Next let's animate the forearm. First select it then set a key at its current position and timeline (1). Move the slider to about frame 30 (2). Rotate the forearm 45 degrees (3). A key is automatically generated at the current frame.
You can now continue to create your own animation since it consists of repeating these steps for each animation segment: 1) Select the object you want to animate 2) Set a key to its current state at the frame where you want the animation segment to begin 3) Move the timeline slider to the frame where you want the animation segment to end 4) Move/rotate the object in the new position. A new key for the selected object will be set automatically at the new frame.
To create a claw rotation I recommend you to rotate the small cylinder especially if you assign materials to your objects. You can preview your animation at any time by exiting the animation mode(1) and hitting the Play Animation button(2). Hope you liked this tutorial. Now that you know the basics it's up to you to create really impressive motion of your robotic arm. Later we will learn more about constraints so our objects will only be allowed to move only in the specified directions.
We have just opened our tutorial directory! Feel free to submit tutorials hosted on your website or other online tutorials that you think are worth mentioning.
iEntry 10th Anniversary
Photoshop
Flash
