Animating a shopping cart?
by BrianT
on
May 30, 2007 at 11:06:30 pm
Yes, a shopping cart. It's a 2D animation of a machine that washes shopping carts. I'll present a side view, top view, and front view. With the side view, the cart needs to go up a ramp, along a conveyor, and then exit the unit by going down a ramp. The challenge is that each wheel (front and back) obviously hits the ramps and conveyor at differing points. How can I animate the shopping cart so it looks like it is rolling through the machine properly?
Re: Animating a shopping cart? by stevem1928 on May 30, 2007 at 11:13:21 pm
Just animate your anchor point to the back wheels when the front wheels hit the ramp. Then rotate the cart so the front of the cart lifts up a bit. After the front wheels go over the ramp, animate the anchor point to the front wheels. Now animate a rotation to lift the back wheels onto the ramp. It will be easy to animate the rotation of the wheels, but you will need to find the correct speed to make it look right. I am not sure if this is what you want.
Re: Animating a shopping cart? by beenyweenies on May 30, 2007 at 11:27:33 pm
You could try putting the anchor point of the layer on the rear wheel. Animate the cart moving forward, and as the front wheels hit the ramp, set a rotate keyframe. A few frames later move the cart forward until the rear wheels touch the ramp and set a second rotate keyframe that angles the cart properly on the uphill slope. This should cause it to gradually rotate up as the cart moves forward up the ramp. Repeat for downhill slopes etc.
In case you're not sure what I mean, you can position the layer's anchor point using the "pan behind" tool, which looks like a square crosshairs on your toolbar in AE. With the tool selected, click the anchor point on the layer and drag.
