BryceAnimation, April 22, 1999
part 2
Rodney: After scripting the
motion I'll set fps to 12, render size to around 320x240, turn off textures,
turn on fast render, render animation to a sequence of BMPs.
When the BMPs are rendered I open Sequential Images in Quicktime
3 Pro and *voila!* an animation!
MetaMeri has just entered.
KPT Scott saunters in.
AuntiAlias: uh.. then you save them in QuickTime, too, as a Movie, right? ; )
Rodney: I usually save to the lossless animation codec for later playback and study.
RG digital: Is that the "animation" codec?
oblio is off to save the world.
Rodney: With Animation you have ultimate quality to recompress for whatever your later needs are.
oblio wants to play too.
Rodney: Yep. Also, After Effects will extract the original image sequence back from the animation MooV with no discernabl;e loss of quality
MetaMeri has left the building.
The Smoking Man has left the building.
Rodney: I guess another tip is to study movies.
The Smoking Man has just entered.
Rodney: Read a textbook on filmmaking.
gdmsynth: Rodney can you tell us about camera motion?
lharriet is off to see the Wizard.
Chippro saunters in.
AuntiAlias: you finished with your tips, Rodney? If so, then we'll give Robert the floor.. then we'll follow it with Q&A
tuckersaur: floor us Robert!
Rodney: look at any if Stephen Spielbergs movies for good basic directing. He doesn't break any new ground but he knows the cfat technically better than anyone else these days.
Go Robert!
Meta Robert: Hey folks..
Clay: hi
RG digital: hello
ricster41: hey
Meta Robert: A little tired here, just finished the final touches of the Canoma UI... TODAY!!
AuntiAlias: :D
tuckersaur: hey Robert LTNS ; )
ccasady: Yea!
RG digital: cool
slareau: <In unison> Hi Robert
Meta Robert: I think you guys will like what we have to offer :)
It's super exciting technology
ccasady: I think he
's right!
gdmsynth: B5?
stiffkat: canoma
ccasady: Canoma, but that's another story : )
RG digital is off to render mirrored spheres.
Meta Robert: I'm running on 2 hours sleep.. well here goes...
Big tips
RG digital has finally arrived.
oblio: \
JeffP: I can't wait for MetaFalsh!
Danny has more important business elsewhere.
Meta Robert: Motion Paths:
One of the often-overlooked animation gems in Bryce is the
"motion path."
What exactly is a motion path?
JeffP: Sorry, MetaFlash
Meta Robert: The simplest way to describe how it works is that it's like a set of rollercoaster rails that you use to describe the spatial movement of your objects.
The quickest way to start experimenting with a motion path
is to select "create path" from "objects" on the menu bar.
Once you have a motion path, you attach an object to it. To
do this, select the object you wish to attach and click and drag on the
links tool floating next to your selected object, drag the line to the
motion path, which will turn blue, and release to act
The object should now stick to the motion path. What you've
done is constrain the objects motion to the motion path. Now to create
an animation of the object moving along the path, simply set the object
where you want it to start on the path, move the time
ccasady: I'm understanding this so far!
Meta Robert: When you press play, you will see a very smooth linear speed animation of the object on the path. Now this animation only contains two keyframes, one for the start and one for the end. This makes it very easy to use the controls in the Advanced Motion Lab
j_lehmkuhl saunters in.
Meta Robert: Once you get the hang of motion paths, try making a standard animation without the assistance of the path and then with the animated object selected, select "Create Path" from the "Objects" menu, and watch as it transforms your current animation into a mot
**Caveat** Doing this will only transfer positional information
to the motion path, any rotations, scaling etc. will be lost when you
convert a standard animation to a motion path
.
Tricks:
1. Try moving an objects origin point away from its center
and then attach it to a motion path. This will make the object fly around,
but not directly on the path.
.
2. Attach several objects to the same path!
3. Move the edit points on a path during the animation recording
session and watch as the
path itself twists like a snake while objects move along it.
4. You can also attach a motion path to another object or
motion path for super complex movements!
Please experiment and have fun, motion paths are often overlooked,
but VERY powerful animation tool.
.
RG digital: Is auto-banking available in B4?
Meta Robert: I can not overstate how important this is :)
Suddenly Cricket appears.
rgross slinks out.
Meta Robert: Now for a bit on the AML
AML (Advanced Motion Lab) Basics
This is another area that often is overlooked because of its
apparent complexity. Although if you simplify your animation by using
motion paths, you will find it's quite easy to use the "AML"
.
bruce8 saunters in.
Meta Robert: I recommend you start with a very simple animation with only two recorded keyframes a couple of seconds apart. Perhaps a sphere moving from one side of the screen to the other.
justin: aml?
Meta Robert: .
AuntiAlias: (Advanced Motion Lab)
justin: k
Meta Robert: With the sphere selected, enter the AML, click on the position or path position text under the red highlighted text of your current selection. The text will turn yellow. Next set the play options to repeat (by clicking on the leftmost VCR button.
