I can link a CAT object to another object but several of the CAT system functions stop working.

I want the CAT to be on a cruiser ship. On the ship, while it is moving, I want to move the CAT, for example swiming in the ship pool

I parented the pelvis and the two feet to a helper and then I linked the helper to a ship.

Result: The CAT follows the ship. I can animate the CAT. BUT when I use the procedural CAT motion it flips out. Also if I try to load and save animation sequences I get strange results which prevents me from using CAT.

In a previous version of Max I linked the Gizmo Layer Control to a helper and got that to work, but didnt try the load/save and probably not tried the procedural stuff in CAT motion. Now that does not work either.

I am trying to put an orientation and position constraint on the pelvis.

I need to do this to use the CAT.

Now I can only use CAT for animations NOT taking place on moving objects. It limits me since I do action animation.

I have to use NON CAT for linked animation and CAT for plain vanilla walk/run, wave.

Please! Can someone on the CAT team post a video tutorial on how to link a CAT to a “ship” which is moving around and then perform a procedureal CAT motion and save and load animations for the CAT on the ship.

I am quite sure it is not possible. At least no normal or professional person can figure this method out on his or her own.

People has asked for solutions to this problem since 2006. It is 5 years ago.

PLEASE REACT NOW!

your forgetting that catmotion needs a delegate, point helper or whatever to control its position. you may want to use a link constraint, instead of link for parenting. link can cause problems when you save or load motion

are you trying to get the character to start walking when they come out of the pool

Not possible to link constraint the pelvis (from the animation menu) to an object. You will get this message:

“Link contraint not completed”

The problem is not to get the model in to or out of the pool.

The problem is to get the model onto the ship and start walking on the ship while the ship is moving.

It is virtually impossible to solve this problem!

People have asked for solutions to this problem for 5 years, and I am giving answers to this problem for 5 years. But still the same questions come up. I don’t know why, but I will reply again:

1. Don’t try to use the native link tool on any CAT objects. You can relink CAT objects within a CATrig, but don’t link them to a Max object. Use controllers instead.

2. Your link constraint assignment failed because you have to create it in your animation layer. Therefore you need to assign it in the Motion Panel with the right layer track selected. But for your problem, you won’t need that anyway.

3. Use the CAT Layer Transform Gizmo on Absolute Layers to link your animation (character) to your ship. You can do this by using an additional point helper, link that to your ship, and use position and orientation constraint on the CAT Layer Transform Gizmo that are targeting to this point helper. Hopefully we will be able to simply link the CAT Layer Transform Gizmo with the native link tool, this would be simplier, but the current method works the same. This is already requested in the new CATbugsAndRequests forum.

4. Use Walk on Path Node in CATMotion (you will again need a point helper for that) and link the point helper (path node) to your ship.

That’s it ;-)

My CAT demoreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq-4VoeAPU

OK,

I now get my CAT on to the ship. The ship is moving. Thats good!

But I have problems with the CATMotion when the ship moves. The CAT footsteps doesnt follow the Spline. The CAT model slides on the floor of the ship.

Loading animations with the option “transform” causes offsets difficult to understand.

Loading animations without the option “transform” causes the animation to start at the position of the gizmo point helper. I will have to force the point helper to be on the right place when loading animations and dont use the “transform” option. I would like to use transform because the animation will then continue and add to the current animation.

Please have a look at loading and saving animations when having the animation layer gizmo constrained to a point helper and the point helper linked to a moving object.

It is super difficult and I have not found a way.

Questions:
How do I load an animation with “transform set” when having the gizmo constrained to point helper linked to a moving ship?

How do i use CAT motion when my CAT layer gizmo is constrained to a point helper which is linked to a moving ship without getting problems with footsteps strongly offset from my spline?

Constraining the gizmo probably works fine if you want to take your CAT for a ride in a car or plan or make him/her fly a little bit. But to place him on a moving ship and use CAT motion to move him around or use “load animation” is a real challange!!!

Anyone master this? I dont think the loadanimation (transform version) can manage to “transform” when you constrain your gizmo.

Yes, you’re right. I did not check this before posting it. I thought you could easily link the path node to the ship, but CATMotion does not handle that correctly as it generates footprints based on world-oriented distance. However you can freeze the animation of the ship, create your CATMotion walk, bake it into a new Absolute Layer and link that to the animated ship. This should work without problems.

About saving/loading layers. I don’t know what issues you have with that. It doesn’t matter if the CAT Transform Gizmo is linked to an object or not, the animation should always load relative to the CAT Transform Gizmo correctly. Just use the default load settings with the given start frame as you need.

My CAT demoreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq-4VoeAPU

your having a lot of problems with this. so I did something quick showing it. the animation isnt
pretty but it is a moving object. one route is linking your path to whatever is moving.

with matching start and stop positions. you can reposition the start position by turning on the animation transform gizmo. and aligning it to whatever position you need it to begin at.

use the align command. its faster than doing it by hand

http://bleed.110mb.com/movingpath.html

Yes, as I said, you need to bake the CATMotion into a new Absolute Layer and link that one.

My CAT demoreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq-4VoeAPU

you could also draw a path on the ship and give that path to catmotion normally without linking the path to the ship. the character will be moving along the path. as far as the viewer will know it will be moving along the ship