Baking a Tracked Animation

The aim of this tutorial is to how one can use the Bake Tweener command in the Drivenplugin to take an animation that is dependent on the Track modifier and to bake out keys so that one can remove the modifier and still maintain the animation path.

To begin, you can download the Carrara file here: C4 | C5

When you open the file you should see an animation setup that has a rolling cube on a motion path like this animation and the image below.

Right now, the cube moves through space with the motion path and has a spin modifier that allows it to roll. Our aim is to have the cone roll and move in that same path without use of a motion path or modifier.

First, we must add a track modifier to the cone and target it to the cube. Check all axis checkboxes as well as the track rotation checkbox. At this point the cone will move the way that we want but we still want it to be able to do that same motion without the modifier and the track target.

Next we must place a keyframe at the end of the animation. Move the timeline to the end of the animation and click on the create keyframe button.

You should now have a timeline with two keyframes for each object at the end. This creates a tweener that we can now bake. You can expand cone timeline and delete the end keyframes for visibility and shadows if you wish so that we don't create any unnecessary static keyframes when we bake the animation.

Now select the cone tweener that we just created and run the Bake Tweener command with same parameters as on the right side image. Make sure that the "Include Behaviors" checkbox is enabled.

Keyframes should be created for every frame on the tweener and you should now have an image that looks like the one below.

Now delete the cube and remove the track modifier from the cone object. You should now have an animation of the cone rolling through space but without a modifier or tracked object!