Symmetry animation

RayRealtalk

Help!Help!Help!
I've been trying to create symmetry in my models but it's just not happening. What am I doing wrong????
I would like my model's left arm dulicate the same motion as the right arm or vice versa.
I Select the model's right arm for rotation.
I go to Parameters and click on the Active tab-I go down to Symmetry.
When the Symmetry box opens I select the following.

Nodes-Selected
Propogation-Recursive
Direction-Swap left to right
Trunk nodes-Leave alone
Left node prefix-left;l
Right node prefix-right;r

Rotation x.y.z all boxes are check marked
Translation x,y,z all boxes are check marked
Scale no boxes are check marked

I then click Accept and the box close up
I ten go back to my model and rotate the previously selected arm.
The selected arm rotates back and forth but the other arm does not follow.
Can someon please explain how Symmetry is implemented and afterwards canceled.
I would greatly appreciate it, I am dying to know what I am doing wrong. RR

Richard Haseltine

Symmetry is not a link, it's a command that works immediately - so you need to pose, then apply symmetry to transfer the posing. Swap would be wrong anyway - that would pose the left like the right and the right like the left, mirroring the pose - you would want Right to left, after posing and selecting the right arm.

RayRealtalk

Rich thanks so much for that info it was very helpful. RR

Sempie

You might want to note that in professional animation, we tend to avoid absolute symmetry as
much as possible, as it is very unnatural and artificial; only robots or machines should move
with absolute symmetry.

We may do symmetrical poses during initial blocking, but then we build in differences in both
posing and timing/spacing between the right and left halves of the body - even in facial expressions.
Just study some Pixar or Dreamworks stuff; you'll rarely see symmetry there.

Breaking the symmetry is one of the secrets of creating the illusion of life, in both cartoon style and
realism.