Animator: Parametric Animation plugin - Discussion

fredo6 · 2 Feb 2016, 22:21

@solo said:

I hope that this animation gets supported by the SU integrated render engines like Twilight, Thea, Podium, Corona, Vray, etc.

Ditto! I know they'd be very interested.

I tentatively built an API for acting externally on the animation, so that a rendering software can drive the animation frame by frame.

Animator - API for Renderers - v1.pdf

I am in contact with tomasz for Thea.

But I don't know how to reach the others

Fredo

fredo6 · 2 Feb 2016, 22:25

@ntxdave said:

I know this is pushing it but I would also like for it to be supported by one of the extensions that support exporting the model to WebGL.

Imagine being able to show you model on a web page with no plugin that included object animations.

That would be a good feature, not just for animation.

I'll have to explore WebGL to understand what it is about and if it is applicable in the case of an animation.

I know Tak2hata has released a plugin doing WebGL export, so he is probably the best expert to contact.

Fredo

solo · 2 Feb 2016, 22:35

So when can we play?

Planning a beta team?

otb designworks · 2 Feb 2016, 23:02

Re beta test team: Pick Me Pick Me!!!

I am more excited for this plugin than anything I have seen come out of the official team since they gave us Layout!

thomthom · 3 Feb 2016, 00:06

@fredo6 said:

But I don't know how to reach the others

PM me who you are looking for - I'll see what I can do. I have the ChaosGroup contacts for sure - but I should be able to obtain other as well.

solo · 3 Feb 2016, 17:01

I have had so many issues in the past with the available tools/plugins, that is why this is a huge thing.

See video below, a recent attempt to use SU and Thea, It failed and i needed to finally go into Thea studio to complete animation. I also needed to have layers animate, so I could show and hide panels, will it be possible with this plugin?

fredo6 · 3 Feb 2016, 21:16

@solo said:

I also needed to have layers animate, so I could show and hide panels, will it be possible with this plugin?

Animator should normally support layer visibility, either attached to views or independently of views.

Below a short example. Watch the green cylinder and red cube, and layers panel.

[attachment=0:1ubxfxj3]Animator%20Layer%20visibility%20simple.gif[/attachment:1ubxfxj3]

Fredo

JQL · 3 Feb 2016, 21:40

Fredo and what about animating stuff by cycling through scenes as usual, is it also possible?

I mean it's so advanced in it's own that I can't understand if that is a possibility as it's what a basic animation plugin for SU does...

If it is, can we do it without showing UI? In fullscreen mode, to present stuff live to an audience?

fredo6 · 3 Feb 2016, 22:07

@jql said:

Fredo and what about animating stuff by cycling through scenes as usual, is it also possible?

I mean it's so advanced in it's own that I can't understand if that is a possibility as it's what a basic animation plugin for SU does...

If it is, can we do it without showing UI? In fullscreen mode, to present stuff live to an audience?

Animator is not based on the native Scene animation mechanism of Sketchup. You can actually position the animation at any given time. Indeed, it is possible to develop a small GUI to make short cuts to specified time.

Also, there is a Player mode, with a much smaller palette. I plan to make the option to hide it when playing animation.

Fredo

pilou · 3 Feb 2016, 22:51

Seems very promising!

JQL · 3 Feb 2016, 23:07

We will find something you didn't think of!

fredo6 · 3 Feb 2016, 23:15

@jql said:

We will find something you didn't think of!

That's why the thread was started

Pixero · 3 Feb 2016, 23:20

What about how hierarchies are created?
Can that be made separate from how objects are grouped?
And what about inverse kinematic?

I'm also very interested in ways to fine tune camera animation paths and speed.

fredo6 · 3 Feb 2016, 23:21

@pixero said:

What about how hierarchies are created?
Can that be made separate from how objects are grouped?
And what about inverse kinematic?

I am not clear about what is "Reverse kinematic" and "hierarchies".

Could you illustrate ?

Fredo

Pixero · 4 Feb 2016, 00:10

Forward kinematics. You rotate a shoulder and the arm and hand follows.
Inverse kinematics. You move the hand and the arm and shoulder rotates to match the hands movement.

I think it would be great to have a way of creating the hierarchy independent of how objects are grouped.
Something like bones in other software where you create a structure that you bind geometry to.
How you model and group geometry doesn't always match how you want to animate them.

Rich O Brien · 4 Feb 2016, 07:33

How do you control the motion of an object over time? Is it linear interpolation?

If an object moves along X at 2m/s can you control the acceleration from 0 to 2m/s in some way?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

fredo6 · 4 Feb 2016, 08:03

@rich o brien said:

How do you control the motion of an object over time? Is it linear interpolation?

If an object moves along X at 2m/s can you control the acceleration from 0 to 2m/s in some way?

This should be addressed with Easing, which is supported in the Animator engine (in the initial video, you can see that the explosion of Homer is accelerated).

But I still need to build the GUI for custom easing.

By the way, I don't know if the appropriate term in English would be 'Easing' or 'Pacing'.

Fredo