Automatic sliders for animating pieces

[Maximus]

Hey guys, i have a question since i'm ultra new to animations.
I just wanted to know if anyone could point me out where to look to learn how to build a custom slider to animate an object.
To clarify a bit, i've seen many videos of making of where people showed those custom ppg full of sliders, moving them will cause the objects to animate, i need a simple version of that, for example i animate a rolling cube from point A to B, i'd like to have a slider that control this movement from A to B.

What should i look to create this? I know that probably its not the first thing to learn for someone who never animated anything, but any tip would be nice

Thanks

Max

[Mathaeus]

Take look at custom and proxy parameters in docs. One way is, select something, go to animate panel, parameter > create new custom parameter set. That's a set, shift + p is parameter into this one.
BTW you could just link to movement on null or like - I found this better, at least for simple stuff, because of visual feedback. Let's say, using rotation of null to control the time - something like a watch in viewport...
Now how to link: just drag and drop animation divot, *before* you have any keys.

[Maximus]

Uhm sorry Mathaeus what you mean with "drag and drop the animation pivot before i set any key?"
if for example i have a sphere and i want to drive its animation by the null rotation or position, i should first create a custom or proxy parameter on the sphere, then i drag and drop what?

Reading up a bit but its not really easy atm need to grasp how this works.

thanks

[Memag]

Hey guys, i have a question since i'm ultra new to animations.
I just wanted to know if anyone could point me out where to look to learn how to build a custom slider to animate an object.
To clarify a bit, i've seen many videos of making of where people showed those custom ppg full of sliders, moving them will cause the objects to animate, i need a simple version of that, for example i animate a rolling cube from point A to B, i'd like to have a slider that control this movement from A to B.

What should i look to create this? I know that probably its not the first thing to learn for someone who never animated anything, but any tip would be nice

Thanks

Max

Here's a nice script to do just that. Not sure if you'll learn anything though.
Play your animation through a parameter (Js Command)

Also you can look into "warp" and "iwarp" in user manual.
With warp effect you can control clip animation through expressions (other objects and parameters), or just drag the green divot into your parameter set and drag the value slider.

Simple animation controlled through warp clip effect.

[Mathaeus]

if for example i have a sphere and i want to drive its animation by the null rotation or position, i should first create a custom or proxy parameter on the sphere, then i drag and drop what?

no. try this:
1. create null and sphere
2. select null, go to MCP (right panel) transform > kinematics, to open kinematics PPG
3. pin PPG of null
4. do 2 for sphere, now you should have two ppg opened
5. drag and drop, let's say, local x position (animation divot is a small green icon

now you should see = instead green icon

just for experiment, RMB on newly created =, go to expression editor. After null.kine.local.posx or something like , type
* -1
apply expression ( button on top), see what happens when you move the null

[Memag]

for example i animate a rolling cube from point A to B, i'd like to have a slider that control this movement from A to B.

1. create cube animation and select the cube (or more complex animation of giant robot transforming into a giant robot that looks like a truck)
2. go to animate tab-actions-store-animated parameters fcurves
3. go to animation mixer, right click into mixer animation track and choose "insert source", find your action in the explorer and click it
4. select your action clip , go to animation tab- create- parameter- new custom parameter, in the parameter name field type warp, set range values
5. go to animation mixer, right click your action clip and select "clip properties", a PPG will pop up
6. find "clip item information" tab, and in "clip effect" empty fields type in ...again warp . You can choose which parameters you want to affect here, disable them etc.
7. now you should have yellow stripe on the top part of the clip, it's indicating clip effect, go to "generic tab"-"time control"-"extrapolation" and set cycle and number of cycles (or bounces)
8. go to "clip effect", you'll find "Variables" and lastly "warp" parameter, try sliding it. It should slide through your animation.

9. create new parameter set and drag warp (green divot) into it, or set expression on warp parameter (right click and "set expression") if you want to control it by other parameters like transformations of other objects etc.

This should provide you with enough control.

[Maximus]

Thanks to both of you guys!
alright lots to learn now

[Mathaeus]

Thanks to both of you guys!
alright lots to learn now

not that much, actually. BTW A to B transition, well you can add two point constraint, and animate percent...