I am working on an animation and need some Poser tech help
with 2 issues.

Firstly, is it possible to have an object or prop to link or parent to a figures hand
at intervals. For example, a figure is holding an object then throws it.
How do you get  the object to de-parent from the figures hand at a specific frame?

Secondly.
Can you make an object invisible at different points along the time line?

Key frames. select the frame you want the prop to not be parented to hand and " Object > Change Parent > UNIVERSE. "  Then key the frame. the prop will not be parented to anything.

Same with invisable.  Now it depends if you want it to turn invisable slowly  or fast. Slow just select the frame you want completeley invisable and Poser will use all the frames from the starting key frame you choose to the invisable key frame. For fast, just key frame the one frame before you want invisable and the next frame turn your figure invisable and set that key frame.

Huh?

I'm not an animation expert, but my understanding is that visibility is not animatable, nor is the parent of an object animatable.

Only continuously variable numeric quantities (real numbers) can be animated, such as position, rotation, etc.

You cannot animate a checkbox, and even if you could there are no in-between states.

The only way to make something "fade" from view is to go into the materals (all of them) for the object and make the "Transparency" of the material animated from 0 to 1 or vice versa. You can key-frame it so it happens instantly or gradually.

However, be aware that Transparency is not coded to completely make the material produce no output in the render. Certain effects, particularly specular lighting effects, must be also turned off for an object to be fully invisible via shaders. This is because the people who wrote the rendering engine were confused about whether transparency is supposed to be used to define non-existence, versus a material that exists, but lets light pass through, like clear plastic.

You might try doing this:

Use 2 identical props which we shall call "A" and "B" ... "A" is parented to something and "B" is not parented to anything.

Make "A" invisible -
Use the "Scale" parameter and set the "Scale" to 0%* (break spline at this point) to make the parented object "A"  "invisible" ... then ...

Make "B" visible -
Use the duplicate prop "B" that is not parented but is initially "invisible" (scale = 0%) and is in the same location as "A" but is then made "visible" (change "B's" scale to 100%) and move "B" to wherever you want. 

To reverse the operation ... move "B" back to "A's" position and make "B" invisible (scale=0%) and "A" visible (scale=100%)...
... Walla ! ... The  "prop" (object) is now parented again ... it's just "magic."

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

• Note - Use "Constant Section" in the Graph Editor to change to/from 0-100% in ONE frame

Quote - I'm not an animation expert, but my understanding is that visibility is not animatable, nor is the parent of an object animatable.

P7 allows visibility to be animated in a binary sense (i.e. either on or off).

If you really want to change the parent during an animation, it can be done with scripting, but it's easier to split the rendering up into segments and / or into seperate scenes.

Actually, you can animate an object's parent. 

1. Create a keyframe
2. Select the object's parent
3. Move to your next keyframe
4. Repeat

I was going to upload a quick vid, but my idiot hosting service no longer supports .avi's.  (Which I am highly irritated about.)

But trust me, it does work.

Luna Faye 

You can change the parent , IF you keyframe all elements as you go. The prop will get keyframed while it is parented and then when unparented it wont matter .

Visibility is animatable in Poser 7 .

After arguing with my hosting serivce and getting no help from their customer support, I found a work around to my .avi problem.

http://paethieon.com/lunafaye/SpinTest.avi

In this animation the chair is parented to the spinning plane until half way through, then it is parrented to the universe.

Luna Faye

Hmmm.

Before I posted, I opened Poser 7, and changed the visibility of a ball at frame 15. I opened up the animation palette, and displayed the ball animation attributes timeline. Visibility was not in there.

Moving the current frame back and forth, the ball was always invisible, not just after frame 15.

Are you saying if I had rendered at frame 1, it would be visible?

If it is animated, how come it doesn't change state as I select different frames? Why doesn't it show up in the animation timeline as an animated parameter?

Quote - Before I posted, I opened Poser 7, and changed the visibility of a ball at frame 15. I opened up the animation palette, and displayed the ball animation attributes timeline. Visibility was not in there.

Moving the current frame back and forth, the ball was always invisible, not just after frame 15.

Are you saying if I had rendered at frame 1, it would be visible?

If it is animated, how come it doesn't change state as I select different frames? Why doesn't it show up in the animation timeline as an animated parameter?

You need to toggle animatability by clicking on the key next to the check box (P7 manual, p.103).

"You need to toggle animatability by clicking on the key next to the check box (P7 manual, p.103)."

I am an idiot. Please forgive me.

I can hardly believe it. I have pointed my eyeballs at that key at least one million times. I have never "seen" it. Honest - the darn thing never registered its existence on my brain. That is the wierdest thing.

I know what those keys are for because I see and use them in the mat room all the time. I honestly didn't even know there was one next to the checkbox.

I'll go write and publish 10 new cool free shaders as atonement.

Your forgiven :tongue2:

The key doesn't really stand out until you clicked on it and it turns green.
If this feature hadn't been one of the ones in the pre-release marketing material, not many people would spot it.

Pssst ... don't look now ... but it works in P6, too.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Quote - Your forgiven :tongue2:

No he isn't!  I want the shaders!

Attached Link: Free Orb and 20 Shaders by Bagginsbill

Come and get it!

Quote - OK. 20 new shaders for ya. And a sphere prop that is far superior to Poser's Primitive Hi-res sphere. The orb is a 2-inch diameter sphere, UV mapped properly so that procedural shaders (or latitude/longitude images) will come out right at the poles.

Come and get it!

Huh.  Is there anything else you want to be wrong about?  G'won, say something wrong about rocks.  I'm a geologist, I'll know.