Scene animation with Animator

ntxdave

Now I am seeing more problems. When I open the model and try to replay the animation in Animator, all of the objects are misplaced.

Here is a copy of the SketchUp model. If you load it you will see it play the correct movements, but all of the objects are now in the wrong place. How do I keep this from happening?

Jesus - Animator Animation.skp

Now to tell you where I want to take this:

I want to add some "introductory" text and an image. Part of this will include also animating parts of the text and possibly the image.
I want to add some "exit text" that again, might include some animation.

I have had several thoughts about this and with scenes and tags(layers) this is pretty easy but with Animator, it seems like I have more options for the animation sequences.

All of this is really an exercise for me to learn more about controlling things in/with Animator. I have another project if mind that would use a lot of these same things. As I have said before, I have used Animator many times in the past. If you go to YouTube and look under my previous account (ntxdave) you can see several videos. Some of them use some additional features that I am not currently using.

ntxdave

OK, I was able to go back and save the model with everything in the right position to make the animation work correctly.

Here is an updated copy of the modelJesus - Animator Animation.skp

Now I need for someone to give me advice on how to save/create a camera position so that future developments will allow everything to show up in the right position(s).

I know, this is not a complicated model and all of this should be very easy to accomplish. As I said before, this seems very much different than things I have done in the past because of the collective movement of objects.

Once I have all of this worked out, I want to be able to assign a nice environment and try using Rayscaper to produce a rendered version of the final product.

Rich O Brien

@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:

try using Rayscaper to produce a rendered version of the final product.

Rayscaper does not support Animator.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien ok, I thought I saw something recently that said they were working on that.

fredo6

Can you copy/paste the error message as text from the Ruby Console. The screenshot does not show the head of the error message.

Also, always use the positioner (4th toolbar icon) to record the initial position of objects, precisely in case there are issues.

ntxdave

@fredo6 said in Scene animation with Animator:

Can you copy/paste the error message as text from the Ruby Console. The screenshot does not show the head of the error message.

There was no error message. I now have it working and ffmpeg is installed.

Also, always use the positioner (4th toolbar icon) to record the initial position of objects, precisely in case there are issues.

This is useful for me also. I am going to have several things located in the model so I will capture the camera position for each of the units.

ntxdave

Is there a way to adjust the camera position during an animation? As an example, I am going to move an object and I would like to move/change the camera as the movement occurs.

I know I used to have the camera follow a car as it went through a car was but it has been too long ago and I do not remember how I achieved it. DUH!

fredo6

Just create as many camera view as you like and place them along the timeline. Animator will interpolate the camera between them.

ntxdave

OK guys I keep going backwards. In the screen short below, I cannot seem to click on the right link to get the timeline back to the left side (like normal). Screenshot 2026-01-02 214025.png

I am also having a problem trying combine things to make a Clip. I thought you could hit the shift key and click on multiple items to create a Clip.

ntxdave

What are Kinematic objects and how are they used in SketchUp and Animator?

What are Trajections and how are they used in Animator?

What are Visual Effects and how are they used in Animator?
Visual Effects.png

Rich O Brien

@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:

What are Kinematic objects and how are they used in SketchUp and Animator?

@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:

What are Trajections and how are they used in Animator?

The buttons you are pointing at are the include/exclude in animation toggles.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks again @rich-o-brien. I can see that I did not look correctly to find these videos.

I am not sure I would ever use these features but then, who knows what is in the future. I will set the link up on my laptop for them so that I will not have a problem find them again.

I know the video I posted before is not very sophisticated but in the process, I now have a very much better understanding of how to use the combinations and layers/tags in SketchUp with Animator. At least I feel like I am moving forward and will be able to generate some videos with Animator to show a couple of models I am/have been working on.

Much of this progress has occurred because of your feedback.

ntxdave

Another issue/question. I have not been able to find and instructions/tutorials about how this transition feature works.

Yes, I can click on any of the transition types to see what it produces. However,

How would you go back to linear since that is not one of the panels shown?
Can you control the start time and duration of the transition?

My goal/objective here is to make a smooth transition from one clip to another. I would kind of like having the clip fade out and the next clip fade in. Is there a way to do that?

I have done a little messing around with the camera tools but I also wonder if anyone has any recommendations of which camera options to use. If I add a camera, how do I delete/remove it?

ntxdave

I am having more problems toady. The image below will show 2 problems I am having that I need some help with. The first problem is that I have something that got added to my animation that I do not know what it is and cannot find a way to delete it. The second problem is that I cannot purge items (like unused clips and segments).

Animator Problems.png

I also am having a problem getting a camera setting that will make everything show up correctly for all 3 of the clips (right now the clip for the introduction text and its animation (which accidentally got deleted)).

Here is a copy of the model so you can look at it and give me some feedback. Animator Learning.skp

BTW: On a positive note, I did figure out how to add an image as the background/watermark. I plan to use this capability on a couple of models/animations I am planning on creating/working on.

ntxdave

The plan for my latest animation projects is to have 3 sections/clips for each project:

Introduction - this section/clip would be an introduction to the animation. Primarily describing what the viewer is going to see in the animation (second clip) and what the project if for.
Animation - This is the main part of the project which is the animation of the SketchUp model. It actually might be made up of a single or multiple clips depending on what the model is all about and what I want the viewer to see.
Conclusion - There might be some projects where this section/clip is not included. However, if there, the purpose would be to provide information about what the viewer just saw and/or give credit to others if necessary.

Now, my last question is whether this should all be done in SketchUp using Animator or some other tools or would it be best to just do the animation (with Animator) in SketchUp and use some other tool to create the "full" video. In other words, should the introduction and conclusion be done in SketchUp or are there other tools where you could include the SketchUp animation. For what it is worth, I am using Windows 11.