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

If you intend to have some type of text based elements in your video its probably better suited to another software.

You could do it in Animator but I'd offload the non-3D stuff to something else.

Any suggestions as to what? What would you use.

@rich-o-brien I really need some feedback on the other issues I posted. I am having problems managing some of the elements in my model. In particular, if you look at the previous images I posted, I cannot figure out what that white vertical line is in my timeline and how to edit it. I am also having problems trying to manage the elements.. clips, and views. I have tried to delete some of them but cannot get that to work.

You are the only one who has given me any feedback and I am watching videos and looking at other thigs to try to figure this stuff out.

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.

@majid Hope everything is good, and stays that way, with you and your family.

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).

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.

@L-i-am said in Having a bad day?:

Hi Guys have not been very active of late as I am temporally on a med that completely stifles creativity, hence no sketchup. However this appeared on facebook. It made me smile from ear to ear. Careful though it can be

I know how you feel. I had some surgery a few months ago and am trying to get back too SketchUp. As @rich-o-brien and a couple of others can tell you, I have been having some problems getting back into it. Trying to use some features that I either have not used before (or at least for a long time) and have asked some pretty silly/dumb questions. However, I am determined to learn/get back with it.

Hope all is well with you and you can get back with it. I know you have posted some great work in the past and you will get there again.

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?

@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.

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?

Is it possible to start a new thread or category for asking "how to" questions for Animator. I think I have recently learned a lot of very useful information, but I still have a number of questions that I have not been able to find answers to. Yes, I can do a lot of testing but there are topics where other users might be able to provide good feedback/advice for.

OK, I think I have finally figured out all of the tricks I need to make a video with Animator.
Here is an example
Model View.mp4

Yes the video/model is pretty basic but through it, I think I have learned how to accomplish the things I want for some upcoming Animator generated videos.

I just have one last silly question; how do I set the location for where the video is created (folder name and location).?

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks, @rich-o-brien, clicking on the yellow bar solved the problem for me.

Now I have to solve the problem of how to combine multiple sequences (movements) into a single Clip. When I try to use the shift key to select multiple items and put them into a clip, it does not work. Also, if I have a clip, how to I add additional items to it?

I watched @fredo6 tutorial (Tutorial 1), I thought I understood how to combine items, but I must be missing something. I think (at least for now) figuring this issue out will help me make a lot of progress to where I want to do.

As I have said before (in multiple threads/posts), I appreciate the feedback and patience from you. I have tried to watch videos and read some stuff to understand these issues on my own. Maybe I am just getting to old learn how to do things.

DUH I just figured out the combining issue. I used the Ctrl key to select multiple items instead of the shift key a LALa, it worked.

I am suddenly having interface problems. I cannot control how the timeline looks/is located and some other user information is not all visible for me.

Here is a view of the timeline, and no matter which thing I click on, I cannot get the timeline to show up vertically (which used to be the default and the way I like it the best). Here is a view of how it currently looks:

Here is another image that shows the Animator default settings. Notice that at the bottom, not everything is showing (at least as far as I can tell) and there is no option for me to scroll so that I can see what is below (if anything).

I also have been having a problem trying to select multiple items to make part of a clip (or how to add things to an existing clip).

I have tried shutting down SketchUp and Animator multiple times to see if restarting or selecting models where I had some existing Animator animations to see if that would have any effect and it did not. I have also reported these problems (at least some of them). in this thread https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/164682/scene-animation-with-animator/29

OK, I just went back to SU 2025 and tried to create a new Animator file with 2025 and am having the same issues with the Animator UI. I first had to update Animator in 2025 and then I restarted SU and as I just said, I am seeing the same issue with the Animator UI.

What the heck am I/have I done wrong?

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).

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.

Any plans to ,ake Rayscaper work withAnamator?

What tool can you use to create an animation that works with Rayscaper?

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 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.

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

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.

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.