[Plugin] Animator - v4.5a - 22 Jul 25

meapiper

Can I use this extension with Maxwell Render to create a rendered video? I believe I need to creates multiple scenes to bring into Maxwell.

fredo6

@meapiper said:

Can I use this extension with Maxwell Render to create a rendered video? I believe I need to creates multiple scenes to bring into Maxwell.

I have no API to Maxwell, so it is not supported in Direct mode by Animator.

And I doubt that Maxwell support the reverse mode (as Thea does), because they would have contacted me.

So short answer is NO.

Fredo

fredo6

New Release: Animator - v2.4d - 14 Jun 19

Requirement: LibFredo6 v8.7f

Minor release

Added a permanent FFMeg button to be able to change the location of the FFmpeg executable
Extension of validity

See plugin home page of Animator for Download of RBZ from the PluginStore.

See Main Post of the Animator thread for more information.

fredo6

New Release: Animator - v2.5a - 11 Sep 19

Requirement: LibFredo6 v9.1b

Minor release

fixed some bug around video generation
Extension of validity

See plugin home page of Animator for Download of RBZ from the PluginStore.

See Main Post of the Animator thread for more information.

yonofun

Any advice concerning ffmpeg video download. I followed the link and the FFmpeg.org pdf directions but didn't find the exact steps available and got into a baited ads trap and downloaded similarly labeled ffmpeg files that were unrelated. I successfully created an edit in animator and would love to get it to mp4.

fredo6

@yonofun said:

Any advice concerning ffmpeg video download. I followed the link and the FFmpeg.org pdf directions but didn't find the exact steps available and got into a baited ads trap and downloaded similarly labeled ffmpeg files that were unrelated. I successfully created an edit in animator and would love to get it to mp4.

For Mac, here is the download page.

Then I suggest you pick the latest build of FFmpeg for Mac (dated 3 Jan 2020).

https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/macos64/static/ffmpeg-20200102-81172b5-macos64-static.zip

Just extract the ffmpegexecutable in the ** bin**subfolder and put it in a known place where you will point to from Animator.

fredo6

New Release: Animator - v2.6a - 12 Jan 20

Requirement: LibFredo6 v9.5

Minor release

New instructions for FFmpeg installation
Extension of validity

See plugin home page of Animator for Download of RBZ from the PluginStore.

See Main Post of the Animator thread for more information.

stopping

Hi there,

thank you for this incredible plugin! I've been using it for about half a year now creating animation films and it's truly one of the greatest SU plugins out there.

However, since yesterday afternoon I'm experiencing a few bugs.

Animations aren't previewed in the editor
I can't select a specific time in my timeline any more. On mouseover it hovers in turquoise, however, nothing happens upon clicking. When I temporarily exit to SU and return to Animator it has then selected the moment I wasn't able to select previously. However, it doesn't show the animations that should have happened up to this point.
When I proceed to "Generate a Video for the Film" it does not show a pop up window. It just hides all menus and displays a red frame around the editor.

All these issues occured from one moment to the other. It was fine yesterday morning but started behaving like this in the afternoon. I tried to reinstall both the animator as well as the lib but it didn't help. I then proceeded to try the plugins in SU17 - same issues here.

I'm using Win 10 Pro 64 Bit, SU19.2.222, Lib 9.5g, Animator 2.6a

Here are the lines from the Ruby Console upon opening the animator:

Error; #<ArgumentError; wrong number of arguments (given 2, expected 3)>
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6spline.rbe;46;in `evaluate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;291;in `bezier'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `call'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `double'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;246;in `block in standard_function_calculate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;254;in `standard_function_calculate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;214;in `standard_interpolate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;61;in `interpolate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;988;in `animal_apply_easing_oscillation'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;920;in `animal_calculate_ratio'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;852;in `block in animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `each'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;638;in `animal_animate_processing'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;574;in `animal_animate_film'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1356;in `clip_animate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1534;in `notify_from_clip_animation'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;239;in `call'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;239;in `notify_event'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;447;in `perform'
...

And this is what I get when I try to select a specific time from the timeline:

Error; #<ArgumentError; wrong number of arguments (given 2, expected 3)>
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6spline.rbe;46;in `evaluate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;291;in `bezier'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `call'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `double'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;246;in `block in standard_function_calculate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;58;in `interpolate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;988;in `animal_apply_easing_oscillation'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;927;in `animal_calculate_ratio'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;852;in `block in animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `each'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;638;in `animal_animate_processing'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;574;in `animal_animate_film'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1356;in `clip_animate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1534;in `notify_from_clip_animation'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;239;in `call'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;239;in `notify_event'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;447;in `perform'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;317;in `rewind'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6animationengine.rbe;466;in `goto_time'
...

