@Rich-O-Brien said in Scene animation with Animator:

@ntxdave said in Scene animation with Animator:

Am I being unrealistic as to the type of stuff I should do with Animator?

Horses for courses.

I think you need to spend time learning it

I have been doing a lot to learn it (IMO), also @fredo6 has been working with me. He even found a bug related to one of the first files I shared and created an update which resolved the problem. know I am getting old and do not use SketchUp as much as I used to. But it seems that some of the issues I am having are more related to some things I am doing in native SketchUp rather than Animator.

If I do some of the stuff I want to do in addition to the Animator animation, I still need to find another product (video editor) that I can afford ( or free). All of this is for my enjoyment/pleasure. As we age (at least some of us) do things like this for pleasure/hobby and unfortunately cost does become a factor.

Even though this has been a little frustrating and a learning challenge, I want to continue and want people like you to not give up on me. Even though I still cannot get everything to work (as of now) the things I have learned have been fun.

OK, I had everything working in the Camer Positioning 6 file so I copied it and tried rearranging some things. In particular, I tried moving the Box One scene and camera capture to the beginning and it through everything off. So, I am becoming more confused as to what my "rules" need to be. Maybe I need to just do the object movement portion in Animator and do the "other stuff" in a video editor (which is something @rich-o-brien had suggested).

Am I being unrealistic as to the type of stuff I should do with Animator?

OK - I went back to the 6 file and got everything to work fine.

Now, this file is closer to where I am trying to go but I am having several problems with it. Hope you can straighten me out.
Camera Positioning 5.skp

@fredo6 Which camera tool are you using?

I have tried both types and I seem to be getting scene views instead of the current screen shot.

@fredo6 I just updated to LibFredo6 v15.8b and I am having more problems. In particular, when I try to take a picture, it does not seem to select the view i need/want. I tried working with both of the files I posted before.

Can you please give me an updated instruction of which of the camera options I should click on.

Also, should since I am using layers/tags on every scene, should I apply the layer/tag visibility option to the entire animation of just each segment

Maybe I am not going about things correctly. Actually, the version 4 is closer to what I have in mind. I am thinking about a couple of models/animations where I want some text (and maybe some animations) before I show the actual animation (which might involve more than one SketchUp scene and then maybe some more text after the animation giving credits or other comments.

@fredo6 No, I am not getting errors.

Look at this file. The last two segments (Box One and Box Two) are not showing up correctly in the animation. I have tried multiple times and I do not see what I am doing wrong.
Camera Positioning 5.skp

OK, I did some more testing, and I think I have made some progress. Here is a different SketchUp file that is getting pretty close. I think you will see the progress and can point out my mistake so I can get it right.

Here is the new file: Camera Positioning 6.skp

Since the last update to LibFredo6 v15.9a I am having problems creating an animation with multiple scene views. Seems like no matter what camera view I try to capture; there is no longer a transition from one scene to another. I thought I was using the same process as before the update.

Very impressive video.

Wish I could afford Premiere Pro.

@fredo6 said in Scene animation with Animator:

This should be fixed with LibFredo6 v15.8a, just published.

Thanks @fredo6 and @rich-o-brien Yes, this fixed the problem I was having. Just for fun (and my learning process), here is a video of an example of how the update to LibFreedo6 v15.8a solved my problem/issue.

Animator Learning 3.mp4

Now I can go off and work on some things I want to use this resolution for.

Ooops. 🤪🤪🤪

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks. I thought I was doing something wrong.

That 1 second pause in between the scenes is giving me what I wanted. I think I will be able to use it in the models I have in mind.

Can you give me a clue as to why I cannot delete some of the unwanted/unneeded clip names.

This is turning into a real learning experience

Well, again, I have made some progress. On the positive side, I found out that adding a one second blank space between the clips provides a transition between the clips that I like.

However, I have run into 2 problems:

• For some reason, the animation stops after the 3rd clip (right). I have not been able to figure out why.

• I have had problems trying to clean up the Animator clip names. I have tried deleting the names, clicking the Purge Unused, Save Changes, and then exiting Animator. When I come back to the animation, the clip names I tried to delete are still there.

Here is the updated version of the file:Camera Positioning 3.skp

OK, @rich-o-brien I have made some progress thanks to your post in the @majid thread.

So here is an updated file with the multiple scenes and the video I was able to create after following you response.

Camera Positioning 2.skp
amera Positioning 2.mp4

Now back to the last thing I am still trying to solve. How do you create a nice smooth transition between the clips. Just to let you (and other) know, I learned that before you do the screen capture, I needed to lick on the scene first.

Again, progress....

