Scene animation with Animator
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OK, after some more “learning” and trying to understand, I think I have figured out what is going on and wonder if there is a way to resolve it.
I started the model in the example by creating a 3D box. I then added a color to each of the faces. The I started adding text and other objects as parts of scenes. If you look at it, I added the “face” name to the front, right, left and back of the 3D box. So, as an example, I created a scene named “Front” using the front face of the 3D box. I then added other items and assigned a tag/layer to the text and other objects. I then used this same approach for the other views.
Now when I add a camera in Animator, I used the name of the scene and all seemed to go well until I try move through the “scenes” itfinallt dawned on me is that when I go from one scene to another it is (I think) using the face side of the 3D box to control what is being shown. As an example, when it goes from, say front, to right, it is using the SketchUp camera setting to navigate between the scenes. Thus it rotates the 3D box to the camera view that I used to create the scene but no applying the tag/layer setting the matches the scene settings.
I hope this description makes sense. In other words, IMO, the script is using the SketchUp face view orientation instead of the scene settings. Again, I hope this makes sense.
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OK, I think I am making some progress/learning. Here is my latest video. Visibility Test.mp4
I realize this is not very complicated but during the development process, I think I have learned some new things about how to do some things. Now I want to try to combine this with something in another scene so that I can have two scenes in a model that combines capabilities like this. At the rate I am going/earning though, this will probably not happen for a couple of days.
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@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:
this will probably not happen for a couple of days
But what you learn is permanent. That is why I advocate for people to stay the course and troubleshoot themselves.
Plus you get a dopamine hit every time you figure stuff out. Getting spoon fed answers has the opposite effect.
Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp 📖
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@Rich-O-Brien said in Scene animation with Animator:
@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:
this will probably not happen for a couple of days
But what you learn is permanent. That is why I advocate for people to stay the course and troubleshoot themselves.
Plus you get a dopamine hit every time you figure stuff out. Getting spoon fed answers has the opposite effect.
Thanks @rich-o-brien
Don’t give up on meI am going to figure this stuff out. I think from what I learned today (by first looking at an old video and file that I did a few years ago) and the applying some of the same things (primarily the visibility feature). When I get back to this, I want to try the following:
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Save what I have done so far as a clip
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Create a second scene that has some similar features as the existing one (visibility and animation)
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Possibily, but maybe not right away, camera positioning.
Again, thanks for the response and if I have offended @fredo6 in any way i apologize. I am going to figure this stuff out and learn how to take full advantage of the features/capabilities of Animator. IMO it is a great tool that has a lot of power that I hope I can use for some things I would like to and, hopefully, help others see.
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Again, more progress. As it turns out, I think the problem I was having in the past was not a problem with Animator but rather my lack of understanding of how to use the Visibility tool. Well, I think I have worked it out (still more to learn but definitely making progress). Here is my latest video that includes the use of scenes, camera positions/views, and animations in a scene. While there are some awkward movements, the bottom line is that I was able to accomplish what I was attempting to do. I was able to capture each scene and its movements into a clip. I am sharing the video to let you see that I am moving forward.
Now for a couple of final questions/comments:
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Is there some place where I can learn more about the visibility tool. In particular, when you look at the various options as I have pointed out in this image.
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I think with what I have finally learned, that my idea of an Animator video of an animated model with an introduction scene an animation scene, and a conclusion scene is completely possible.
As always, I would appreciate any comments and I really want to thank both @rich-o-brien and @fredo6 for their patience and the feedback they have given me up to this point.
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@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:
Is there some place where I can learn more about the visibility tool
Not really. Just experiment. Most are default SketchUp features reimagined to be used in an animation scenario. Hover for tooltips.
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OK, will have to”mess around”.
I think Animator is a very strong tool but needs some documentation so that people would/could use it even more.
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@rich-o-brien and @fredo6 I would like to suggest that we set up a new thread category for Animator called Animator Tips and Tricks that hopefully would give Animator some more attention. If you look at the image below, I would then like to suggest that you also set up some subcategories as outlined in the image.
Hope you guys do not think I am crazy. As I learn more, I think that Animator has a lot of power, but people do not know how to take advantage of it .
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There are videos and there is already a Tip and Trick thread for Animator.
My plan is to rewrite the UI of Animator, but only once the Mac version of Sketchup is migrated to Qt and share the same code as on Windows. I will lkely use HTML dialogs to have a better positioning of the UI elements in the workspace (especially if you have multiple screens) and a more guided interface.
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@fredo6 said in Scene animation with Animator:
There are videos and there is already a Tip and Trick thread for Animator.
Yes, I know there are videos (and I have watched several) but as you can tell from this thread, there are times when I have problems finding answers about some tools. I did not find the Tip and Trick thread for Animator. Can you give me a link?
My plan is to rewrite the UI of Animator, but only once the Mac version of Sketchup is migrated to Qt and share the same code as on Windows. I will lkely use HTML dialogs to have a better positioning of the UI elements in the workspace (especially if you have multiple screens) and a more guided interface.
Looking forward to this.
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@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:
Can you give me a link?
It is pinned to this suforum.
Animator Beta
General discussion about Animator for SketchUp
sketchucation (community.sketchucation.com)
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