Animate local transforms in object level

[mStuff]

Hi,

It seems that generally when animating objects in scene/object level, you are only able to animate variables globally.

I have a scene with a spinning propeller, and this spinning propeller needs to rotate around its own axis, while being placed in a certain spot in the scene. How is this achieved? All transforms in the scene are global space, so if you need to rotate the object 30 degrees on the X axis, the Y axis will not follow the local transforms and the propeller will spin sideways in circles.

 

Followup question:

I briefly had a teacher from Lost Boys school of VFX and he showed me how to properly load animation data into a dopnet. Unfortunately I was just starting out with Houdini as he showed me, so I did not catch the method. I gathered that this should not be done in sop-level ('Use deforming geometry'), and rather with motion / 'RBD keyframe active' operators in the dopnet -- how do I load in my animation data, so the velocities are correct with proper interpolation?

Thank you,

[Atom]

Generally, the top level/obj level transform is used for placing the object in the scene. If you want the geometry inside the object to move, dive inside and drop down a transform node. Animate that transform node, inside, then position the object one level up.

[vicvvsh]

Hi Marcus,

in your particular case I would make simple rig for propeller. Take a look scene file. "translation" null for position in the scene and "rotation" null for orientation. Animation rotation axis of propeller in individual null. You can consolidate position and orientation in one null node of course.

propeller.hipnc

[mStuff]

Sorry I didn't get back to you before now, I have been so busy :|

the solution from vicvvsh fits perfectly for me, since I need to direct the motion node in the dopnet to animation done in scene level

Thanks for the help!