Beginning of animating and scenery

I began animating by importing my different models into scenes, for my first scene I needed my R2D2 model and the naboo fighter, my aim was to then animate R2D2 approaching the naboo fighter, to do this I used the path constraint technique, which was used for the majority of my animation, first of all I clicked on the create tab and then shapes, I then selected line and drew a line corresponding to the path which I wanted R2D2 to follow, before drawing the line, I had to select the correct type of line I wished to draw, I chose smooth and Bezier, this meant that I could manipulate the lines so that they could curve, and keep a smooth rounded edge, so that when the model followed the line, it didn’t look un-natural or jolty.

With the model selected I then clicked on the animation option at the top of the program, and then constraints and then clicked path constraints, this then allowed me to select the path in which I wanted the model to follow, I then selected the line which I drew, and R2D2 would then follow the path. 

In the motion tab I could adjust how R2D2 would follow the path, ticked the box ‘follow’ which meant that it would follow the path exactly how it is, I could change which axis of it would follow the path, I chose the appropriate axis which meant that it would follow the path face on, I also checked the box ‘bank’ which meant that when there is a curve in the line, depending on how much bank is set, the model will tilt corresponding to the line.

I was pleased with how this part of the animation went, learning path constraints were a massive part to my animation, and it is a really useful technique.