2009

■ Turn on Align to Surface if you want to align the world Z axis of the source
object with the surface normal of the target object. Even with Align to
Surface selected, you can always rotate the source object to orient it the
way you want in relation to the target object.
If you were to align trees on an uneven terrain, you would turn off Align
to Surface so that all of the trees grew upright, regardless of the angle of
the terrain surface.
Animating Attachment Position
You can move to any frame and click Set Position to animate the source object
moving across the surface of the target object. It is not necessary to turn on
the Auto Key button, because you are working with an animation constraint.
When you set positions for the source target on multiple frames, its attachment
to the target object is only fixed at each keyframe. Frames between keys are
interpolated and might not match the target surface. If you need the object
to remain on the target surface, try using a Surface Constraint, rather than
attachment.
Test your animation, and either adjust the values of the keys, or add
intermediate keys to better match the target surface. Too many keys can result
in jittery movement of the source object, while too few keys might result in
the source object missing the surface of the target object over some frames.
Changing Link Inheritance
Links can transmit transform information from a parent to a child. By default,
a child inherits all of the transforms of its parent. To set an object's ability to
inherit the move, rotate, and scale transforms of its parent, you use the
Inherit
on page 3502 rollout of the Hierarchy panel. Use its settings to limit which
transforms a child inherits.
The Inherit rollout is available only when you have selected a single object.
When multiple objects are selected, the rollout is disabled.
Setting Link Inheritance Options
Set the Inherit options to release the link components between a selected
object and its parent for any world axis of Move, Rotate, or Scale.
The options that appear when you expand the Inherit rollout are determined
by the transform controllers assigned to the selected object.
Animating with Forward Kinematics | 3371