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Here we shall discuss only rigid motions. The motion could be
applied to a visible object or to the camera (or both, though
that is not preferable in the interest of clarity). Usually it
better to to create an object hierarchy to orchestrate the
animation better. For example, if an arrow is to turn around its
base point, then it is a good idea to place a null object at the
base, and make it the parent of the arrow (or of its components, if it is made of
multile parts like the shaft and the tip). To create the effect
of looking at the object while walking around it, you should add
a null object at the centre, and make the camera its child.
So we shall pretend that you have a hierarchy A > B > C > ...,
and you are moving A. Open the time line. The time position
should be at 0.0. Now we shall alternate two steps that we shall
call snap and move.
Snap: Select
all the objects in the hierarchy, and hit ctrl-shift-A to select
all the tracks and then hit ctrl-k to create a key
frame in each with the current configurations.
Move: Move the time indicator to the next position (say 1.0), and select only the top of the hierarchy $A.$ Move
it as you please using the orbit tool. If needed you may also
move objects down the hierarchy.
Keep on appying the two steps alternately, until you get all the
keyframes necessary.
By default the keyframes are interpolated with splines. This
naturally produces a pleasing ease-in and ease-out
effect. However, for academic animations this may not be
desirable. So we need to use (piecewise) linear interpolation
instead. This is achieved by selecting each
track individually and choosing "Edit track" from the
right click menu. (The item will be disabled if multiple tracks
are selected.) Now choose "Linear" from the drop down menu.