This is the result from selecting "Generate a Video for the Film":

RENDERING INIT
Status natural = {}
Status thea = ;not_supported
Status ambient_occlusion = ;not_supported
Status sketchFX = ;not_supported
Status twilight = ;not_supported

VRAY Init
Status vray = ;not_supported
Error; #<ArgumentError; wrong number of arguments (given 2, expected 3)>
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6spline.rbe;46;in `evaluate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;291;in `bezier'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `call'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;260;in `double'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;246;in `block in standard_function_calculate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_!libfredo6/body_lib6oscillation.rbe;58;in `interpolate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;988;in `animal_apply_easing_oscillation'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;920;in `animal_calculate_ratio'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;852;in `block in animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `each'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;845;in `animal_animate_contribution'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;638;in `animal_animate_processing'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatoranimal.rbe;574;in `animal_animate_film'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1356;in `clip_animate'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatorclipmanager.rbe;1340;in `clip_animate_rewind'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatordialogvideogeneration.rbe;582;in `assign_clip'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatordialogvideogeneration.rbe;559;in `build_list_clips'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatordialogvideogeneration.rbe;363;in `dialog_invoke'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatortool.rbe;2206;in `movie_dialog'
c;/users/steff/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2019/sketchup/plugins/fredo6_animator/animatortool.rbe;2176;in `movie_clip_generation'
...

fredo6

Thanks for signaling.

It should normally be fixed with LibFredo6 9.5h, just published.

Fredo

stopping

@fredo6 said:

Thanks for signaling.

It should normally be fixed with LibFredo6 9.5h, just published.

Fredo

Excellent, Thanks for the quick reply! That actually solved it!

Emersonvip

any chance to work with Enscape?

fredo6

@emersonvip said:

any chance to work with Enscape?

No for the time being. I would need to liaise with the Enscape developers to see if something can be done.

Fredo

Emersonvip

That would be wonderful.

MechaHerc

Hi guys, i got problem with new version, am i missing something here?

the exploded filter not working in vray rendered..

Vray Rendered

Sketchup Animation

Chelle

Hi,

I love the animator and it works great for creating spinning camera angles of my building designs however I've found an issue when rendering animations involving movement and kinetics of doors.

The animation works fine within Sketchup and in Animator. It also shows on the interactive render within Vray.
However when it comes to creating the MP4, it is only rendering the first image of the closed doors on repeat and not creating an animation.

This is the video which I am trying to render using Vray Next (working when just using Sketchup):

This is an example of the videos I have been creating where it has worked fine and rendered in Vray:

Please help as I am loving the software so far and would like the animated door videos to match the showcasing of the model.

Versions I am using:
Sketchup - Sketchup Pro 2020
Vray - Vray Next 4.20.01 Feb 18 2020
Fredo6 Animator - 2.6c - 19 Mar 20

fredo6

Could you post or PM the model.

Difficult to find out without.

Also, when you run the video generation, could you leave the Ruby Console open. There are traces showing the processing of frames. And there may be errors as well.

Thanks

Fredo

Chelle

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

I've attached the model as well for you to look at.

Ruby Console was showing the following, however I was having the same issue where it was rendering the first frame on repeat/no movement :

RENDERING INIT
Status natural = {}
Status thea = ;not_supported
Status ambient_occlusion = ;not_supported
Status sketchFX = ;not_supported
Status twilight = ;not_supported

VRAY Init
Status vray = nil
;beg_time => 0
;end_time => 6.0
;frame_rate => 15
;speed_factor => 1.0
;reversed_play => nil
;transparent => false
;dimX => 1440
;dimY => 864
;dim_mode => "r5_3"
;filter => {
}  (;filter)
;root_dir => (Don't want to post this bit publicly)
;movie_dir => "Cedar Garden Room Doors - 12-Apr-2020 10-18-12"
;movie_name => "Door Move"
;date_modified => 1586615101.854707
;movie_formats => {
   ;mp4 => true
   ;mov => false
}  (;movie_formats)
;rendering_method => ;vray
MOVIE PX = 1440 PY = 864 transpa = false

