Surface constraint and transformation

While constraining an object to a surface as such is a straightforward task and won’t require more than a few mouse clicks, it may still leave you with a sensation of not being quite satisfied. Once you add the constraint you loose the option to freely move the object with the standard translate tool and are left with two (somewhat less intuitive) sliders within a PPG. By adding an extra dummy object to the mix, you’ll effectively manage to get the most out of both approaches.

The project files used in this tutorial can be found at:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3834689/CaffeineAbuse/Surface_cns.zip

Add Surface Constraint
Start by position the Null object in the lower right corner of the Surface (X:-4, Y:0 Z:4). Select the Box and click the Constrain button in the Main Command Panel and choose Surface (Param) from the menu. Pick the Surface when prompted. In the Surface Cns PPG click the Lock icon to pin it to the screen. Activate both the Tangency and the Normal by checking the checkbox under there respective tab. Return to the Surface tab. Make sure both the U and V Location are set to 0 [zero]. Right click on the U Location’s animation icon (the green divot) and choose Link with… from the menu to open the Parameter Connection Editor.

Link the parameters
In a viewport, select the Null object and (if neeed) then click the Refresh button for the Driving Source to update the explorer. The Driving Source is the object used to control or drive the parameter whereas the Driven target is the parameter that will end up being affected. Click the Driven Target button in the menu and change the Filter to All Nodes to display the proper parameters. In the Target explorer, expand the kine.Constraints node and select the surfcns.posu parameter. Select the posx parameter in the Driving Source explorer. Click the Link button to create the connection and the Set Relative Value button.
Change the interpolation
Move the Null object to the Surface’s lower right corner and change the U Location value to 1 in the Surface Cns PPG. Click the Set Relative Values button in Parameter Connection Editor. Continue by selecting the surfcns.posv and the Nulls posy parameter. Click Link button followed by the Set Relative Value. Position the Null in the upper right corner of the Surface. Change the V Location in the Surface Cns PPG to 1 and set a new Relative Value. Select the Box and click 0 [zero] to open an Animation Editor. Select the Fcurves for the surfcns.posu and surfcns.posv and from the Curves menu choose Linear Interpolation. Move the Null to translate the Box over the surface.