Animating 3D Model Sub-Objects

T-SBANIM-003-003

If you want to animate a specific part of a 3D model, you must separate it from the 3D model into its own 3D model. Separating a sub-object from its 3D model will store it into its own layer in the panel. You will then be able to animate the original model and the separated sub-object separately, since each layer in your panel can be transformed and animated independently.

NOTE: Separating a sub-object from its model does not actually modify the 3D model. It simply duplicates the 3D model. In the original model, the sub-object is hidden. In the duplicated model, everything but the sub-object is hidden. This creates the illusion that there is one model for the sub-object and another one for the remainder of the 3D model, but they both use the same 3D model in the 3D Models library.

How to separate a sub-object for animation
  1. Do one of the following to add the 3D Graph view to your workspace:
    • In the top-right corner of any existing view in your workspace, click on the Add View button and select 3D Graph.
    • In the top menu, select Windows > 3D Graph.
  1. In the Stage, Camera or Layers view, select the 3D model which contains the sub-object you want to separate.
  1. Select the sub-object you want to animate by doing one of the following:
    • While holding Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ (macOS), click on the sub-object in the Stage or Camera view.
    • Select the sub-object in the 3D Graph view.
    TIPS:
    • Some sub-objects do not have geometry, and are represented with a peg icon in the 3D graph view. Those objects only serve as parents of other sub-objects with geometry, represented with a drawing icon in the 3D Graph view. Since those objects have no visible component, you have to use the 3D Graph view to select them. To help find these objects in the 3D Graph, you can select one of the object's visible children in the Stage or Camera view, then select that sub-object's parent in the 3D Graph view.
    • To select multiple sub-objects in the Camera and Stage view, hold Ctrl + Shift (Windows) or Shift + ⌘ (macOS) and click on each sub-object you want to select.
    • To select multiple sub-objects in the 3D Graph view, hold Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ (macOS) and click on each sub-object you want to select, or hold Shift and click on the first sub-object that you want to select.
    • To select a series of sub-objects in the 3D Graph view, hold Shift, click on the first sub-object you want to select, then on the last sub-object you want to select. Every sub-object in-between will be selected, inclusively.

    The selected sub-object will appear in green, and the 3D manipulator will be centered on the selected sub-object.

  1. Right-click in the 3D Graph. In the pop-up menu that displays, select one of the following:
    • Separate Sub-Object: Will only separate the selected objects from the model. If those objects have children, those children will not be included in the separated object.
    • Separate Sub-Tree: Will separate the selected objects and their children from the model.
    TIP: You should select Separate Sub-Tree if your selection contains a sub-object with no geometry (represented by a peg icon in the 3D Graph view) but you did not select that sub-object's children. Otherwise, only the sub-object with no geometry will be in the separated sub-object, and this sub-object will hence be invisible.

    The selected 3D model is separated into two 3D layers: One with only the selected sub-objects visible, and another one with the remainder of the 3D model visible. Both 3D objects are stored in a group.

    NOTE: If the original 3D model had any transformations or animation, they will be transferred over to the group containing the separated sub-objects.
  1. You can now animate the 3D model and its separated sub-object separately. If you want to animate both of them together, simply select and animate the group in which they were stored. For information on how to animate a 3D model, see Animating 3D Objects.

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Time Estimated 10 mins

Difficulty Level Intermediate

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