Simple animation - rotation about an axis?
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Hi, I also recommend SimFonIA Animation Tools for animating inside SketchUp. Here is one of my animations done with it...
Cheers!
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I am in the same predicament. I have a large material handling/parcel sortation system which a client is requesting be displayed upon a large monitor in his lobby, where people can interact with it. All I want to do is spin the entire facility about a central axis, and control the speed of the rotation as well as the size of the exported video.
Investigating different animation plugins is overwhelming. I want something very simple, but it seems that I need to invest a day immersing myself in a plugin just to learn the basics, and at the end of the day I don't know if it will do what I want without having to buy the entire package.
I have tried Podium and SimFonIA, and both seem buggy (the documentation for the latter doesn't seem to be originally written in English, which compounds the issue). I also just tried to simply use Sketchup's animation using scenes, but the animation zooms in and out between scenes, and I want it smoother.
I am willing to dive into a plugin, as long as I know it will do what I want at the end of the day, and I'm not spinning my wheels. That's why I need suggestions. I'd rather not spend a ton of money on it, since all I need is a simple rotation loop and all the other bells and whistles are unnecessary.
Any assistance or input would be greatly appreciated.
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@tk0001 said:
I also just tried to simply use Sketchup's animation using scenes, but the animation zooms in and out between scenes, and I want it smoother.
It shouldn't do that unless you change camera positions and zoom when setting up the scenes. You can also set up Updating of scenes to not change or record camera setting parameters. The example I posted doesn't show any camera changes at all.
That video is still available although I don't know why it won't run in the blog post. Try this link. Sorry about the ads. they are supposed to be disabled but they still show.
I'd do some of that animation stuff differently but the idea is there.
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Sounds like you need to use something like Sketchfab.
You can upload the whole model and interact with it. -
@box said:
Sounds like you need to use something like Sketchfab.
You can upload the whole model and interact with it.Woah, this may be a game changer. Thanks for sharing it. I will play around with this and see if it can do what I'm envisioning.
I want to be able to highlight certain subsystems within the entire facility by graying out the rest of the model, and then be able to interact with those as well. I hope this is something that can be handled by sketchfab, because my alternative is to pay an animator big $ to do it!
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@dave r said:
@tk0001 said:
I also just tried to simply use Sketchup's animation using scenes, but the animation zooms in and out between scenes, and I want it smoother.
It shouldn't do that unless you change camera positions and zoom when setting up the scenes. You can also set up Updating of scenes to not change or record camera setting parameters. The example I posted doesn't show any camera changes at all.
That video is still available although I don't know why it won't run in the blog post. Try this link. Sorry about the ads. they are supposed to be disabled but they still show.
I'd do some of that animation stuff differently but the idea is there.
Ah, thanks for the new link. Now that I see the example, I understand the theory. My issue is the model may be too big for this technique to effectively work (maybe I'm wrong).
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Grabcad is another option you may want to explore if you are thinking along those lines.
http://grabcad.com/workbench -
@box said:
Grabcad is another option you may want to explore if you are thinking along those lines.
http://grabcad.com/workbenchI'll look into this as well, but for now I'm looking for something simple that will give me the ability to spin the model on an axis and export the video. Do you know of a solid plugin that can accomplish this?
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As I said in my first post to this thread, the normal SU tools will do that.
Place your model centered on the origin and use the camera standard views (front, left, right.......) to set up four scenes to create a simple rotation and export the animation.
You can export it as a vid or as images to create a gif -
@box said:
As I said in my first post to this thread, the normal SU tools will do that.
Place your model centered on the origin and use the camera standard views (front, left, right.......) to set up four scenes to create a simple rotation and export the animation.
You can export it as a vid or as images to create a gifForgive me for being obtuse, but I need an elevated view, not just front, sides, and back. So I created my 4 ISO views and played it back, and the view "bounced" between each view. It was not a smooth, seamless orbit of the model.
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@dave r said:
@tk0001 said:
I also just tried to simply use Sketchup's animation using scenes, but the animation zooms in and out between scenes, and I want it smoother.
It shouldn't do that unless you change camera positions and zoom when setting up the scenes. You can also set up Updating of scenes to not change or record camera setting parameters. The example I posted doesn't show any camera changes at all.
I believe Dave addressed my issue here, but I'm afraid I need a little more of an in-depth explanation in order to grasp it.
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@box said:
As I said in my first post to this thread, the normal SU tools will do that.
Place your model centered on the origin and use the camera standard views (front, left, right.......) to set up four scenes to create a simple rotation and export the animation.
You can export it as a vid or as images to create a gifThat's how I made this animation.
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@tk0001 said:
I believe Dave addressed my issue here, but I'm afraid I need a little more of an in-depth explanation in order to grasp it.
What do you need? If the camera remains stationary as it does in my lock stitch and sideboard animations, there won't be any zooming or anything. If you need to move the camera between scenes, you could establish specific points for the camera along a path. You could do that with the native Position Camera tool or use something like Bezier Flightpath. For simply making it appear as if an object is moving maybe you don't need to move the camera at all.
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If you just want to move around and look at different parts of your site from different angles, you just need to set the scenes as you want them and in a sensible order.
I made this vid since your last post, with a little time you can make something very nice and neat with the built in tools.[screenr:2mui69hz]6ImH[/screenr:2mui69hz]
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@tk0001 said:
@box said:
As I said in my first post to this thread, the normal SU tools will do that.
Place your model centered on the origin and use the camera standard views (front, left, right.......) to set up four scenes to create a simple rotation and export the animation.
You can export it as a vid or as images to create a gifForgive me for being obtuse, but I need an elevated view, not just front, sides, and back. So I created my 4 ISO views and played it back, and the view "bounced" between each view. It was not a smooth, seamless orbit of the model.
Would this be close enough? Cycle through the scenes.
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Thanks for spending the time on this with me, guys. Unfortunately, the two examples you provided are not what I'm looking for. I know I can achieve this through setting up scenes in SU. I need a continuous orbiting view with no "bouncing" or hesitation.
What I have is a 3D model of a large parcel sortation facility (see attached image). The manager of the facility wants me to animate the model and have it displayed on a monitor. There is more to it, but essentially I need a tool that can record a video of a camera slowly orbiting the model. This will essentially be the "screensaver" mode.
There is a plugin I downloaded recently from the plugin store called "animation 2". It provides exactly what I need but I can't seem to record the animation and export it. But if you were to download this plugin, then go to Camera --> Animations --> Spin View, this is exactly what I'm looking for. It starts at the ground, then does a spiraling orbit around the model.
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Hi, if you want to record and export the animation from "animation 2" then I recommend you get "Fraps".
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I don't know what you mean by Bouncing. But I think you are missing the point of the built in animation, you can set the scenes any way you want, change the frame rate, the scene delay, the scene transition...... in other words you build the animation you want rather than an automated setup.
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Okay, I figured it out. In a test file, I got a the camera to orbit a small piece of equipment exactly like I wanted. The key was being able to position the camera...AND aim it at a common fixed point. I knew you could position the camera and create a scene, but I was not aware that you could click, then drag the view of the camera to a fixed point. That was the piece I was missing. Once I figured that out, everything fell into place. No plugins were necessary, as was mentioned.
Thanks for the help, and if you were trying to get me to see the point above and I just missed it, my apologies.
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