 |
Collapsed position |
Second position |
To pose the mechanical arm you select either the ArmControl or SwivelBase nodes and set a keyframe depending on which component you want to pose: