[Plugin] CameraKeyMaker 1.0 (Update 2011-04-09)

macgile

macgile, i have edited the script as you suggested and it's working fine with me, too. thanks very much, i can now move the camera keys from all views now. I have another question... have you tried using this on a walkthrough? I seem to lose the camera angle even if I edit the camera path and the target to make sure that I see my models as I glide through them. the line between the key and the target does not seem to be what it is supposed to be when I hit up button..

going around a single model is a breeze but zigzagging through different models is a different story.

hope this script really develops into a plugin all of us cannot do without... keep it up, sir. thanks much!!!

hi isda

The final path of the eye and the target is smoothed by Bezier interpolation.
you can see into view because they are drawn dashed.
Consider the offset between keys and smoothed path to adjust the control keys.

In the next version this offset will be smaller, and higher accuracy.

I also added the ability to move around the target (the locked or not)
or rotate the eye of the camera.
This should facilitate the zigzagging between objects.

Your suggestions are welcomed

driven

this is basically working on the mac using ShiftQ, and mac arrow keycodes, the html needs some work as you need to right click after the dialog appears to load the page content, but then it works.

is it possible to loop over an object, the camera rotates twice with this path [see pic]

cheers

john
can this be made to work?

macgile

@driven said:

this is basically working on the mac using ShiftQ, and mac arrow keycodes, the html needs some work as you need to right click after the dialog appears to load the page content, but then it works.

is it possible to loop over an object, the camera rotates twice with this path [see pic]

cheers

john
[attachment=0:2glsdkjl]loopAnim.png[/attachment:2glsdkjl]

hi driven
I don't understand what you want?
in the picture the camera rotates around object but look to outside!!!!

driven

hi macgile

sorry that path pic was me trying to edit out the camera rotate,
on this simple version the camera rotates on scene 4.

john loop over cube

isda

In the next version this offset will be smaller, and higher accuracy.

I also added the ability to move around the target (the locked or not)
or rotate the eye of the camera.
This should facilitate the zigzagging between objects.

Hi Macgile,

Can't wait to try the next version (I don't mean to pressure you by this.. haha (= ). God bless you in your pursuit to excellence.

The ability to rotate the eye of the camera is a great idea, as well.

I don't know if I am pushing the limit but I remember one 3D software where you can see the camera on the path and being able to see (from the top view) in what direction the cam is facing much like the AdvanceCameraTool... but anyways, as it is, I believe this plugin is great already.. kudos to you.

macgile

@isda said:

In the next version this offset will be smaller, and higher accuracy.

I also added the ability to move around the target (the locked or not)
or rotate the eye of the camera.
This should facilitate the zigzagging between objects.

Hi Macgile,

Can't wait to try the next version (I don't mean to pressure you by this.. haha (= ). God bless you in your pursuit to excellence.

The ability to rotate the eye of the camera is a great idea, as well.

I don't know if I am pushing the limit but I remember one 3D software where you can see the camera on the path and being able to see (from the top view) in what direction the cam is facing much like the AdvanceCameraTool... but anyways, as it is, I believe this plugin is great already.. kudos to you.

hi isda
yes drarq already suggesting this improvement.
but it will be for a future release.
now I made a version that works for everyone (PC and MAC OS)
I fix bugs and improve the design.

best regards

putnik

macgile, this is awesome! Thank you!

macgile

@putnik said:

macgile, this is awesome! Thank you!

Thank's putnik

best regard

macgile

@driven said:

hi macgile

sorry that path pic was me trying to edit out the camera rotate,
on this simple version the camera rotates on scene 4.

john[attachment=0:1hzgzkb0]loop2.png[/attachment:1hzgzkb0]

hi driven
Ok in the next release you can do it with rotate around camera target.

best regard

alphannurridho

@pixero said:

Just did a quick test and it's supersmooth.
Love it already.

please tell me how i can make video from sketchup with render image..

