View Full Version : Lining an object with a surface

02-05-2007, 12:01 PM
I have several objects I want to align to the surface of a terrain. How can I place the object on the surface without having to move the object until I get it right?

02-05-2007, 12:15 PM
Theres a feature in 9 that aligns objects pivot points to a surface ( you can offset the pivot to control the positioning) I can't remember whats it's called right now, but if you look at the 9 demo vids, it's in there.

02-05-2007, 01:52 PM
In Layout it is called Sticky and Sticky surface. This is mainly for animation though you could use it. But then you'd have to offset the pivot point and is that not about the same work?

In modeler you could use aligner to align it to the mesh in the BG. Then use center pivot if you wanted to. That would put it in the right position in layout.

02-05-2007, 01:59 PM
If you're doing your positioning in Modeler, OnMove (http://www.pictrix.jp/lw/index_1.html) from Pictrix looks about right for this.

02-06-2007, 12:03 PM
I found something called "Aligner" in Modeler that helped. OnMove also helped but is just a little harder to use. Does anyone know how I would can do the same thing in Layout? I'll try "Sticky" and see how that works.

02-08-2007, 01:42 PM
It looks like the Sticky feature is what I needed. I had several items moving about on a complex terrain without having to adjust my motion for each hill. Now, if anybody has an idea, I would like to get my character to the edge using the Sticky feature but then falling off of a cliff. Sticky keeps the character "attached" to the Sticky Surface even on an edge.

02-08-2007, 02:06 PM
Experiment with parenting, but Sticky seems to do funny things when you add parenting depending on what other things you have set up.

But you can try to simply parent the character to an object such as a null that is stuck to the surface. When you get to the edge stop the null and animate the character off the cliff. That is the simplest old school solution.