.
Press play and then try selecting various velocity curves
from the top left library. The animation will repeat over and over while
you change the velocity curves, this should give you a sense of what they
do.
.Trick:
Hold down shift while clicking on the path position text,
you will get a menu of options for that sequence of the animation. Set
it to pendulum leave the AML and then extend your time scrubber to beyond
your initial recorded area and note that the
.
animation keeps repeating that sequence on its own.. Like
a ping pong ball! It just keeps on going and going..
.
Yikes... ok... still with me????
gdmsynth: Yeah
stiffkat: yeah
Clay: yep
RG digital: yep!
justin: sure
bruce8: yes
justin: hehe
j_lehmkuhl: Sounds like animation can be easier than its been for me so far..../
aeryn is off to save the world.
Meta Robert: Here's a nice tip for camera motion
Reflash: goiung and going
JeffP: yes
tuckersaur: going and going - the everready rabbit!
Jeffric: yes, still here
Meta Robert: Natural camera animation and tracking:
Here's a nifty trick I like to use to aim my camera; create
a sphere and from directors view
.
select the camera use the track gadget floating to the right.
Click and drag on this icon until you are hovering above the sphere (it
will turn blue) and release.. You have now set the
camera to track the sphereŠ
Bodhran saunters in.
Meta Robert: Click on "Hidden" to make the sphere invisible in a render..
Move this sphere around to aim your camera, even try animating
the sphere.. You will get much smoother camera tracking using this technique.
Next start moving the camera around
aeryn materializes from thin air.
Meta Robert: and notice it always tracks the sphere.. Properly used, this can create extremely natural camera motions. (Don't forget to try attaching your camera to a motion path for super
smooth motion)
The possibilities are endless!
griegel saunters in.
Suddenly Wintermute appears.
j_lehmkuhl: cool
AuntiAlias: (and you can save your camera paths as objects!)
Wintermute: Yo!
tuckersaur: yes the camera animates inconsistently on its own - great tip!
Meta Robert: Super cool multi-replicate with auto linking Easter egg:
Hold down ctrl & alt while clicking on the checkmark in the
Multi-Replicate
slareau: After all this time, this is the first information on how the motion paths work.
Meta Robert: This is a little known secret
Wintermute: Anybody here have a dual P2 or dual P3 system?
rgross materializes from thin air.
AuntiAlias: <whispering> Robert's got the floor, folks! : )
j_lehmkuhl: doesn't sound like it....
tuckersaur: kind of off topic right now winter...
Rodney: <<< This is a little known secret >>> not anymore
Fletch has just entered.
Meta Robert: Once you multi replicate , select all the objects and try rotating.. you will be suprised@
Fletch is off to render mirrored spheres.
j_lehmkuhl: cool!
Meta Robert: Every object will be linked to the one before it
tuckersaur: cool - I get it - the rotations will smoothly stage from each other!
Meta Robert: So you can make strange kinetic like creatures
MetaScott materializes from thin air.
KPT Scott is off to render mirrored spheres.
Meta Robert: Worms and other crazy stuff!
renato!: hubba hubba can't wait to try it
bruce8 is off to render mirrored spheres.
tuckersaur: like row row row your boat with spheres - rounds for real!
stiffkat: too cool
j_lehmkuhl: Robert, you have to link the too objects first ??
AuntiAlias: (CTRL+Alt is also command-option)
j_lehmkuhl: er two
Meta Robert: No linking, its automatic if you hold down the keys
that's the secret
slareau: my brain is smoking at the thoughts running inside my head right now.... I love it!
Meta Robert: I almost forgot it forever ahhh
aeryn: <whispering> susan, will the text of this chat be posted eventually on the meta site like last week's chat was? I can't stay long.
tuckersaur: very cool - could get some groovy organic anims that way - thanks!
Meta Robert: Well thats all I can share for today.. but I got more :)
AuntiAlias: yes, this will be posted!
okay...
how about we open it up for Q & A
Reflash: write a book
RG digital: Saaweeet !!
Hanover: How about the key point control easter eggs? You care to mention those highly useful animating tools?
JWalk: Any tips on using picture objects in animations?
tuckersaur: c'mon down to the brycecamp at Ojai and he'll share more ; )
AuntiAlias: WAIT!!!!!!
stiffkat: wow, I even understood that
AuntiAlias: WAIT!!!!
The Smoking Man disappears in a blinding flash of smoke.
AuntiAlias: For Q&A..(and sanity)
If you have a question, type
?
justin: ?
AuntiAlias: Then compose your question and when the moderator calls on you, hit return! : )
RG digital: ?
AuntiAlias: Justin, then RG, then....
Go ahead, Justin
justin: why can't b4 output tif sequences with alpha?
slareau: ?
Carthach: ?
tommy: ?
