Wow, that really sounds like a powerful option. Then I could create pencil drawn style, and possibly a Sin City style.

I cannot tell if the free script will hide the path curve, that would ruin a nice driving animation if the path curve is visible. That would make the $7.00 cost to obtain the newest script mandatory.

Thanks, I did not realize that the older script was free. It sounds like it will do everything that I need, so as soon as I can get the models inserted, then I can smooth a spline and give it a try.

Thanks
Vince

Thank you, I will look at the suggested scripts.

Regards
Vince

Thank you for the quick response. I can simplify the path to a straight line if the motion can keep a constant speed from the starting point to the end point. No part of the car is used in the rendering, only a camera following a path through the village. Can the "SU Animate" do this?

The final render animation need not be photorealistic, but it cannot be cartoonish like the standard Sketchup windows either. To save time and energy, I planned to use many models from the 3D Warehouse with slight modifications to complete the task in a reasonable timeframe. I have tried to take many Sketchup models into Rhino4.0 with mixed results. Normally the textures are skewed, distorted, or omitted. I have tried Softimage also but the textures are always an issue. I suspect that C4D will also be this way, do you have any experience with the texture issue?

I have acess to the following packages and renderers.

Rhino3.0 with Flamingo, Penguin, Treefrog, and Rhinorender
Rhino4.0 with Rhinorender
Softimage with Mental Ray, and Indigo
Carrara 5.0 Pro
Bryce 6.0
Light3D from Optis (http://www.optis-world.com)http://www.optis-world.com/new_pages/archi_lighting/lighting.asp

Regards
Vince

Chris,

Nice work, it always makes me happy when I see that someone lives close to me. I live in Tiffin, Ohio. My Wife and I travel to the Habitat for Humanity Reuse Store close to the Zoo at least once a month. Possibly I'll meet you close to there sometime.

PS. Did I mention that the movie would be used for VW, BMW, and Porsche?

You have accomplished something that I hope to complete, but I need a little more information to get this project moving. My goal is to create a driving animation through a German City, which requires the camera to follow a path while rendering the suitable frame per second needed to compile into a nice animation. I would like the camera to follow a complex path or can I only follow a straight line, I do not know this, can someone answer this for me?

Regardless of the path issue, assuming a the camera can follow a path. What do I need to use for this, the Physics plugin or some other plugin, or is this built into the base Sketchup software? Sorry if these seem like simple questions that I should know, but I have not been using Sketchup too long, only for a few days assembling thte German City itself, now comes the part of animation to create the necessary frames for the final movie.

Regarding the rendering, I have loaded the Kerkythea renderer because it is free and it works well with Sketchup materials, because I do not have time to create new Kerkthea materials and apply them. How does the animation get fed into the renderer to create the necessary frames? Does it use the animation info stored in the Sketchup database?

Please, if someone would be kind enough to go slow and explain this I would be grateful.

Vince Kirchner
Guardian Automotive Products
Cad System Administrator
North America