Objects on path pop when animated (Cars on road)

[biglittlepictures]

Here is a video of the popping problem i cant seem to overcome.
https://youtu.be/mJtMtlFvUKI

Basically the cars are randomly popping forward. 

I have a randomize with lots of cars and spacing going into default of a a linear node with path input.  For start of the linear node i have a blank gap node that ic an animate the left padding of to flow along path.  This works, but it is popping randomly as seen.  I suspect it is because as each car leaves the path its re-fitting, or something, and i dont want it to do that.



This appears to be a bug.  If i only have one path per railclone object, it doesn't pop.  If i use one railclone, and have it go to several splines, with several Linear nodes, it pops.   I was trying to share resources to make edits easier... but that appears to be the issue.   An unfoprtunate scenario, every street has to be unique RC object to correct the popping.

I even tried making the randomize node unique for each path, but it still pops and fails.
I also tried making on path that loops back around to cover all the streets, but the constant axis changes really throws off the cars, and they start gimbal locking and flipping all over the place.

[Michal Karmazín]

Hi,

If possible, please feel free to upload / send us your scene (ideally simplified and containing just this problematic object(s)). Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

[biglittlepictures]

sending file to helpdesk@itoosoft.com and referencing this post.

[Michal Karmazín]

Replied by email.

Instead of animating the Left Padding value for the Start Segment, using a slightly different style setup would be recommendable for these purposes - unchecking the "Full Lenght" under the Base Splines rollout and animating the Start Parameter of the used Base Spline.

[biglittlepictures]

This did indeed work, but with one caveat.  The lengths of the roads have to be similar.  If you have one road longer than the others, and the end of the road gets hit by a car, a pop will happen.  Simple extending the splines to be similar lengths off in the distance seemed to fix this.