Parent object to hand motion

[Hiraghm]

Okay, so months ago I saw a similar question on the old fora and I didn't pay attention, and now I can't find it. I hate when I do that...

My computer guy character (see avatar) is going to have an object in his hand, and I need it to follow his hand motions (like when they swing to walk and such.) I also want it to appear in his hand at one point. I know I can parent it as a separate object to the computer guy, but that just means it will keep it's initial position relative to the character. I was also planning on using dissolve on it to make it appear/disappear. So if I make it part of the same object so I can give it a bone to attach it to the hand, I can't use dissolve to make it appear/disappear.

You can't span bones between separate objects, can you? Any suggestions as to how I can pull off this effect?

[Jake]

Well, couldn't you use the transparency channel of the surface editor and just ramp up the value over time.

Or I think you could use a clip map. Set up a UV map for the part of an object you want to disappear. Then specify the UV map in the clip map editor and, again, give it an envelope to change the value over time.

Or you could try putting a bone in the hand, parenting a null object to the bone, and then parent the held object to the null. Then use dissolve on the object.

[JulianW]

Actually you can use bones from another object..

Select your object in Layout, and click the bones button at the bottom of the screen, now call up the bone properties requester (hit 'p') and use the "Use Bones From Object" pulldown to select the object that you want to use the bones of.

hope that helps,


JW.