Dear Fellow SU Enthusiasts,

I have just completed a music video that was created almost exclusively in SketchUp. I used several plugins along the way including Animator, ClothWorks, and MSPhysics. Hope you enjoy!

Cheers,
Chris*
Instagram: @christophergideon

https://youtu.be/A7u4YbyDlII

@fredo6 said:

@palphd said:

Bad news: I don't get transparent backgrounds in my PNGs when I export them with the option selected

Did you upgrade to LibFredo6 8.6m?

That did the trick! You're the man, Fredo!

@fredo6 said:

New Release: Animator - v2.3c - 18 Nov 18

Requirement: LibFredo6 v8.6m

Minor release

• Bug fixing and GUI adjustments
• Option for Transparent background for generating videos. It only works for Natural rendering and generate the PNG images with no background. I don't know if this makes its way through the video generation via FFmpeg. You need to install LibFredo6 8.6m.
  [attachment=0:1f6ufy1r]<!-- ia0 -->Animator - Transparent Background toggle button.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1f6ufy1r]

---

See plugin home page of Animator for Download of RBZ from the PluginStore.

See Main Post of the Animator thread for more information.

Thanks Fredo,

Good news: I can now see the Transparent Background toggle button on the GUI.
Bad news: I don't get transparent backgrounds in my PNGs when I export them with the option selected

@fredo6 said:

@palphd said:

Is there an option for achieving transparent backgrounds when generating a video as an images sequence (PNGs)?
Chris

Good point. I have to test, but it should be possible. I'll have to add the option in the GUI too.

Fredo

Thanks so much for the reply! Animator is such a fantastic plugin, but I was going insane trying to find that option since MSPhysics and ClothWorks have it. Adding it to Animator will truly complete the SketchUp animation trifecta as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck and thanks again! I'll stay tuned

Cheers,
Chris*

Hi Fredo,

Is there an option for achieving transparent backgrounds when generating a video as an images sequence (PNGs)?

Cheers,
Chris

@gaieus said:

@palphd said:

...must not be able to handle the rapid, real time changing of groups, etc.

That may wellhave been the case - as many plugins that create a great deal of geometry in a short time tend to crash or at least hang SU when the Outliner is active.

thanks gaieus... it's probably a topic that's been discussed at length in various threads, but i had been previously unaware. good to know. shut that outliner down and all is well!

i think i figured out my problem. i noticed that every time the curves were being computed in radially bending, the outliner box would tweak out just before su crashed... the next time, i closed the outliner box, tried it again and voila - everything worked fine. must not be able to handle the rapid, real time changing of groups, etc.

@unknownuser said:

@palphd said:

for some reason, i keep getting a bug splat when i try to use radial bending and change the number of slices... everything else seems to work fine though. any ideas? it used to work fine

Could you post the model or send it to me via PM so that I have a look

Thanks

Fredo

thanks for the response, freedo! sure thing... it's actually not any particular model. i attached a tall box form that i just tried to no avail (changed the slice setting to 6). the pic show as far as i can get with the process, but once i designate a rotation angle, it shuts down every time, no matter what shape, model, etc.

by the way, i just installed updated sketchup 6 pro to version 6.4.265 recently if that makes a difference.

model

for some reason, i keep getting a bug splat when i try to use radial bending and change the number of slices... everything else seems to work fine though. any ideas? it used to work fine

@chris fullmer said:

Doesn't wikii's tool do this? I forget what its called. Anyone help me out here?

Otherwise it is something I have been considering writing recently, I have some GUI ideas I want to play with and this would be the one to do it on.

Chris

Like xrok1 said, looks like wikii's tool isn't quite there. Oh well, guess it doesn't exist...YET! Chris, I'm anxious to see what you can come up with in your development of this tool.

Thanks for the responses so far. Yes, this is NOT a camera-rotation function I'm looking for, it's to manipulate the orientation of an object in space. The best way to describe what I'm looking for is I would like to rotate the object in an almost orbit-like fashion from a central point - an axis-independent rotation. Any ideas???

Anyone know of a plugin that allows for free-rotating an object around its center point? In other words, an omni-directional rotate?