VRAY Movie frame 1 animation time = 0.00s 
Path = U1586683108_Image01.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 2.00s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 4.00s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 5.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 8.46s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 10.47s

VRAY Movie frame 2 animation time = 0.07s 
Path = U1586683108_Image02.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 1.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 3.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 5.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 7.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 9.99s

VRAY Movie frame 3 animation time = 0.13s 
Path = U1586683108_Image03.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 2.01s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 4.01s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 6.01s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 8.02s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 10.01s

VRAY Movie frame 4 animation time = 0.20s 
Path = U1586683108_Image04.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 2.00s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 4.02s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 6.02s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 8.02s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 10.02s

VRAY Movie frame 5 animation time = 0.27s 
Path = U1586683108_Image05.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 1.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 3.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 5.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 7.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 9.99s

VRAY Movie frame 6 animation time = 0.33s 
Path = U1586683108_Image06.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 2.00s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 4.00s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 5.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 8.01s
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 10.02s
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 12.03s

VRAY Movie frame 7 animation time = 0.40s 
Path = U1586683108_Image07.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 6
VRay rendering not finished yet elapsed = 1.99s
VRAY Status check - status = 1
VRAY Error or Time out

VRAY Movie frame 8 animation time = 0.47s 
Path = U1586683108_Image08.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
INTERRUPT true
VRAY STOP timer = 31539
VRAY STOP timer =

I stopped the render at this point as this is when there is a gap in the door which is easily visible to see if it is working.

Thanks.

Model I'm Using

Serge73

@fredo6 said:

Could you post or PM the model.

Also, when you run the video generation, could you leave the Ruby Console open. There are traces showing the processing of frames. And there may be errors as well.

Fredo

The problem appears on any primitive model. For example, rectilinear movement of a cube.

The problem with SketchUP 2020 and V-REY 4.20.01
Render only the first frame. The clip consists of the same frames, the duration is not important.

there is a problem on the forum

;beg_time => 0
;end_time => 2.0
;frame_rate => 25
;speed_factor => 1.0
;reversed_play => false
;transparent => false
;dimX => 740
;dimY => 416
;dim_mode => "r16_9"
;filter => {
}  (;filter)
;root_dir => "C;/TEMP/Animator Videos"
;movie_dir => "test - 14-Apr-2020 23-57-29"
;movie_name => "Film 1"
;date_modified => 1586890168.103433
;movie_formats => {
   ;mp4 => true
   ;mov => false
}  (;movie_formats)
;rendering_method => ;vray
MOVIE PX = 740 PY = 416 transpa = false

VRAY Movie frame 1 animation time = 0.00s 
Path = U1586890672_Image01.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 1.99s

VRAY Movie frame 2 animation time = 0.04s 
Path = U1586890672_Image02.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 1.99s

VRAY Movie frame 3 animation time = 0.08s 
Path = U1586890672_Image03.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 2.00s


......cut out........


VRAY Movie frame 49 animation time = 1.92s 
Path = U1586890672_Image49.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 2.00s

VRAY Movie frame 50 animation time = 1.96s 
Path = U1586890672_Image50.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 1.99s

VRAY Movie frame 51 animation time = 2.00s 
Path = U1586890672_Image51.png
AFTER launching Rendering and Timer; status = true
VRAY Status check - status = 4
VRAY Finished after 2.00s
VRAY STOP timer = 

Command FFmpeg for mp4 = "C;/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg.exe" -framerate 25 -i "U1586890672_Image%02d.png" -c;v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -q;v 1  "Film 1.mp4" 2> FFmpeg_log_mp4.txt
===> Status FFmpeg for mp4 = true

Command FFmpeg for mov = "C;/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg.exe" -i "Film 1.mp4" -acodec copy -vcodec copy -f mov "Film 1.mov" 2> FFmpeg_log_mov.txt
===> Status FFmpeg for mov = true

TonyAU

Hi,
Before I get into my issue I would like to thank Fredo for the hard work in creating this plug-in, it's awesome!!
Now I just need to check if anyone else is having issues with animating camera views, For some reason in this release the camera's seem to be glitching.. If I save a camera view in the animator, they start in the correct position then jump out to an unexpected view then finish on the correct location.. There's no fluidity to the movement, not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong though.. It definitely could be..

Let me know your thoughts

Cheers..

fredo6

@tonyAU

It would help to have the model.

Do you use only ONE camera or several?