Answered Detach root node for objects? Not persons. (Thread is now a CUA journey)

[TRSD]

I'm animating a CUA hurricane lantern in my scene. Using a ISTube to give it physics and collision around the metal body. But I'd like to move the root node to the handle above the body, so it pivots around from gravity correctly.
It looks like it should be possible, as the option "detachControl" is revealed under available triggers. But it doesn't do anything.

The end goal is to then parent the position of the node to the hand of a person, saving a whole lot of time trying to animate decent looking physics in TimeLine.

I've tried messing around with creating a pivot point with an empty atom, but that takes up the parenting slot I need for the hand. Or if parenting the tube to the empty atom; sending things flying.

 

[Matt_]

Probably to many verts, you can put it in blender and decimate it down. How big is the file size

 

[TRSD]

Only 2MB. But if verts affect the physics that's probably it. Will look into reducing it.

I'm pretty happy with where the physics are now. But I'm not sure if it was the result of reducing the verts by about 50%, or just dialing in the right mass & angular drags. Plus adjusting the colliders for the base to be more "bottom heavy".

 

[TRSD]

It's done. Happy with the results. Glass is nice and transparent. Jiggles are great (they mostly seem to happen once the root node comes to a stop though).

Gonna make some enemies with the choices in this scene.

Next step would be to write a plugin so you can configure the point light from within VaM. And add a tiny particle flame. But I want to get back to animating for a while.

Thanks for the help. Learned a ton in the past 24 hours. Got to see how VaM is mostly a middleman/curator to Unity settings. Opened up a world of possibilities.


Edit: So the problem of XYZ movement not affecting the physics is due to how everything is parented. And the parent (lantern) is what VaM controls. No idea how I could make the "ControlPoint" object what VaM uses.

 

[Matt_]

It's done. Happy with the results. Glass is nice and transparent. Jiggles are great (they mostly seem to happen once the root node comes to a stop though).

View attachment 201770
Gonna make some enemies with the choices in this scene.

Next step would be to write a plugin so you can configure the point light from within VaM. And add a tiny particle flame. But I want to get back to animating for a while.

Thanks for the help. Learned a ton in the past 24 hours. Got to see how VaM is mostly a middleman/curator to Unity settings. Opened up a world of possibilities.


Edit: So the problem of XYZ movement not affecting the physics is due to how everything is parented. And the parent (lantern) is what VaM controls. No idea how I could make the "ControlPoint" object what VaM uses.
View attachment 201821

I had a handle, base and light. I created a empty then in the empty i had the handle and base in line then the light added to the base. I added a sphere for 0,0,0 reference and moved the empty to get the hamdle to my pic point

 

[TRSD]

I had a handle, base and light. I created a empty then in the empty i had the handle and base in line then the light added to the base. I added a sphere for 0,0,0 reference and moved the empty to get the hamdle to my pic point

I've looked at yours, and it doesn't respond to XYZ movement either, only rotation. Not sure how to crack it.

It's much like what I got, except I got another empty acting as a joint at the top of the handle. So it too acts realistically in the hand of a person.

Top parent "lantern" is an empty. "ControlPoint" is an empty and serves as the top joint. Handle jointing to "ControlPoint". Base is the mesh, jointed to the handle, and parenting over the glass mesh, point light, and now a flame sprite.

The problem becomes that to export I need a parent for everything. That parent ends up being the control point that moves everything as if it was a in a bubble not affected by the full scene. If only you could tell VaM to control "ControlPoint".
Anyway the effect is still great as long as it isn't moving only in straight lines without rotation.