Enzay

Hey,

I noticed you updated something for "large models". Mine might be excessively large but I'm trying to get a "flightpath" along a road and acrross a bridge. This looks like it would work great for that because it is able to set the camera point andthe point of focus. I however, found that starting the script made the model disappear. It seems to have zoomed way out and I can't zoom in to set the camera position. Wondering if this has to do with the model being so large. My road chainage is around 2.6km. I tried using flightpath.rb but it still has the lag between scenes with 0 scene delay so it's not doing me much good.

Has anyone thought about making a script that places points or cameras (like advanced camera tools) and connects those points afterwards to make a smooth path? That would allow the user to set points without "being" the camera. Just some thoughts...

Enzay.

DesignChest

Hi

Just tried to install your plug in but i'm getting the error box - no file to load. Any ideas?

TIG

@designchest said:

Hi
Just tried to install your plug in but I'm getting the error box - no file to load. Any ideas?
Celina
Please get a screen-capture of the error-message and post it that way we can then try to help solve the issue. I suspect from what you say here and other of your posts that you are not installing these plugins properly...
Please reread the installation instructions that accompany almost all Plugins
This thread covers many issues http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=35746
Also as a MAC user please double check you are using the right Plugins folder and that any files that are supplied in a subfolder within a zip file are left inside an equivalent subfolder inside the Plugins folder - some poor [or badly optioned] unzip tools ignore the subfolders and don't extract properly. Also if you have inadvertently put any such files into Plugins that shouldn't be there please remove them before restarting Sketchup as these could we cause unexpected problems as all scripts directly within Plugins will auto-load...

DesignChest

Thanks Tig

I knew it must be something i was not doing. Will follow your instructs and fingers crossed I'll be on my way. I have had a bit of headway with some of the installs now.

Trying to get my animations up to scratch for a client whom I am hoping to design a great film set for. So used to hand drafting that the world of sketchup is just opening up to me, so bear with me - a little green still.

]

Viztecture

Great plugin! Couple of questions tho,

How do you control the speed of the animation after turning it into scenes. I say this because on the model I have, I get only one very slow speed regardless of how many transition frames I use, i have used numbers from 1 to 999 and I see no difference.

Also does this actually work with Vray? If so does anyone know how?

Cheers

Viztecture

Ok I used scene transitions.rb and it works a treat now. New problem now lol. The animation is not smooth, im still getting jumps as the camera slows towards the next scene. Its fine on the preview however... any suggestions?

Viztecture

Ok think I got it, in preferences, SU scene transitions need to be longer than the actual keymaker transitions, i.e max 100 secs. This seems to smooth over the animation and stops SU taking over. Im still confused why i have to workaround this, guess im doing something wrong

*EDIT . actually that hasn't worked

jcohen71

I tried to use CameraKeyMaker on a Mac running Sketchup 8, but ran in to the same problem others have mentioned: I cannot seem to find an equivilant key combination to Alt-Q used on Windows, and so I can't place any camera keys. (neither Opt-Q or Ctrl-Q work for me)

If there's a simple fix for this I'd love to hear about it, otherwise I'll eagerly wait for the next version. This seems like a great tool that we could use on many projects.

Best Regards,

Joshua Cohen
Fat Pencil Studio
+1.503.465.4533
info@fatpencilstudio.com

driven

@jcohen71 said:

If there's a simple fix for this I'd love to hear about it,

in camera_key_maker.rb
I changed line 387 to read

if key == 81 and $preview == false

I then did a search and replace for the word Alt and replaced it with Shift,

so Shift+ Q works on my mac...

TIG

I do not know this tool in any detail... but in passing... I see that there are $ global variables like '$preview' these are dangerous - especially if they have simplistic names [like 'preview'] as other authors might have used them [ill-advisedly] too, as globals works across all scripts in that session - better to use '@preview' as an instance variable, or '@@preview' as a class variable, to hold your data specifically for your own tool so such potential clashes are avoided...