Animating a mobile gun mount in Max 6?

Submitted by Ponkavitch on
Forum
Artists

Hi guys,

I need some help.

There is probably something very simple and obvious that I have forgotten but I cannot figure our how to make this work (its been a while since I?ve used Max).

Here is what I?m trying to do.
I am trying to animate a gun that is in a mount that is mounted on vehicle that will rotate in all directions (i.e. spaceship).
The gun mount should be able to only rotate in one plane (relative to itself) like a radar dish.
The gun itself should be able to rotate in one plane (relative to itself) which when combined with the mount will give it 2 arcs of rotation.

I want to be able to control both objects with one controller (such as a dummy that they look at).

And to make it even more complicated both objects will have limited rotation arcs. I.e. the mount will be able to rotate 180 degrees and the gun will have a rotation (elevation) of 90 degrees.

I have tried setting up an HI IK solver then putting limits on the mount?s rotation in the hierarchy IK panel but that makes the gun act erratically.

Any help would be much appreciated. I need this for work so I need to get this working as soon as possible.

-Ponkavitch

Submitted by RasTuS on Thu, 06/07/06 - 8:15 AM Permalink

u might have some one come on later with a better answer but when i was playing with stuff like this a while ago i would have used a dumy box and linked it to the base so u can rotate it and a look at constraint to link to the gun and link that to a dummy box so u can put the dummy box where u want it to shoot

um i think u can also restrict the movement of the doxes so it can only be rotated moves etc might help you if im whong well meh i tried :/

Submitted by kingofdaveness on Fri, 23/03/07 - 10:16 PM Permalink

Try using an 'if' statements in a script controller to add constraints.

Set up a dummy to look at your target. Link another dummy to this but turn of inherit X,Y (in the heirarchies tab).

Now, you want your actual nodes to be equal to that of these dummies, but with a constraint. Do this with script controllers. Look up how to use IF statements.

IF (TurretRot > 120, MyturretZ= 120, Myturretz= TurretRot)

...for example.

Alternatively play with history dependant controllers- which let you use sliding IK. Its rather old, but you get more access to stuff.kingofdaveness2007-03-23 11:23:15

Forum
Artists

Hi guys,

I need some help.

There is probably something very simple and obvious that I have forgotten but I cannot figure our how to make this work (its been a while since I?ve used Max).

Here is what I?m trying to do.
I am trying to animate a gun that is in a mount that is mounted on vehicle that will rotate in all directions (i.e. spaceship).
The gun mount should be able to only rotate in one plane (relative to itself) like a radar dish.
The gun itself should be able to rotate in one plane (relative to itself) which when combined with the mount will give it 2 arcs of rotation.

I want to be able to control both objects with one controller (such as a dummy that they look at).

And to make it even more complicated both objects will have limited rotation arcs. I.e. the mount will be able to rotate 180 degrees and the gun will have a rotation (elevation) of 90 degrees.

I have tried setting up an HI IK solver then putting limits on the mount?s rotation in the hierarchy IK panel but that makes the gun act erratically.

Any help would be much appreciated. I need this for work so I need to get this working as soon as possible.

-Ponkavitch

Submitted by RasTuS on Thu, 06/07/06 - 8:15 AM Permalink

u might have some one come on later with a better answer but when i was playing with stuff like this a while ago i would have used a dumy box and linked it to the base so u can rotate it and a look at constraint to link to the gun and link that to a dummy box so u can put the dummy box where u want it to shoot

um i think u can also restrict the movement of the doxes so it can only be rotated moves etc might help you if im whong well meh i tried :/

Submitted by kingofdaveness on Fri, 23/03/07 - 10:16 PM Permalink

Try using an 'if' statements in a script controller to add constraints.

Set up a dummy to look at your target. Link another dummy to this but turn of inherit X,Y (in the heirarchies tab).

Now, you want your actual nodes to be equal to that of these dummies, but with a constraint. Do this with script controllers. Look up how to use IF statements.

IF (TurretRot > 120, MyturretZ= 120, Myturretz= TurretRot)

...for example.

Alternatively play with history dependant controllers- which let you use sliding IK. Its rather old, but you get more access to stuff.kingofdaveness2007-03-23 11:23:15