Automatron Online Help Index

Ground Object Usage

Automatron allows you to pick an object or a selection of objects to serve as guides for where the Feet and Hips will place themselves as they walk, thus allowing you to walk your Bot over rough terrain, up stairs or structures etc... The ground can even be animated and the Bot’s feet will appear to stick to the moving surface as if they are linked to the ground objects, but they are not link.

Pick Ground – Use this button to select the object or objects that will be used as ground objects. By selecting, a ‘Named Selection Set’ will be created and named “GroundSet” + the number of the Bot currently in focus ie “GroundSet1”. You may also edit this selection set with Max’s Edit Named SelectionSets tool.

How it works – When it is time for the PWS to land a foot during a walk cycle, a ray is plotted from the bottom of the Foot_Ani_R/L object looking for a hit on one of the Ground Objects. Of the objects in the GroundSet, the shortest distance hit is chosen to be the current Ground Object for that step of that foot. The foot will then align to the surface of the object and hold it’s position until it’s time to liftoff again. The Hips will also do a similar alignment yet it is offset above the ground. If no Ground Object is in the right space at the right time, the PWS will automatically use the Temp_Ground object that is always linked at the base of the WalkMaster guide object. The Bot will continue walking on until a good hit is found on one of the GroundSet Objects.

Animated – with this option enabled, the feet will add more keys during the Hold Time or Planted Time in order to keep itself aligned with a moving surface.
Use-Z-Gravity – this option when enabled will keep the Bot upright in the World Z-Axis. With the option disabled, the Bot will align itself to the surface of the Ground Object. This allows the Bot to walk upside down and sideways and everyways.

PickPath – You can select a Path for the Bot to follow. This will override the Angle parameter. Here the PWS will use the Scale parameter to determine how far along the path to move the Bot for each step. You may also use the Ground Object at the same time. You should keep the path smooth enough so that the Bot does not make too tight a turn or some parts may get turned around the wrong way.