What’s an example where this would be used?

[Harris Clook]

I had a couple of thoughts – one being something like a hat (I don’t know if this would work, but hear me out. And do let me know if this wouldn’t. I’m not at my computer at the mo’ to actually test this out yet. I’m also just doing my first full watch-through of the course before doing any of the exercises).

If the Hat is parented to the head (parent_01) when worn, it’ll follow the head. But if I were to parent switch it to a hand (parent_02) when the hand goes to take it off, the hat would then switch and follow the hand. And then switching it to the root parent would probably mean the hat floats around in mid-air like a spooky ghost..or something?

Again, this might not work, or it might need some extra work put into it. But I’m doing my thing where I’m trying to give some possible context and come up with use cases to what we’re learning!

Cheers!

[Wayne Dixon]

Here’s some context for exactly the scenario you mentioned…(only tweaked a little)

Wrangler is wearing his hat (on his head)
He grabs it with his hand
Then throws it onto a hat stand

That would be a use case for parent switching.  However, at this level, there is no mechanism to match the positions during that switch, so you’re stuck with the position jump.

Although, if you were doing something complicated like that, your better off to just stick with 1 parent, and then use Space Switching (animation technique) to force it go where you need it to go without all the parent switching.

Of course now you probably have more questions about Space Switching (rightly so).
It’s where you bake the animation onto a different object, animate it, then bake it back.  The baking takes care of the where it should be taking all the parenting and constraint into account.  It’s part rigging and part animation – it’s not something you need to look into right now, but when you do, check out Pierrick Picauts stuff (P2 Design).  He has lots of content on this technique.

[Harris Clook]

I think I saw a Phil mention P2 Design on the animation study group chat on discord (I’m fairly certain that’s the same Phil who’s done the core animation course?).

Yeah, I do have plenty of Q’s now, hah. But I’ll take a quick look and keep a tab on it for when the time comes!

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