Multi-motion can be a single object, such as a flying saucer, that’s animated on one axis on multiple levels, such as oscillating up and down, while flying up and down. Multi-part is a collection of objects, such as a car body, wheels, steering wheel, doors, and trunk (see Figure 4.33). Hierarchies can be used in many situations, but they often fit into one of two categories: multiple-part animations or multiple-motion animation. So the abacus is the parent and the beads are the children. When the beads slide around, the abacus sits still. If the whole abacus is being moved, the beads must move with it. An example of when you would use a hierarchy is an abacus and its beads. When a child is moved, the parent is unchanged.

When a parent is moved, its children come with it. In these examples the Hypergraph is used to show the relationship between linked objects. Objects that are bundled together are called Groups and work similarly to Parent/Child hierarchies. This top-level object is called a parent under it are its children. Links are created hierarchically, which means that one object will be higher up on the list of influence than another.

To make the job of animating complex models and motions easier, you can link objects together and bundle them into groups.

Maya animation examples