I'm new to the animation side of Carrara and I'm trying to animate a space shuttle model for the web. So far I've got the double doors to open and the articulated arm to pop out and bend down to attach its end to another longer boom arm. That is where my problem comes in. The arm is jointed in 5 places and animates perfectly but when it goes to attach itself to the boom arm it needs to become parented at that exact point in time. So basically I need an arm pick up an object and the object becomes attached to that object 4 seconds into the animation. I tried going the logical route and just parenting the arm to the object 4 seconds into the animation but when I back up to the begining I find it has parented itself all the way through. Any animation gurus out there who may be able to shed a little light on this problem?

Hi Robert, There are a couple of ways to do this one but here is the easiest. Duplicate the object the arm grabs but don't move it. (now there is object 1 and object 2) At the 4 second mark, where the arm grabs it, parent object 2 like you have before. However, now go back to the start of your animation and un-check visibility for object 2. Back at the four second mark, you do the old switcheroo - uncheck visibility for object 1 and re-check visibility for object 2. (this should occur in successive frames so you don't get any weird shading aritfacts) Hope this helps. Mark

It's all smoke and mirrors... ;)

Thanks Mark, that is actually one way I thought about doing it. Yep, smoke and mirrors.