Hello from Antics

Antics · 19 Feb 2008, 20:42

Hello SketchUp Community,

I'm with Antics, a user-friendly 3D animation software application that is very complementary to SketchUp and Google Earth.

While SketchUp provides easy 3D modeling, Antics does the same for 3D animation.

If you have ever wanted to add fluid character animations, camera choreography, lighting, interactive props, vehicles, furniture, etc. to your SketchUp sets, please see http://www.antics3d.com

If you are interested in pre-viz, architectural walkthroughs, more lively presentations or just want to produced 3D animated movies for YouTube, you'll want to learn how you can use Antics in conjunction with SketchUp.

Just like SketchUp, Antics also offers a free version and a similarly priced ProPack version.

I look forward to participating in these forums!

Brad

remus · 19 Feb 2008, 22:27

Seems like an interesting bit of software, i'll try and have a play round with it if i get any free time.

Gaieus · 22 Feb 2008, 07:31

Moved to the SU forum.

gcon · 21 Apr 2008, 14:28

Hi,

I'm also with Antics, I just wanted to let you know that we've just made our latest version available. The big news in V3.1 is that you can now import SketchUp models directly into Antics. Another great feature is that you can browse the Google 3D Warehouse from within Antics, choose from the thousands of free models available, then drop that model straight into your Antics scene.

There's a short video that shows you how it all works here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC9ZIeEadqQ

We're really excited about these new features and hope you will give Antics a try. It's still available as a free download. You can get the fully featured unrestricted Basepack from http://www.antics3d.com and use it for as long as you want.

Enjoy!

JClements · 22 Apr 2008, 00:50

gcon:

questions:

Can you animate SU 0bjects along a path and controll their orientation along that path?

If so, could you use your program to imported an entire SU model and use it to animate various geometry contained within the model and could you prepare a video demonstrating this?

gcon · 22 Apr 2008, 08:43

There are a couple of ways you can get SU objects moving around in an Antics scene. Antics has a 'Create Path' tool, so the easiest way would be to draw out the path you want the object to follow, then command the object to 'snap to' or 'blend to' the path. The path can be edited as required, raised off the 'ground', moved around the scene and so on.

Alternatively, in the object's properties you could assign it a speed (in metres per second). Once the object has a speed you can use the 'Direct' tool to simply point and click where you want the object to go to.

You can then right-click on the object, select 'Edit Pivot' and control which way the object points as it follows the path.

So it's certainly possible to import an SU model into Antics and animate it as you wish.

There's a new 'Tips & Tricks' area on our forum dedicated to SU, it has some FAQs and is a great place to start.

http://antics3d.com/forum.php?action=topics&cat_id=24

We don't have a tutorial specifically for animating SU models as yet, but we do have a new SketchUp overview tutorial which gives a bit more detail than the one I posted earlier:
http://www.antics3d.com/index.php?action=tutorial_category&category_id=1

Antics · 22 Apr 2008, 17:10

@jclements said:

gcon:

questions:

Can you animate SU 0bjects along a path and controll their orientation along that path?

If so, could you use your program to imported an entire SU model and use it to animate various geometry contained within the model and could you prepare a video demonstrating this?

Here's a link to a quick video I produced that demonstrates how you can take an imported SketchUp Jet model and the Aircraft Carrier itself, and animate the imported props by directing them to follow a path. This took about 5 minutes to import the aircraft carrier and jet, draw a path for the jet to follow and then direct the jet to follow the path. I left the path in the render so that you could see how it was done.

The camera was animated in Antics and I added in a nice space map in Antics as well.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Didier Bur · 22 Apr 2008, 18:16

Hi,
I wanted to register before downloading Antics but the registration page asks for a "promotionnal code". What's that ???
If you enter the same code as the "security code" it doesn't work

Antics · 22 Apr 2008, 18:45

@didier bur said:

Hi,
I wanted to register before downloading Antics but the registration page asks for a "promotionnal code". What's that ???
If you enter the same code as the "security code" it doesn't work

Please ignore the promotional code field and leave it blank and you will be able to complete your registration... sorry for the confusion.

pilou · 22 Apr 2008, 21:43

free version is a free version or a free version 30 days trial?

Antics · 22 Apr 2008, 22:02

@unknownuser said:

free version is a free version or a free version 30 days trial?

