[Plugin Beta] Animator - v4.3d - 17 Mar 25

JQL · 20 May 2016, 20:58

Thanks Fredo, I'm starting it now!

fredo6 · 23 May 2016, 20:46

New Release: Animator - v1.0r - 23 May 16

Main changes:

Fixed tentatively a number of problems on Mac OSX signaled by Oxer, such as the size of the Video Generation dialog box and the video file generation by FFmpeg
Typing SpaceBar or a shortcut provoking a change of interactive tool now switch to Temporary Exit. A confirmation message is displayed. An option in Default Parameters allows to skip confirmation.
other bug fixing, in particular to avoid empty sequences

See main post for RBZ files

JQL · 23 May 2016, 21:27

Thanks for providing this solution so fast!

I will resume my endeavours with animator asap!

ntxdave · 23 May 2016, 22:04

Started to build a new animation with v1.0r. Was in the process of adding a translation sequence for the car and decided I had made an error so I hit X icon to escape without saving the sequence and now I have the screen below. I do not seem to be able to stop Animator or restart it. I did finally get the button to Back to Animator but the screen stayed the same.

I was finally able to continue by triple clicking in the viewport which killed Animator and I was able to restart it.

This has happened 3 times now.........

fredo6 · 23 May 2016, 22:28

Dave,

Just republished Animator 1.0r with the fix. Sorry for that.
LibFredo6 7.0r is unchanged.

I need also to think of an Escape, in case of bugs, because with the new Temporary exit feature, I got into a circular issue.

Fredo

ntxdave · 23 May 2016, 22:38

@fredo6 said:

Dave,

Just republished Animator 1.0r with the fix. Sorry for that.
LibFredo6 7.0r is unchanged.

I need also to think of an Escape, in case of bugs, because with the new Temporary exit feature, I got into a circular issue.

Fredo

Thanks.......I will update immediately

Tried the same thing - exiting the creation of a motion and it seemed back to normal (yes-it worked properly)

duanekemp · 28 May 2016, 12:31

New update downloaded today.

Thank you so much.

fredo6 · 1 Jun 2016, 23:07

New Release: Animator - v1.0t - 02 Jun 16

New Features
Visual Effects: Layer visibility, rendering style, shadow. This allows to set these parameters independently of views
Support of SketchFX Ex (thanks to Alberto and Fluid)
Preview in timeline (you need to set it up in Default Parameters)
Maintenance - Fixes and adjustments
Bug in Make film from selection
Non-ascii characters in model path and name made FFmpeg to fail - fixed
Position of the timeline (horizontal or vertical) is now retained across Sketchup sessions
Bug in Previw of video and sample image on Mac
Cosmetic changes in GUI

I'll try to make some videos to demo the features more in details.
In the meantime, here is a small GIF showing that you can play with styles, layer visibility and shadows independently of views (watch the palette, shadows and background style).

See main post for RBZ files

solo · 2 Jun 2016, 17:19

I am having issues with this release, see video.

ntxdave · 2 Jun 2016, 20:10

Hey Pete - that stuff looks familiar

solo · 2 Jun 2016, 20:13

@ntxdave said:

Hey Pete - that stuff looks familiar

lol, yeah, I was trying something out that I thought could help you but I am having issues making my idea work.

ntxdave · 2 Jun 2016, 20:15

@solo said:

@ntxdave said:

Hey Pete - that stuff looks familiar

lol, yeah, I was trying something out that I thought could help you but I am having issues making my idea work.

Care to share?

solo · 2 Jun 2016, 20:18

Trying to figure out how to do the water spray

ntxdave · 2 Jun 2016, 20:32

@solo said:

Trying to figure out how to do the water spray

I have it working (not as an animated texture) but have it showing up and then hiding. I also did one where I used the Video Texture plugin that animates the spray but it did not work well with Animator. The animation of the texture did not show at all.

