I was trying to animate some propeller blades on a helicopter and I got to the point of how to make them rotate from the first frame to the last frame, what I need to know is how do I make them spin a certain velocity, ie: 7300 rpm. In the revolution area under the motion tab I can only put in 180.

My second question is how do I parent a light to the helicopter where the navigation lights are?

This is my first endeavor with Carrara and it is a lot different from the other 3D programs that I have (Poser 7, Vue 6 Infinite and Daz Studio) I really like this on most of all.

I have gone through some of the tutorials but I need some outside help from you all out there.

Thanks,

Sam

Check out the modifiers tab, there is a 'spin' modifier, that works in rotations per second. Without motion blur this probably will not end up looking like the real thing, so I think you probably want to convert the real blades to flattened cirkle with a texture with appopriate alpha. Animated maybe. But it might be a bit too far fetched for a new user... Good luck!

Thank you for  the info, now, can anyone help me with the lights, how do I make a light track with an object of be a child of an object???

I do not understand completely, so here are two options: If you want the light to be attached to the helicopter: Group the heli and the light or, in the scene tray, drag the light on the helicopter object. Now it is attached when you animate the group or the parent. If you want a light to follow (track) the helicopter: Select the light, attach a 'point at' behaviour. You can select the helicopter as a the object to track, or group the helicopter with an invisible object that is placed more specificly, or animated indipendent from the helicopter. Hope this helps!

Hey, many thanks,
the people here in the Carrara forum really care!!!

Sam..

**You should be able to create a disk and give it a texture and alpha map to simulate blur, then you will only need to rotate a small amount.  Mabye 8 or ten turns per minute.   I cannot imagine asking the render engine to make a thousand rpm's.  With a good blur it will look realistic as when you are looking at a spinning prop you cannot actually see a thousand rpm.   Usually the blade looks like it is slowly turning.

**

Many thanks I am going to give it a try....