<![CDATA[MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE]]>Re: [Tutorial] Animator Quick Start
Subject: Animator (Fredo6) – Simple Beam Movement Through Machine Animation
Hello everyone,
I'm new to Animator by Fredo6 and am trying to create a very simple industrial animation for sales training purposes.
I have a SketchUp model of a glulam beam sanding machine. The machine itself remains stationary, and I simply want to animate a glulam beam moving through the machine.
My objective is:
Beam starts at the machine entrance.
Beam moves through the machine.
Beam exits the machine.
Eventually I would like to rotate the beam 90° or 180° and run it through again to demonstrate different sanding processes.
The beam is a separate SketchUp Group and can be selected independently from the machine.
So far I have:

  • Installed LibFredo6
  • Installed Animator v4.6a
  • Created a new film
  • Opened the Clip Editor and Positioner tools
  • Selected the beam group

However, I cannot determine the correct workflow to create the first movement animation.
When I open Positioner → Manage Positioners and click "Save current position as...", nothing appears to happen. No position is created and no prompt appears.
What is the correct sequence of steps to:

  • Register the beam as an animated object (actor?)
  • Create a starting position
  • Create an ending position
  • Animate the beam moving from Point A to Point B
  • Preview and export the animation

I am not trying to animate machinery, cameras, or complex assemblies. I simply need a beam to travel through a stationary machine.
If anyone has a step-by-step example for moving a single group/component through a model using Animator v4.6a, I would greatly appreciate the help.
Thank you.

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/164897/movement-through-machineRSS for NodeSat, 06 Jun 2026 22:52:30 GMTTue, 02 Jun 2026 14:29:11 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:17:05 GMT]]>

@ericdjohn said:

Is there an easy process?

Did you install FFmpeg?

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620892https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620892Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:17:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:34:34 GMT]]>I seem to be having problems making a MP4... probably doing something wrong. Is there an easy process?

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620886https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620886Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:34:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:24:45 GMT]]>got it thanks

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620885https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620885Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:24:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:30:59 GMT]]>Did you click New Movement?

It will refactor the GUI to a dedicated Movement panel.

The order of operation would be pick your transformation choice then select the object to apply that transformation to.

You don't pre-select objects. Pick type then object to apply type.

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620880https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620880Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:30:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 19:36:49 GMT]]>Thank you, but how do you select the object to move

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620878https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620878Tue, 02 Jun 2026 19:36:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:53:37 GMT]]>You need to use the Clip Editor (first icon on toolbar) to use the GUI to add a Movement

2f860fb8-514f-4224-b175-ee1dcad0d80b-image.jpeg

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620873https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620873Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:53:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MOVEMENT THROUGH MACHINE on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:35:20 GMT]]>Screenshot 2026-06-02 at 9.33.20 AM.png

]]>https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620872https://community.sketchucation.com/post/1620872Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:35:20 GMT