[kineticjee]

hi folks,

im trying to make a fish flip in the water. stricktly not really a flip but the kind of graceful swift/ looping/ turn fish usually make. now iv tried manually animating but this is time consuming and not as fluid. more over a 360 degree loop.

i have tried using path deform and then linking the root node helper to the path - this doesnt move the model only the helper node.
i even tried linking the mesh but this didnt work. main problem with manually animating is that i cant change the pivot point.

any suggestions would be most appreciated.

many thanks kinetic.

[GreyPhoenix]

I don't see you problem.
What is time consuming in animating a rigged model at this move?
o.O You tube how ever has some nice tutorials for all kind of these things. I can recommend CAT of 3DsmMax to you. Since I don't know what you use.

[kineticjee]

hi grey pheonix thanks for your reply.

sorry my first message wasnt too clear.

if you imagine a fish swimming head first through a loop. i was trying for a smooth slightly accelerated motion.

yes i use 3ds max and not with catinstead i have a rig with bones and solvers.
the time consuming i meant was due to adding key frames manually and then tweaking the curves this produced way too many keys; from firstly the stationary motion of the fish (breathing/fin paddling) and then the secondary motion of the fish in transformation (moving forward);
hence why i looked at using something like a path defrm so i had a solid path and could work on the timing. i have since found that adding the path deform from the motion>controllers works and not from the modifier stack. i make a big mistake i guess.

many thanks.

[kineticjee]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPvLFzb6wHs&feature=plcp

this is what i was trying to do, just wanted to know if path constraints was the only way as this doesnt allow any other animation to be added say if it swam in a straight line and then into the loop.
maybe have to have the whole path shaped to included any other movement perhaps

many thanks?