Sketchup Animation Problem

billy786 · 4 Jun 2010, 05:55

Hey people, i wonder if anyone can help me. I've got a deadline approaching for this weekend and i'm having trouble creating an animation of my model. In both cases the frames are created yet when i try and play in windows media player, it says file is corrupted.

I have about 62 scenes, and my first attempt was set at 6sec between each which took 24Hrs to make. Second time i reduced to 2 secs which took 12hrs.The animation settings are set to Cinepack codec with 30 frames. Any assistance would be very much appreciated. I've restarted the computer and trying again, but i'm starting to worry now

Dell Studio XPS 8100
Windows 7
Intel Core i7 2.93Ghz
8Gb Ram
Nvidia Geforece GTS240
2Tb Harddisk

Regards,
Billy.

honoluludesktop · 4 Jun 2010, 06:30

Your scene transition is 6 sec, what was your scene delay, and your image width and height? Btw, if the delay is 0, does the animation run OK manually?

Gaieus · 4 Jun 2010, 06:58

Hi Billy and welcome.

How about trying to export as image sequences (not with the built in avi codecs) and compiling the video with a 3rd party video editor like VirtualDUB or similar?

When you select the file type for the animation, you can choose avi (on Windows) or some images...

billy786 · 4 Jun 2010, 17:46

Hi Thanks for the welcome and response!

The delay has always been set on 0 and works perfectly when ran manually. I know i may also have the option to either break avi files into smaller chunks (X No scenes per movie) or the images joined using a 3rd party program, though i would rather do this within sketchup itself purely for the reason that i have done this in the past and it has worked perfectly.

Now saying that i've only just recently updated my PC and before i would have less scenes with 4 secs transition and slow all this down using windows media player, which would cause stuttering in the end result. But now i've purchased a slightly higher spec. pc so that i could insert more scenes to make a smoother animation, and its a bit frustating with it not working after the investment! i'm sure you understand my pain!!

I restarted my pc started the animation at 7am GMT its now 18.42GMT completed 77% but not showing an estimated file size. Ive set this transition on 2 secs which seems ok when ran manually.

The width is 3400 height 1912, 16:9 frame rate 30

Gaieus · 4 Jun 2010, 20:12

OMG what are you doing with such a big animation??? I mean the pixel size!

Also, I would still suggest the image sequence as the SU animation export is well known as notoriously buggy on one hand and the Cinepack codec rather crappy on the other.

Most probably it is also some memory problem with such a huge animation thus the best practice to either export in smaller chunks or into images.

billy786 · 4 Jun 2010, 20:38

Thanks for the reply Gaieus, you know what i honestly dont know! hahaha i only do it to ensure a clear quality when viewed via dvd on projector screen, what size would you suggest?

Also I downloaded that virtualdub program, it looks rather confusing do you know if theres any tutorials around showing how i can put all the images together and set a transition between them using this?

@gaieus said:

OMG what are you doing with such a big animation??? I mean the pixel size!

Also, I would still suggest the image sequence as the SU animation export is well known as notoriously buggy on one hand and the Cinepack codec rather crappy on the other.

Most probably it is also some memory problem with such a huge animation thus the best practice to either export in smaller chunks or into images.

billy786 · 4 Jun 2010, 20:46

Would you by any chance know of another program, prefably freeware

@gaieus said:

Hi Billy and welcome.

How about trying to export as image sequences (not with the built in avi codecs) and compiling the video with a 3rd party video editor like VirtualDUB or similar?

When you select the file type for the animation, you can choose avi (on Windows) or some images...

Jim · 4 Jun 2010, 20:54

Here's a freeware one that assembles .jpg images, I don't think it works with any other image types.

NDrW Home

Personal Web site showing OS maps of my walks in the UK, manily the Peak District

(www.ndrw.co.uk)

honoluludesktop · 4 Jun 2010, 21:24

I calculate that for 62 scenes, 4 sec each by 30 fps the file size is about 2,454.5 MBs. WOW!!! Billy, you got a deadline, so go with what you know. Make smaller files, join them in Win Movie Maker, outputting a wmv file that is more compact then the avi. Wmv will run on any pc.