Antics V3.1 BasePack is a free fully-functional version, not a lite-version or personal learning edition either, and it never times out. Just like SketchUp has its free version, so does Antics. All of the product differentials between the BasePack and ProPack can be found via the link below, but I do want to stress that it is fully functional, no expiration date and has no feature limitations.

http://www.antics3d.com/index.php?action=content&content_id=117

pilou · 22 Apr 2008, 22:27

thx for precicions

rabbit · 24 Apr 2008, 03:18

So i have registered on the antics site, but to download the software i have to go through the antics / digital river checkout and "buy" something for $0.00, and in order to do that i have to enter a whole lot more personal info which is something i am not prepared to do...

even google does not require this... I have registered on the site, antics have acknowledged this with a return email, that should be the end of it.

I cannot tell you how much spam and other unrelated rubbish arrives every time my details are given to someone like this, and enough is enough....

cheers
rabbit

JClements · 24 Apr 2008, 04:11

"...that should be the end of it"

Not sure what you meant. You're dropping trying out Antics or Antics will change the requirement for all the personal info?

juju · 24 Apr 2008, 07:41

rabbit: I think your fears are justified, however I don't think they are justified in this instance. I, for one, am sure Antics3D have no desire to send you spam or sell your contact details.

You also have to face up to the fact that those are their terms you'll have to submit to if you want a free version (or Pro version for that matter) of their software. I'm sure there are other freeware animation software you could try if you don't like the terms and conditions...

Didier Bur · 24 Apr 2008, 08:17

Hi,
Where the hell is the download button ? There is none
I have finally registered and found that I had to do as if I wanted to buy this for 0.00Euros,
filled all the fields with an *, clicked Next, and they want additionnal information blablabla
finally got a window "Thank you for ordering, please wait..." then FINALLY alink to a download place (same goes for the Basepack).
Pfff, never seen a site like this. Anyway, thanks to Antics for providing this for free, I'll give it a try and hope they are not sending tons of spam...

gcon · 24 Apr 2008, 13:38

I can assure you that anyone who downloads the free BasePack will not be getting any spam from us, and we're certainly not in the business of harvesting contact details and selling them on!

I completely appreciate that the download is more complicated than it should be. Essentially this is because the free version of Antics is still tied in with our pay-for content delivery system. So unfortunately the only way to get your hands on the download is to go through the charade of 'buying' Antics for $0. This is something we're looking at as a matter of urgency with a view to separating out the free download. We don't want to put obstacles in people's way!

If anyone has had the time to play around with it, we would love to hear what you think of V3.1, in particular the SU import. And of course if you have any questions just let us know.

Gary Conway
Antics

Antics · 24 Apr 2008, 16:00

@rabbit said:

So i have registered on the antics site, but to download the software i have to go through the antics / digital river checkout and "buy" something for $0.00, and in order to do that i have to enter a whole lot more personal info which is something i am not prepared to do...

even google does not require this... I have registered on the site, antics have acknowledged this with a return email, that should be the end of it.

I cannot tell you how much spam and other unrelated rubbish arrives every time my details are given to someone like this, and enough is enough....

cheers
rabbit

Hi rabbit,
I understand your concern, but I wanted to reassure you that Antics does not distribute, sell or share our user's personal information with anyone. Your information is kept private and will not result in increased spam or junk email.
Regards,
Brad

JClements · 24 Apr 2008, 17:08

Gary,

I think you'd really benefit by doing a simple video of how to import an SU model and animate a couple SU objects.

I don't have much time to spend investigating new software, but such a demo would probably do the trick.

An example model could be of a simple house (a cube with a roof), a green flat plane in front to represent the lawn, a car, a driveway along side the house to a street, a street, and person on the front lawn. Show how to import the model, draw a motion-path from the street to the end of the driveway, link the car to the path. After the car is "parked" in the driveway (or while it is traveling along the driveway), show the person on the lawn move towards the car and how to queue this. Finally, a change in position in the camera during or at the end of the animations.

Regards

P.S. I can supply you such a model if need be.

Simple Model.skp

gcon · 25 Apr 2008, 10:49

Hi John, many thanks for the model, I'll feed your suggestions back to the tutorials team.

In the meantime we do have a short video that shows you how to import a model of a baseball stadium and get Antics characters animated:
http://www.antics3d.com/media/media/tutorial/01_sketchup_tutorial.wmv

It focusses on pulling content in from Google Warehouse, but the principle is the same if you imported your own SU models.

With regard to getting familiar with Antics as quickly as possible, we have two new workshops which are a great place to start. Each workshop is split into two parts, and they will quickly take you through the basics of using Antics and then onto some more advanced features. Each workshop has it's own Antics project that you can download so you can follow the action in the video for yourself.

The workshops are here:
http://www.antics3d.com/index.php?action=content&content_id=138

And finally there's a tutorial video for just about any aspect of Antics you might want to know more about here:

http://www.antics3d.com/index.php?action=content&content_id=52