[questionmark]

hi, I'm new...
REALLY NEW, and I'm a little sick of animating a faceless plain ball.
I have a question related to "smooth shift" according to my teacher I should be able to create virtualy anything I want using it. well I don't get it... I've an example for you, I create a simple ball punch the "n" button and reduce the # of poly's to half or less (according to my teacher I don't need many)... now I've been reading and reading and here's where I get confused, now for one, smooth shift doesn't do what I want it to do it sorta baloons as you go futher out with it... is there a way to make it just extend out straight at all ? secondly by reducing the poly's won't that blow my chances at animating the mouth of my character ?
I'm sorry guys just overwhelmed by the whole thing I guess, there's so much you can do with the program and I feel like I'm drowning in information, also, I'm embarassed to say this but let's say I wanted to create a room, with other objects in it such as a chair, table bed etc and a door way that leads to another room, DO I start a new layer for each piece I create or do it in one shot (some of the pieces in the room need to be animated that's why I'm asking if layers are best...)
Thanks guys, sorry to ask so many questions but my head hurts from bangin' it in the same place on the desk for so long now...
Thanks again
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[Mark]

OK, first the issue with smooth shift can be gotten around by selecting the smoothshift tool and right clicking without moving the mouse. This will cause a zero offset shift to take place. What this means is that you'll have the extra polys created in exactly the same place, so moving immediately to (say) the move tool and moving the polys around will give you the effect you desire.

As for the reduced number of polys, the point is that the smooth shift tool will create extra geometry as and where you apply it. If you also need to introduce new geometry at certain places, always remember the knife, bandsaw and possibly extender tools as well.

Finally, for your room, I'd be tempted to model the set (i.e: the room floor, walls, doorframe, skirting board in one layer of a single object, and pop any windows into another layer and a door into yet another layer (so you can move its pivot point and animate it if required). All the other objects you need to have in the scene (bed, drawers, lamp. chair, etc...) should each be modelled as individual objects and then added to the scene - this way, you can simply reuse a single object if it is required any time in the future.

[questionmark]

Hi Mark,
Thank you so much for your time, and your understanding... you've made life simpler for me now...
I really appreciate your help it's cleared up lots for me and taken some pressure off... I can't thank you enough mark!
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