Take a look at this thread: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=401%26amp;t=65021%26amp;p=597074#p597074

fredo6 · 5 Jun 2016, 00:02

New Release: Animator - v1.0u - 04 Jun 16

Maintenance and small evolutions

Rendering Style bug is fixed. Should now work
A Layer visibility element will now restore previous layer visibility when it is finished if it has a non-zero duration (as requested by ntxdave)
Consistent numbering in naming by default (as suggested by Rich O Brien)
You can now open components and groups when in temporary exit to Sketchup
Cosmetic changes in Video generation dialog box

See main post for RBZ files

ntxdave · 5 Jun 2016, 01:21

@fredo6 said:

New Release: Animator - v1.0u - 04 Jun 16

Maintenance and small evolutions

Rendering Style bug is fixed. Should now work

A Layer visibility element will now restore previous layer visibility when it is finished if it has a non-zero duration (as requested by ntxdave)

Consistent numbering in naming by default (as suggested by Rich O Brien)

You can now open components and groups when in temporary exit to Sketchup

Cosmetic changes in Video generation dialog box

See main post for RBZ files

Ran some quick tests........

Style now changes........

Layer turned on but did not turn off at the end of the duration

Was able to temporally exit and change the use the paint brush to edit an object.

My observation was that sequences were sequentially numbered...

Did not try to create a video yet.........

fredo6 · 5 Jun 2016, 14:49

@ntxdave said:

Layer turned on but did not turn off at the end of the duration

You need to hve a defined state for the layer visibility before your Layer visibility element.

In general, it's a good idea to place a view with shadow, style and layer visibility at the beginning of the film so that the animation always starts in a determined state.

Fredo

ntxdave · 5 Jun 2016, 15:33

@fredo6 said:

@ntxdave said:

Layer turned on but did not turn off at the end of the duration

You need to hve a defined state for the layer visibility before your Layer visibility element.

In general, it's a good idea to place a view with shadow, style and layer visibility at the beginning of the film so that the animation always starts in a determined state.

Fredo

Tried just putting a normal view at the beginning and it did not change anything. Then I added a layer view at the beginning with 0 seconds and all works well (see below).

Fredo, I am fine with this. I fully understand having to place this view at the beginning. It helps insure that we have captured the "default" setting for all layers. I like using the duration to control when the layer returns to its original state. It give me a better visual of when the layer state will be changed in one control rather than having to identify 2 controls which could wind up in different time lines. Thanks very much for implementing it this way.

I only have one last item to be able to do my full car wash (as I currently see it ). I need to be able to scale a couple of pieces. Now I have to go off and generate several different materials for different types of sprays/foams.

ntxdave · 5 Jun 2016, 16:27

OK - If I have multiple layers to show/hide, I cannot get it to work correctly (at least the way I would like) using the duration greater than 0.

Here is an example. I have 2 spray units. I have them at different times and different durations. They both turn on correctly but they do not turn off until after the 2nd layer is to be hidden.

I will try later using the original method of setting 0 duration for each layer to show and hide and see what happens. While this works, I was hoping the previous method would work as well. Maybe I am pushing the envelope a little too far. I will have multiple situations like this is a full wash. As previously stated, if a single control for each layer can be accomplished, IMO it would be much easier to manage.

Is this way out of perspective

OK - I see what is going on is that each time any action is taken, it is for ALL layers. Thus I would need to break my example down and have 5 layer visibility captures:

At beginning to capture the initial state of all layers
Beginning of the first spray to turn that layer on and the other spray layer off
Beginning of the second spray to turn that layer on and make sure the other layer is still on
End of the first spray to turn that layer off and make sure the other spray is still on (since in the case there is actually some overlap
End of the second spray to turn that layer off

Is it out of the question to ask if it is possible to control each layer independently?

ntxdave · 6 Jun 2016, 22:28

@solo said:

Trying to figure out how to do the water spray

Have not heard/seen anything more from and was wondering where you were headed with.