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A couple versions ago, I tried to insert a PNG image with a transparent background into an SU model with stylized lines. Problems! The PNG was not fully transparent and the line style did not show thru the background. This was a bug in SU and needed a workaround of using an image that without a background.
Has this been fixed in version 8? Or does anyone know of another (simpler) workaround?
- Joel
I added a short intro movie a few days ago. I had someone give the site a whole new design. It's looking good! This is the finished package. I have ideas for more movies but it is time now to promote it.
- Joel
Well, it's not really new, but it is twice as long. I added a bunch to it.
"I live my days playing the game of My Life … and I find that I stand on a layer … the life that allows me to play."
The Current of Life
on http://www.TreasureInside.net
Joel
Yes, something like that - but I need each cube centered exactly on an endpoint.
Here is my path and the component to copy. The curved path is broken up into short segments. Forget what I wrote about every 4".
This cube needs to repeated at every endpoint (about 120), with the x on the bottom of the cube centered on that endpoint. (And parallel to the line but I assume they'll have to be rotated manually.) I tried the Copy Along Path rb, but Copy to Path Nodes is not working for me. I got only 2 copies.
-- Joel
Ok, ten points to whoever can answer this question ...
I need to copy a component along a path. This path is an un-uniform curve, not a circle or straight line. The instances need to be exactly 4" apart on a path that's 20 feet long.
How? Is there a plugin for this?
-- Joel
Not Noticed But Obvious
A new movie is finished! On http://www.TreasureInside.net is short number 6. This is only 3 minutes long. All created with SU. All with a fun, funky animation style. All visual metaphors about feeling life inside me.
-- Joel
I have a model with a component that's repeated hundred of times (little LED lights). I need to figure out how many lights there are. I could could the instances, but there must be an easier way. Is there a utility that will count the number of a specific component in a model? -- Joel
My methods and workflow ... I'd be happy to answer any questions but I'm not sure what I can describe. I build all sets and props in SU. I write the script and give each line a static jpg or an animated scene. The images of me are hand-drawn tracings (by an artist friend) of digital photos. The tracings are scanned, then touched up and colored in Photoshop and then converted to PNG. The PNG images are inserted into the SU model for animations, or overlayed on jpg for static images. Then I export avi files and build the movie in Corel VideoStudio, with WAV voiceover recordings.
Does that make sense? (I hope so.) Does that sound easy? (It's not.) Each 5 min movie takes about two months. Lots of hours.
I am feverishly passionate about getting out this message: We carry magic. Feeling life itself inside us is finding a treasure.
-- Joel
I finished another one ... My Radio Store ... http://www.TreasureInside.net
All are created primarily with SU. People are hand-drawn .jpg drawings (traced over photos) and overlayed onto the background sets with video processing software. This gives a rough, stylistic animation that's ideal for short movies with low-bandwidth requirements for use online (eg YouTube). The series has a common theme - the quiet feeling of aliveness. They are visual metaphors about my personal discoveries.
Thanks, CMD, but I think the second is more complicated than that. The face twists and is flat in front and vertical on the sides. With an intersection, I can get the general shape (curves intersecting curves) but not the twist (curves intersecting curves intersecting curves) ... or am I missing something?
And that first construction ... please point me in the right direction. Is all of this (helix building, etc) in the SCF tutorials? -- Joel
Wow. I think I better go back to SU elementary school. Here is the second graphic again.
I am pretty confident with my SU knowhow ... except for one major hole. Curves! Not the single Arc kind, but the double and triple trippy curves on curves. I've been asked to model some constructions that are ... to say the least ... challenging. Perhaps heart attack material. I think I need some help.
Look at these two sketches please. A spiral, a curved edging. I have no idea how to do them. Any clues out there in SCFland?
-- Joel
Using SU gives me a animation style unlike any I've seen. It is a combination of 2d and 3d. The entire set and all props are modeled in SketchUp. SU also animates the camera very well. All the subject movements are done with jpg frame overlays or jpg images in SU - at about 1 per second. Most animation nowadays is 24 to 30 fps (frames per second). The people images are mostly created from photos of myself which are traced, doctored, colored, overlayed, and inserted. It gives a rough, non-slick look that I like a lot, kinda low-tech in this hi-tech world. - Joel
"The Bellfield Lunar Anomaly" is finished!
This is the 4th movie in the Treasure Inside series. These are short animated movies that are created with SketchUp. I am a SU modeler so I am using SU to create the sets and generate the avi files. If you've seen it before, you will notice that the website has been redesigned. The movies are being broadcast on tv and winning film festival awards. I am sure many SketchUp users would be interested.
Oh yeah! Also, movies #2 and #3 have new versions. The website has a whole now design.
These movies can be watched at the Treasure Inside website: http://www.treasureinside.net
I posted this message many months ago. Since then I've been working a lot on this series of movies and I have 3 completed. The 4th will be finished in a week or two. They are mostly created with SketchUp. I also use a video editor and overlay drawings onto the SU backgrounds (Corel VideoStudio and Photoshop). All these movies are at TreasureInside.net
All moving characters are done with drawings, with frames about 1 or 2 per second. This gives it a rough look and a very unique style in our world of hi-tech 3d animation. Animation nowadays is often 25 or 30 fps with a full range of colors and details.
I hated Antics and stopped using it (uninstalled it!) as soon as I was finished with that first movie, Plain Sight. Content is very hard to work with. Motion is difficult to control. Camera and timeline options are not at all intuitive. I tried other animation software and had big difficulties with all of them. (Of course, someone else may be very successful with a system that I could not learn.)
I ended up going back to SU, which I know well and use a lot for my work. The only good thing about Antics (for me) was that I could create elaborate sets and props with SU and then import them into Antics. You can see this in Plain Sight. I created the sets and props for my other movies with SU, just the same. SU has excellent camera animation control. I only had to find a way to animate things on camera. I do this with the overlayed drawings. (And, as you can see, I'm no great artist. I end up with a funky childish doodle that makes a great style.)
Joel
Thankee thankee! Yes, I posted the first, Plain Sight, when it was finished. I have plans for a few more, all about the same theme, and I will announce them here when each is on the site. My next, now in progress - "The Bellfield Lunar Anomaly" - is the best! -- Joel
I recently finished my third movie with SketchUp -- 2 Directions. These are short (5 minute) movies I am making for my Treasure Inside series, all have SU sets and hand-sketched people.
-- Joel