What does parenting mean in Lightwave 3D?

Answer 1

Parenting is a process used in animation that creates a hierarchy of special objects invisible to the camera (like nulls, bones or skelegons), that allow visible parts of models to move in relation to each other. The "parent" is the controlling object; at least one aspect of the "child's" movement is dictated by the parent. A model can have multiple parents and children (there are no grandchildren), and objects can be both a parent in the hierarchy as well as a child.

For example, if you want to animate a human arm using bones (or skelegons), the humorous (upper arm bone) will be a parent with a pivot point set at the model's shoulder. Another bone, attached with a pivot point at the elbow, will be the "child" to the upper arm bone. When the upper arm moves, the child (elbow and lower arm) will follow. The child can also be positioned independently, as long as it stays within certain parameters (like a real elbow).

A wrist bone is then attached to the lower arm, and will be a child of the lower arm. When the shoulder moves, the lower arm moves in relation to the upper arm, and the wrist moves in relation to the lower arm.

The concept is more difficult to explain in words than to demonstrate in a tutorial. For more information, see the Lightwave parenting tutorial in Related Links.