Grouping animations?

[MorganA]

I wasnt even sure what to entitle this post I hope you guys understand the question:

I have created a logo bug that has a couple of different states (ON, MOVE, OFF) but what I need the OFF state to do is be dependant on where the logo is on the screen at any given time.

For instance, right now whenver I click on the OFF state regardless of where the logo was on the screen it would move back to a certain position before fading off. I want it to fade off from its current state, whever that may be.

Ive seen some chatter about how grouping your animations together can solve this problem but I am not exactly sure on how or why that would work.

help?

[CherylHardy]

Hi Morgan,

Yes, grouping can solve your problem. You would need a separate group for "Move" than from "Off" to make it do the same "Off" animation regardless of where it is on the screen. Here is a possible Scene tree:

On/Off Group
->Move Group
->Logo Bug

When you animate it, the move animation would use the Move Group, and the On/Off fading would be done on the On/Off group. By animating in this way, the on/off animation would happen whether the logo was in Move Position 1 or Move Position two.

If you think about a dog in a car, it could be bouncing around from seat to seat. Because that dog is in that container/group (Car), it can be doing that animation whether the car is visible on the driveway or invisible in the garage- the dog's movement and animation are AFFECTED by the group above it (whether it can be seen or not depending on whether the garage door is down) but is not DETERMINED by the group above it (the dog will jump around whether visible or not.)

P.s. Don't leave your dog in a car, especially in the summer. :)

Hopefully this makes some sense to you. If not, let us know!

Cheers!

[MorganA]

Perfect sense thank you! I enjoyed the analogy, and the disclaimer.

One more related question however - Ive noticed that once I group these items the available effects in the effects panel becomes inactive. Is there a way around this?

[CherylHardy]

I'm afraid not- the effects from the effects panel can only be used on individual objects, not on groups. That doesn't mean you can't still group the objects, you just have to apply effects to the pieces rather than the whole group.

[MorganA]

My hierarchy:

+ logoMOVE
++ logoON
++ logoOFF
+++ logoROCK
++++ logo

Everything is running smoothly now except for my ON/OFF.
Even though they are both technically groups of logoROCK, they appear to be groups of one another instead, which may be part of the problem. But the main problem is that logoON won't fire again (at least it will not visibly fire) after logoOFF has already been fired once. What could be going on here?

[CherylHardy]

That is because OFF is inside of ON- so you've (to mangle a metaphor) turned the lights off in the OFF group. So if you want to turn the lights back on again, you'd have to use the OFF group to do that again.

Here's a better grouping structure:

Logo ON/OFF
+Logo MOVE
++Logo ROCK
+++Logo

In this way both the On and Off happen in the same group, so you can turn that light switch on and off again and again as many times as you choose without firing problems.
Note: Don't flick a light switch too much, it's bad for the environment. :)

By having the On/Off group at a HIGHER level of the hierarchy than Move, it means that the graphic will be able to do the On/Off animation from either position 1 or position 2.

[MorganA]

I think my own light bulb just came on too. Thank you.

[MorganA]

This should almost be made a sticky, this was actually quite helpful and there is little information on the subject of grouping animations elsewhere on the Web.

[CherylHardy]

You are very welcome. Happy to help.

[Elizabeth]

Stuck!