[Plugin]$ Keyframe Animation

Regular Polygon

There have been a few updates to Keyframe Animation since it was released three months ago. The current version is 1.3. The plug-in and user manual are available on the Download Page.

Version 1.1 made improvements to much of the code. A new algorithm generates the in between scenes over twice as fast as the original. They are important because you can export the tween scenes to an AVI movie.

Versions 1.2 and 1.3 have simplified the process for creating an animation. You no longer need to assign a unique name to each instance that you want to animate – that seemed to be the least intuitive, most tedious step in the whole process. The script will now automatically distinguish which instances are active and which are static. You don’t have to do anything.

The basic workflow can be summarized in five easy steps:

Add some scenes.
Select the first scene.
Move the objects where you want them.
Record the position data.
Select the next scene, and go to step 3.

This video tutorial illustrates the new workflow in version 1.3, and in the process, shows how to animate a Rubik’s Cube.

[flash=640,510:5q5jjjp5]http://www.youtube.com/v/ZmNmQ3izNnI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash:5q5jjjp5]

Regular Polygon

Thanks for bringing this to my attention everyone. Especially thanks to cperkins for sending me his model so I could see what was going on.

File size is not the problem. It turns out, there was an actual bug that stops the execution of the script before the tweens are generated. It was most prone to occur in models that have a lot of sub-components, so that is why large file size seemed to be a factor.

The bug must of crept into version 1.2. Anyway, it has been fixed, the new version is 1.3.1, and it is available on the Download page.

If you still have any issues after installing this new version, feel free to post them here, or send me a PM.

Thanks,

Regular Polygon

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd mention that version 1.4 is available. There is now a toolbar to facilitate the animation process. Here's a screenshot:

Keyframe Animation Toolbar

Thanks

nickdk

What is the status with VRay support? I couldn't locate the ticket at Chaosgroup.

Regards
Nick

Regular Polygon

Greetings,

There have been a couple updates since I last posted. The most frequent request (at least from the email I receive) has been to animate the objects’ visibility. So, as of version 1.6, objects can appear or disappear at any point in the animation.

Their visibility is controlled by putting the objects on layers, and then turning those layers on or off for each key frame. The tweens generate the objects with the same visibility that they had on the key frames, so the animation can be exported to a movie.

This demo animates the object visibility in a construction process. The bookcase parts all start off hidden. Their visibility is turned on when they are required for assembly, and they stay visible for the rest of the animation.

[flash=480,360:3oqdsb0a]http://www.youtube.com/v/WGozLwOerfY?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash:3oqdsb0a]

BTW, I ought to mention that there is a new website for all my plugins. If you haven’t visited, please check it out. The landing page for Keyframe Animation is regularpolygon.org/keyframe-animation/

Thanks

iichiversii

Correct me if im wrong but couldnt we do this with version 1.5 , once tweens are created you could turn off/on the layers in each tween and update each tween/scene, i dont understand how version 1.6 is different, is there any new features in 1.6 you can share with us, thank you

Regular Polygon

iichiversii, technically you could do this yourself in version 1.5. But to imply that it is simple to do, and no plugin is necessary to automate the process, is just plain false.

When the tweens are created for an animation, there are usually 500+ tweens, often over a 1000. Are you really going to go through 1000 scenes and manually adjust the visibility of the layers for each one? Even if you could update one scene every 10 seconds that would still take nearly three hours. You must have a lot more time on your hands than I do. I think most people would consider a script that automates this process to be a new feature. And that is probably why I received so many emails requesting it.

andybot

@nickdk said:

What is the status with VRay support? I couldn't locate the ticket at Chaosgroup.

Regards
Nick

Are you asking if vray will render the animations from Keyframe animation? The answer is no because vray loads the model and the views from the initial scene and then renders only that state. No layer or geometry changes will be generated.

andybot

By the way RP, nice to see added features Any progress on changing objects' scale?

iichiversii

@regular polygon said:

iichiversii, technically you could do this yourself in version 1.5. But to imply that it is simple to do, and no plugin is necessary to automate the process, is just plain false.

