3D Solar System of Rotating Planets and Moons - Page 13

Linking

So now you've set up the moons, you've set up the planets, but it all still seems rather crappy looking. It's still looking nothing like the amazing thing you thought it would be. Well we're nearly there, just two steps away from finishing something you can take home and show your mum.

Next step is to link up the various orbits of the moons so they follow the planets around the sun. First, make sure your frame slider is sitting on frame 0, so all the planets are in their starting positions.

What we're going to do is create a series of hierarchies that will make the orbits of the moons follow the planets around their own orbits. Make sense? Follow me, I promise to go a little more slowly.

Find the SELECT AND LINK tool on the top toolbar - it looks something like this:

This tool creates a relationship between two objects - known as a parent / child relationship. Of course, any of those two objects could, themselves, be linked in a similar relationship with any other object. The best example of this is a helicopter. The blades are attached to the rotor, which is attached to the helicopter. The blades can pivot on their own, which doesn't affect the rotor. But if the rotor turns, the blades turn with it. By the same token, the spinning of the rotor doesn't affect the helicopter, but as the helicopter moves, the rotor and the blades come along for the ride. It's a difficult thing to explain, so perhaps if it's still not making sense, we might as well just jump in the water, so to speak, eh?