Animated parameters on constraints stop working
This article applies to XSI version 5.0
If you animate the parameters of a rigid constraint, such as the activeness of a hinge, the parameters may not be correctly read during playback if the constraint is not displayed. The most common occurance of this is when working in single-panel mode with "Control objects" turned off in the visibility menu, or with a hidden rigid constraint.
This problem has been fixed for the next release, but until then there is a simple workaround. This workaround will fix the problem on constraints that currently have animated parameters, but will not prevent the problem if you do it to a constraint that has no animated parameters.
To fix the problem, you must remove the constraint from the "Constraints" group (under "Environments"). Then, drag and drop the constraint back into the group. This can also be done in scripting, too. For example:
RemoveFromGroup "Environments.Environment.Constraints", "BallSocket" CopyPaste "BallSocket", , "Environments.Environment.Constraints", 1
This only needs to be done once per affected constraint, and should persist when you save the scene. Animating (or removing animation) new parameters will not re-break the constraint