When the tweens are created for an animation, there are usually 500+ tweens, often over a 1000. Are you really going to go through 1000 scenes and manually adjust the visibility of the layers for each one? Even if you could update one scene every 10 seconds that would still take nearly three hours. You must have a lot more time on your hands than I do. I think most people would consider a script that automates this process to be a new feature. And that is probably why I received so many emails requesting it.

Im sorry if i offend, i didnt understand the feature fully, normally i do short clips with 30-50 tweens, i adjust my tweens then with layers, doesnt take to much time to do with so little tweens, im a great fan of keyframe_animation, with out it i wouldnt be able to create the animations im doing now, looking forward to the new updates, thank you

Regular Polygon

Hey iichiversii, thanks for putting things into perspective. I am sorry if I overreacted, which I probably did. I shouldn't write posts at 3 am, I guess.

iichiversii

lol, no worries,really am a fan of this plugin tho, its fantastic and im constantly mentioning it in my posts, heres a short clip i did using it, im looking forward to the next updates, im having 1 problem tho, my animations bugsplat everytime i animate a componant within a group, may i ask for a tutorial so i can see if im doing something i shouldnt be doing or does this happen alot??? , please dont over react,

[flash=640,480:1amf8kr5]http://www.youtube.com/v/QP1ILu_IWII?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash:1amf8kr5][/quote]

Regular Polygon

@iichiversii said:

im having 1 problem tho, my animations bugsplat everytime i animate a componant within a group, may i ask for a tutorial so i can see if im doing something i shouldnt be doing

You should be able to do that. I will PM you with the email address to send me your model so I can look into it.

Regular Polygon

@andybot said:

By the way RP, nice to see added features Any progress on changing objects' scale?

Now that animating object visibility is out of the way, animating the scale of objects is the new most requested feature. It has moved up to third place on my list of Planned Updates. I hope to knock off the first two items in version 1.7, and release it in January. They are more essential to the basic workflow, so I need to do them first. After that, I will get serious about trying to animate the scale of objects.

nickdk

I'm testing the plugin and it seems very nice! But when i try to create the 'tweens' no scenes are added, what could be wrong? V. 1.6

the file i'm working on has a ton of sub components and heavy geometry but I read that it shouldn't be a problem anymore?

I have tried to explode some of the components but it didn't help.

I tried to create tweens for a simple model and it worked.

.. OK I tried to explode everything and with 10FPS and 3 sec transitions it worked, but with 25fps and 30sec transitions it failed as before... this is very frustrating

iichiversii

On a good note, after PM with Regular Polygon i was directed in the right way on issues i had with keyframe_Animation and sub componants can be animated in a parent group/componant with simply highlighting the subcomponant within the parent group/componant and recording the subcomponant, and then recording the parent componant in the same scene, thank you Regular Polygon for your instructions, remember i never doubted you Doug

Regular Polygon

Thanks for clearing that up iichiversii.

I changed the workflow for subcomponents in version 1.5. Now, you have to open the parent component/group for editing by double-clicking on it. Then click the record button while the parent component is open. That records the position data for all the subcomponents.

It is not really any extra work, because you have to open the parent component in the first place to position the subcomponent. So, just click the record button at that time.

Regular Polygon

@nickdk said:

I'm testing the plugin and it seems very nice! But when i try to create the 'tweens' no scenes are added, what could be wrong? V. 1.6

The best way to reach me for support is at the email listed here on the Contact page. I don't check this forum every day, but I do check my email quite often. If your model is less than 25 MB, you can send it to that email address and I will check it out for any bugs.

fouronethirty

can't export section animation

Regular Polygon

@fouronethirty said:

can't export section animation

That is true. But I never claimed you could. The only scene properties that can be exported are camera location and visible layers. The other ones may be supported in the future. Section planes are currently fourth on the list of planned updates.