9

Linking and Unlinking Objects 421
Left: Ball linked at frame 0 follows the box on the side.
Right: Ball linked at frame 50 follows the box 20 units away.
Unlink i ng Objects Af ter Animati on
When you unlink a child, its frame 0 transforms
are taken from the transforms of its parent at the
frame when the link is removed.
Imagi ne a sphere linked to a box moving around
thefaceofaclock.Theboxstartsat12o’clockand
travelsallthewayaroundthefaceover100frames.
Thefigureshowsaboxmovinginacirclewitha
sphere linked above it.
Original animation, with ball linked to follow the animated
box.
If you unlink the sphere, it stops following the box.
The position of the sphere depends on its position,
rotation or scale at the frame on which the link is
removed. Unlinking the sphere on different frames
has the following effects:
• Unlin k on f rame 0, and the sphere stays at
12 o’clock.
• Unlink on frame 25, and the sphere stops at
3o’clock.
• Unlink on frame 75, and the sphere stops at
9o’clock.
Clockwise from top, position of the sphere unlinked at
frame0,25and75,respectively.
Linki ng a nd Unl inking
Obj ect s
Use Select and Link (page 2–422) and
Unlink Selection (page 2–422) on the toolbar to
make and remove links b e tween objects.
Link i ng Objects
The general process of creating links is to
build the hierarchy from child to parent. You click
Select And Link on the toolbar, select one or more
objectsaschildren,andthendragthelinkcursor
from the selection to a single parent object. The
selected objects become children of the parent
object.
Once objects are linked, any tr ansformations
appliedtotheparentarealsoappliedtoits
children. For example, if you scale the parent to