making objects invisible

[sp0on]

hi im new here, and im sorry if this isnt in the correct topic. but i need to know how to make objects invisible for a school project. (school: http://www.arch.uiuc.edu/arch199/ ) (assignment can be found there, number 5)

also should be noted is i am using 3D Studio VIZ 3, not Autodesk VIZ 4.

 

what i need to make invisible is an extruded polyline i made. again i apologize if i sound like an idiot, but i just started using this program 2 weeks ago.

 

thanks

[STRAT]

Hi spOon

 

i just read ur brief. It's a most basic project to begin in animation - doing a flyby using a spline path for the camera's motion. no probs here.

 

first off the path you use wont be renderable or visible in the animation by default.

if for some strange reason it is visible in the final render just select the poly line, rightclick on it, goto properties and un-click the renderable box.

 

also, to make life easy, use viz 3's animation walkthrough assistant, found in the animation tab at the very top.

[sp0on]

STRAT, thanks for tips. but i can get a camera to follow a path and all. i created a line and smoothed the corners on it, making it circle and go through my object (it is a single object composed of extruded parts so that it looks, very simply, like buildings or something). i then created a dummy object, and made its path the line i made first. i then made a camera and and linked the camera to my dummy object following the line.

 

my only real problem though, is making the object invisible. i need to make it visible and invisible. not the path, but the object.

could you explain, please, how do to that?

 

thanks

[STRAT]

another easy method to do this (by the brief you described in your p.m.) is to render the animation fully through with each of the six items.

 

so you'll have 6 separate animations, each animation will be exactly the same except with it's own object in the animation.

 

then either in video post or rendering out through max's backround environmental materal (using an IFL) or using some other comping app (like adobe premier) you can then composite or layer your 6 animations over the top of each other to produce another animation showing bits of all 6 animations in 1 animation.

 

get me?

[sp0on]

STRAT, thanks again, but now im getting really confused. im really new at this and im unfamiliar with most features in 3d studio viz. what i need to know, simply put, is: how do i make an object invisible? i know it can be done, i saw it briefly demonstrated (something with 0 = invisible, 1 = fully visible).

 

thanks again.