Does anyone know of a way to modify/control the transition from one clip to another. I have several clips but you just get a quick change from a clip to the next one. I would like to see some capability like fade out the current/ending clip and then starting the next clip.

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks Rich but that is not my issue. I have some totally different objects in multiple scenes. I can capture the camera position/view in each of the scenes but I cannot get a smooth transition from one of the views to another. Each camera view is the different view, not always but usually different objects' When Animator goes from one camera view to the next, it is a crisp shot. I would like to have a way to make the transition rather smooth instead of just a different shot.

OK, I have created a very basic model/animation that has an object that I view via the front, right, left, back, top and bottom. Each of the segments is 2.0 seconds. Not what I would like to do is control the transition from one sequence to the next. However, so far, I have not been able to figure out how to control the transitions,

Here is the silly little model.
Camera Positioning.skp

I probably should also figure out a nice clean way to animate the change from one scene to another. Again, this is really helping me get to the direction I want to go with my future 2 models/animations.

@Rich-O-Brien

Still wondering about some video editing software

OK, I just found a video about the camera position in Animator and I am working on it. If I figure this on out correctly I will be very close to where I want to be.

@Rich-O-Brien said in Scene animation with Animator:

I merged that extra thread to here. Creating separate threads pointing to other threads is not helping you.

Thanks Rich - I honestly thought it was a mistake to add another thread. I guess it shows that I needed/wanted more feedback.

As you have proven, many times already, that if you persevere when you encounter issues you'll figure it out.

Thanks again. Yes, even though I have gotten kind of frustrated at time, if I do enough research (especially after some of your responses) I have usually found a solution.

That bar you are pointing is a scrollbar. Not an element related to the animation. You have Clips starting at 24secs in your timeline than go to 33secs.

I do not know why I did not see/realize that is what it was. DUH!

Regarding your issue Purging. You haven't explained the issue so I can only guess.

If you click Purge Unused then Animator will indicate, in Pink, all the unused elements in your file. Then if you click Save Changes and Exit Tool it will remove the Unused Elements.

It will not remove elements while you still have the tool active.

Thanks again. I just was not taking the correct steps. I have been able to purge the unwanted stuff and am redoing other items. I had watched one of Fredo6's videos and thought I was taking the right steps. You explanation got the issues resolved for me. I have been able to clean up the info now. It also lead me to going in and changing the names of several segments and clips so now I can look at the list and see what is what.

Lots of these issues you encounter are resolved by A/B testing yourself. If it is not doing what you expect then try a different approach to understand how it is expected to work.

So here's a task for you. Get the clips that are way down the timeline to be at the start.

Done..........another silly error on my part that was partly the result the silly bar that was showing up.

See if you can find a way to do it without having to drag the elements individual.

HINT: Right click on your timeline.
Another DUH! on my part. Another helpful hint.

Now for my last 2 issues (at least at this point):

• I am having problems trying to control the camera so that I get things to show up correctly (at least the way I would like) from one clip to another. I have tried several options but so far have not figured things out the way I would like them. Again, any hints/suggestions would be appreciated. As you have seen, there is a lot of difference between the 2 scenes in my model and I would like for the camera position to change from one of the scenes to the other. I also would like to be able to control the transition from one scenes/clip to another. I haven't figured that one out yet either.

• Yesterday in one of your replies, you suggested using some other software to put together my Animator video and the introduction and conclusion text. While I might want to add some animation to those two sections (which is why I was trying to do it with Animator), you are probably right. Do you have a suggestion of some other software to use? I would prefer a free package but am open to explore suggestions. BTW: Since I have been using Animator for this, I also did some research and found out how to use an image to set the background for my model/animation. I really am looking forward to that for one (and possibly both) of the models/animations I am planning on doing. Neither of them will be all that sophisticated they are just something that I have an inspiration to do and what has lead to all of this hullaballoo.

Once again, I really appreciate your support/feedback.

Here is a thread where I have been posting problems/issues I am having with Animator https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/164682/scene-animation-with-animator/36

First off, let me say that @rich-o-brien and @fredo05 have been given me some feedback but I still have several issues that I do not seem to be able to resolve.

I feel I have learned a lot about using Animator and am close to being able to accomplish what I would like. However, there are several issues that I have pointed out in the other thread that I need some assistance/feedback on. I have looked at several videos and other posts, but I just cannot resolve some issues. If you look at the thread, one of the latest issues I need to address is how to combine some text with an Animation video and what tool you would recommend (I am using Windows 11).

Let me also say that if this is a strand post that is viewed as a duplicate of the thread I mentioned above. I am sorry, I am just trying to resolve a few final issues so that I can complete a couple of projects I want to do.