No matter what application you call home… There will be times when you will encounter the dreaded Gimbal Lock. If you don’t understand what Gimbal Lock is, all I can say is “When it happens, you’ll know”. Basically it is when rotational axis will align. While working your rotation orders will get all screwed up, and suddenly you will lose a degree of rational freedom! Or More!
Many Applications can attempt to combat the Gimbal Lock issue by using different rotational orders. Maya for instance, can switch between Euler angles to Quaternion. If you are using Cinema 4D, however, there might another solution that you should take a look at.
David Weidemann built a plugin called Gimbal Master, that is meant to forcibly convert and rewrite a new rotation order for your troubled objects. It’s not a sure fire method, meaning that in some cases, it might not work as expected. However, the plugin can keep animation issues like gimbal lock, forever to a minimum.
Gimbal Mater will:
- Gimbal Master analyses your existing corrupted animation and calculates how suitable each rotation order would be for these movements.
- Choose a new rotation order after examining the gimbal lock graph.
- Convert your animation to a new rotation order, regain control over your animation’s rotations and save yourself a lot of time and headaches.
Visit the GumRoad Page to pick up a copy. The plugin works with Cinema 4D R15 – R17.
