Lattice problems
 

Im very new to animation and i got a problem already.

Im animating a chess piece that has a lattice around it so i can deform it as i move it.So i go ahead and key it at frame 1.Then i move it up 1 square at frame 48.When im at frame 48 i go ahead and deform the chess piece forward a bit and then key it.

When i rewind at frame 1 and play it,the chess piece is deformed all the way from frame 1-48.I want a gradual deformation from 1-48.Does anyone know what im talking about?

Ok... sounds like you need to key the lattice/chess peice at it normal position at frame 1 then you also need another key in between frame 1 to 48 at the same setting as in frame one.

For example key the lattice/chess piece at frame one, than middle mouse drage in the timeline to say frame 40 key it. The key at frame 40 will have the same value at frame one.

Now go to frame 48 and deform the piece and key it. Play back your animation and you should see that the piece dosen't start to deform until frame 40.

If the deformation is to slow or fast just move the key on frame 40 either closer to frame 48 for faster movement or back closer to frame 1 to slow it down

Hope this helps

Kurt

Sounds like it might work...let me give it a try.Thanks Kurt.

Well it tryed it but im still haveing no luck.Could it be that i parented the lattice to hte chess piece and now im getting stuck deformations?

If you are keying the lattice points, you'll need to key them at a normal state first, and then key them again at a normal state a frame before you want the deformation to begin to occur.

For example. Let's say, I want the chess piece to move normally from frame 1-50, and deform. I want the deforming to take 15 frames. I'll key the lattice points at frame 1 in a normal state, and key them again at frame 50. Then, at frame 65, I'll deform and key the lattice points again.

Thanks Mtmckinley it seems to work exactly as you said.I keyed the lattice points instead of the object itself.I was keying the object and then when i wantd the deform to take place t moved the points and keyed it which placed the object in that deformed state all the way through the animation.