Whats Your Best Method Of Animation With SU?
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Hi Everyone,
Well, I am sure that no one will be surprised that my best method of animation with SU is Keyframe Animation.
But that is not why I am posting here. I would just like to clarify the differences between my plugin, Keyframe Animation, and SU Animate's new key frame animation feature.
@unknownuser said:
SUA recently released a pretty major update that now includes key frames. I've toyed with Keyframe, but haven't used it for anything so I don't know how it compares.
@iichiversii said:
i also have su animate and with the current release of the new version last month i believe it has its own version of keyframe animation, havent played around with it as of yet but i suggest try it out in su animate before buying keyframe animation, im sure they both do the same from the tutorials iv seen
SU Animate recently came out with a new feature that they claim supports Key Frame Animations. I released a plugin last year named Keyframe Animation. Since they are both called the same thing, I suppose everyone just naturally assumes that they must do the same thing. So, that is the misconception that I would like to clear up.
First of all, SU Animate V4 does not interpolate rotations correctly. It has exactly the same problem that you may have experienced with Proper Animation. They both rely on a buggy method in the SketchUp Ruby API, which does not interpolate rotations correctly (unless the axis of rotation passes through the origin of the component). Keyframe Animation, on the other hand, uses my own algorithm to interpolate rotations correctly about any point or axis.
Oh, yes, I know what you are saying. There is that video of SU Animate that “proves” it can rotate objects between key frames.
[flash=410,238:1izrjc36]http://www.youtube.com/v/9zGXASSD7oM?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash:1izrjc36]
The door rotates correctly in this video because the edge that they rotate about just happens to pass through the origin of the door's component. If they had tried to rotate the door about the opposite edge, things would of got ugly. Really, most rotations, like 99%, are not going to be interpolated correctly. So, this video may be a bit contrived.
OK, I digress... Another difference is that Keyframe Animation allows you to animate subcomponents and subgroups. It is very general, you can nest animated objects inside one another to any depth. This lets you move objects relative to one another like in this mannequin video, or this video of the rolling gears. The SU Animate key frames feature, on the other hand, does not permit you to animate subcomponents or subgroups.
Those are the two main differences. Both plugins move objects along a straight line correctly. Both plugins animate the visibility of objects. They both export the animation to a movie.
Hope that clears things up somewhat.
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You know what, i prefer Key_Animation, the feature which enables you to animate subcomponents is fantastic, and rotating is also flawless, i use keyframe more than su_animate because its simple to use, su_animate can be technical at times, i still didnt play around with the keyframe function in su_animate and i dont think i ever will either because keyframe animation does what i want it to do, also looking at keyframe_animations next features for future relises looks even more promising, for example the scale animation feature where you can animate scales, so an object can srink or double in size in the animation, amazing, looking forward to playing with this feature, and just so you all know keyframe animation is far cheaper to buy than Su_animate, need i say more, keyframe_animation is far better if you ask me
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Ashscott what exactly are you trying to animate anyways, i use SU to animate constantly, and im happy with what i can do with SU, I wouldnt look into purchasing outside programs unless i really had to, PM me if you like.
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I've been away a long time, but am glad I came by and found this thread. I have been using SU to make animations for several years now. I started with simple 3-4 scene animations to answer questions put forth in woodworking forum I'm involved in. Too crude, not satisfied.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aktvJLNnud8I then moved to doing cells by hand for smother transitions. Way too much work and still not satisfied.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYVg3Vg9A34I tried SketchyPhysics. Easier, but not that easy to get things to work right in SP. And the quality was not there since I had to use screen capture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSBFMZpVb1cI then discovered SU Animate and was able to do things much more easily. I produced a bunch of animations with SU Animate and thought it was my answer to creating decent videos without so much manual work. But there were issues with the movements along the path, you didn't always get what you wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjMt9ZLMr0Then I heard about Keyframe Animation while doing a quick look-see here. Tried it and liked it. In fact I think it is the answer for me and what I want to do. There are some things that have yet been incorporated; hidden layers and components for instance, but I've been told they are in the works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVek9wMdD9oI recently purchased the latest version SU Animate because it is supposed to have key frame capability as well as handle hidden layers and components. So far I have been disappointed, as the learning curve is extremely steep, at least for me. So much so that I have yet to produce anything.
As to my work flow: I create everything in SU (of course). I then start putting together a table with proposed scenes (video, not SU), which gets modified continuously. Using the table I start making the key frames (scenes - SU). Once satisfied with the key frames for a scene, I have the tweens generated. Since I have a fairly old/slow machine, I only render the tweens with SU. The resulting PNG files are then compiled in Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Where I also add titles, music, sound effects, and the occasional voice over.
I have a new machine coming later this month, so I will finally be able to try better rendering. I would love any suggestions as to which renders I should look into.
Now that you are sufficiently bored, please return to your regular activities.
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Nice sell there by regular polygon. I must admit that I'm pretty sold on keyframe animation at the moment - did a short animation with it and was impressed. I have bought it and it was good buying at $25.
The only remaining wildcard for me is the emergence of SIMFONIA: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=42053
If it's as good as it's demo video looks then I'll be really impressed.
Another potential option from my perspective, although it's a lot more work, would be exporting to blender and animating/rendering from there..... needs some serious commitment though.
Dik, you asked about renderers....I use Twilight, it has good support, is easy to use and supports animations: http://twilightrender.com/
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I really wasn't expecting such favorable reviews. Great to see that everyone is a satisfied customer. Thanks!
@dik harrison said:
Then I heard about Keyframe Animation while doing a quick look-see here. Tried it and liked it. In fact I think it is the answer for me and what I want to do. There are some things that have yet been incorporated; hidden layers and components for instance, but I've been told they are in the works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVek9wMdD9oDik, I remember you were one of several people who wanted to hide animated objects on layers. I am happy to say that this feature is available in version 1.6. I announced it on the Plugins forum last week. Here is the [url=http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=33417&start=90#p371528:2b62b8jh]post[/url:2b62b8jh].
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@regular polygon said:
Dik, I remember you were one of several people who wanted to hide animated objects on layers. I am happy to say that this feature is available in version 1.6. I announced it on the Plugins forum last week. Here is the post.
Yep, I've been using keyframe animation 1.6 and have been hiding and revealing objects on layers like a madman - works a treat.
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Hi All,
I had been looking for an animation tool that allows me to animate really technical stuff - I think I may have found it in Simfonia Animation Tools.
It's not the easiest tool to learn but the documentation is pretty comprehensive, however, it is surprisingly powerful.
This is an animation I have made whilst learning to use the tool(s) of Simfonia. The parameters of this animation are controlled by a .csv file - note how rotor blade speed slowly increases, the angle of the chopper tilts forward at an accelerating rate, the chopper begins moving forward while still rising upwards and then accelerates off screen at an increasing rate - these are all things that are not possible to control with other plugins (correct me if I'm wrong) and I'm just getting started.
If you can be bothered spending the time to go through the documentation I recommend checking this tool out.
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