[Plugin] Animator - v4.6a - 18 Dec 25

[ntxdave]

@fredo6 thanks a ton for the reply. As you saw in my “edit”, I an also having a problem with the “view” position when I have all scenes in perspective. In this particular situation, I would like to have the “introduction” and “conclusion” scenes in parallel and the “animation”scene in perspective. Maybe this is an odd situation but I look forward to your resolution. I have another project in mind but will wait for your response. Again, thanks a ton for your response.

I hope I am not being a PITA with this.

[ntxdave]

Just to clarify (I hope) here is a video of the way I would like to present my model, but this one does not include the Animator animations I would like to include (as presented in my other post).Jesus Plaque Mixed.mp4

This video was created by just showing the 3 scenes in the model and using SketchUp's animation creating tool.

I hope this example contributes to the discussion about where I would like to see Animator go (only with the Animator features included).

BTW: I do not know why it goes back to the starting scene at the end. That is not what I would want though.

[ntxdave]

@fredo6 said in [Plugin] Animator - v4.6a - 18 Dec 25:

I will look into the bug, which seems to concern camera interpolation when in parallel projection.

I'll advise then.

Any update on this issue?

[fredo6]

It's because you transition between a camera in perspective (Introduction) and a camera in parallel projection.

There is no simple way to interpolate between both, eacept than to switch at a given time (beginning, end or middle).

Considering your animation, I think all views should be in parallel projection.

[fredo6]

Here is the video if you change the first Scene 'Introduction' to Parallel Projection.

Model Animation.mp4

[ntxdave]

OK, I need to go back and figure out which file you used because I change all of my scenes to parallel and everything worked fine. However, in the "version" I was working with I got it all to work but I need to make some adjustments (as you will see in my video).

So, bottom line for me, what I have learned ls:

• The camera setting "parallel" vs. "perspective" needs to be the same in every scene.

• The position of the camera needs to be the same in every scene. At least what I have seem is that if I turn on the axis, it needs to be in pretty much the same position for each scene or things will not present correctly. I guess what I was trying to say here is the Field Of View.

• Depending on the type of video/presentation you want to create, you need to evaluate very carefully what you want to achieve with each scene. As you can see in this presentation, I may have to give in and reevaluate if you should use Animator for the full project or do you do the animations with Animator and the other things, like my introduction and thank you scenes with another video generation tool.

However, let me say that I am still a big fan of Animator and want to keep working on the best way to achieve things. I do plan on going back and making some changes in this project and really appreciate the support and feedback I have gotten here.

[fredo6]

I test with a model Jesus Palque.skp which had the Introduction Scene in Perspective and 2 other scenes in Parallel Projection.

The egenration of the video was showing the error you got too, which is due to the transition between camera in Perspective and camera in Parallel Projection

I will fix the problem, but if all scenes are in Parallel Projection, you can generate the video.

[ntxdave]

OK, I do not know if this is the thread where we should be discussing this rather than the Scene animation with Animator thread, but I changed the "introduction" scene to Parallel Project and things are working now the way I wanted (although I did make a couple more edits).

Now for a real DUH on my part. When I was discussing what I thought were FOV issues turned out to be a DUH by me. When I was looking at the clips, if I did not select the same scene as the clip I thought things were not being presented with the correct FOV. When I woke up, I realized that if I had different scene selected than the one I was viewing the clip for, it would show me thing in the FOV of the selected scene and not the one I was viewing the clip of. Again DUH

Here is the latest version of my video (but I plan on maybe making some more "edits" to make some things a little fancier.

@fredo6 I apologize to you and hope I have not take this thread to far off topic.

[ntxdave]

OK, I think I finally figured some things out so here are my latest videos. I hope you enjoy them and they can be used to see how Animator can be used to generate animated presentationsl

GIF version:

MP4 sersion
Jesus Plaque - Fancy.mp4

I am also posting this in the Scene animation with Animator thread. The main point of that thread was to discuss how Animator can be used in multiple scenes for presentation purpose.

[DMetzig]

I'm a new user of Fredo6 Animator. I've been trying to animate the escapement mechanism of a pendulum clock, but SketchUp crashes frequently while I'm working with the animator. There are two groups in the animation, an Anchor group and an Escapement Wheel group. I have two sequences to control the rocking of the Anchor, one sequence that rocks or rotates the anchor a specified number of degrees in one direction immediately followed by a second sequence that rotates the anchor back in the oppose direction to the original starting position. This part seems to work well. I am also trying to create sequences for the escapement wheel motion that are synchronized with the anchor movement. The wheel is locked (not moving) when the anchor pallets are in the locked position and then rotates as the pallet on the anchor unlocks the wheel tooth and the wheel tooth then slides along the anchor impact face (to apply impulse/energy to the anchor) and then the wheel then "drops" or rotates unrestricted until it engages the locking face on the opposite pallet on the anchor. The Animator and Sketchup crash frequently while I am trying to adjust the motion of the escapement wheel to be synchronized with the anchor motion. This usually happens after about 5 or 10 minutes. I am using SketchUp 2026 Pro, version 26.2.243 on a Windows 11 machine and Animator version v4.6a. I have no idea why the software keeps crashing. I don't know if it is me doing something improper or if there is some sort of incompatibility between the versions of SketchUp and Animator that I am using. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fredo6]

It is difficult to tell without seeing the model with the animation actually. Just attach it here if you can or PM it to me. Thanks.