Rodney: Well... this is working great.
tuckersaur: lol
RG digital: Is Metacreations going to have an animation submission page sometime soon -maybe for future projects?
gdmsynth: ?
Rodney: Robert, you know the technical or
AuntiAlias: The queue is.... RG digital, slareau, Carthach, tommy (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
aeryn has left the building.
The Smoking Man has joined the party!
AuntiAlias: Robert, you got an answer to justin's question?
Rodney: procedural reason why sequential is limited to the natiuve graphics format?
Reflash: he fell asleep
Meta Robert: I don't know the tech of it.. sorry...
Rodney: BMP fow Win, Pict for Mac?
Sorry, Justin, just the way oit is
AuntiAlias: k.. well, next week we have the engineers here....
tuckersaur: Because they are the most widely accepted formats on each platform...
Meta Robert: The alpha actually is created seprately... as a mask render
Rodney: The native OS formats, Tucker
tuckersaur: eps consumer formats
justin: just asking,,becuase some of you other prgs do!
like poser
Meta Robert: It would be nice to have a combined rgb with the alpha though...
tuckersaur: especially - I mean - not eps - LOL
justin: okay,,thanks! maybe b5
AuntiAlias: k? done with this?
RG, go for it!
ccasady: (Tommy can you please e-mail me at tilenut@aol.com)
RG digital: Is Metacreations going to have an animation submission page sometime soon -maybe for future projects?
Meta Robert: SUsan?
Hanover: Justin, its a matter of time for developement. For now it should just be considered a limitation of the application and may change in the future. ;}
Rodney: Another Robert question..
The Smoking Man: ?
gdmsynth: ?
justin: cool,,,thx hanover!
Lise materializes from thin air.
AuntiAlias: Aaah, that's for me.
tommy: Yea cc
ccasady: :)
AuntiAlias: the one for submissions
yes... we're working on it. Now that we got signup pretty much straightened out, we're gonna get the libraries working and galleries after that
I can see that we need to have a place to show off the results of our experimentation with Robert's tips! :D
okay.. who's next?
RG digital: Yes indeed!!!
Meta Robert: I would like to post them in PDF
justin: rg
AuntiAlias: slareau
slareau: Rodney- got a few terrabytes of HD space I can borrow for a while? My Bryce movie is getting too big already... just curious- what size do you render to for video? <fearing the answer> (Hi Lise!)
justin: 640x480 with motion jpeg codec
Lise: Hi Everybody! Dont let me stop you please.
AuntiAlias: Carthach, tommy, The Smoking Man, gdsmith, (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
vincehardy: ?
gdmsynth: Can you bank a camera with using motion paths?
opps sorry
Rodney: 1080x810 which is 1.5 times the 720x540 square pixeel D-1 aspect. This is then reduced to 720x486 or 720x480
slareau: <Grasping my chest as it explodes>
Meta Robert: Yes, Align to path (gdsmith)
j_lehmkuhl: Man, that Multi-Repicate egg is awesome !!!
Rodney: 640x480 is definitely NOT usable
slareau: Sorry I asked.. I'll quit complaining!
LOL!
tuckersaur: to tame down those bleeping creeping bryce textures - right Rodney?
slareau: Next!
justin: use it all the time!! works perfect
AuntiAlias: shhh!
Rodney: Right on, Tucker.
AuntiAlias: Carthach, you're up!
Carthach: I have an animation of 20 Sec.s, Rendered, realized that it was way too short. Any way to extend the original to 60+ Seconds without recreating it?
Rodney: reducing by 30% tends to smooth out some of there temporal noise.
tuckersaur: yes!
Meta Robert: Rodney?
tuckersaur: use the scaling control
j_lehmkuhl: ???
Rodney: Carth..... nope.
That's why I advocate test renders.
tuckersaur: to extend the animation
JPSullivan has joined the party!
gdmsynth: ?
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: Carthach, tommy, the smoking man, gdmsynth, vincehardy, jlemukuhl (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
j_lehmkuhl: ok
mhough: ?
Rodney: You can stretch video 20% very easily by changing the framerate to 24fps
Carthach: Darn :(, Thanks... It was a test, but now I am sure to pay better attention
AuntiAlias: if you ahve a question, please type ?
Rodney: Much more than that and you get to looking very jerky
slareau: watch it pal!
Rodney: done
Carthach: Next
AuntiAlias: okay.. Tommy!
tommy: will instaling QT4 foul up anything with B4?
xochi: <run into that today too tommy>
Meta Robert: It should have no impact
ccasady: It'll just improve things!
tommy: cool
RG digital: neat..
Meta Robert: more compressors may be available in the settings though
Rodney: Beware, there's a lot of posting about Premiere problems though.
ccasady: ah
tuckersaur: seriously - animation setup..duration /scale will lengthen your animation.
Clay: really
tommy: saw that
JWalk: <'Night all, thanks for time, tips.>
JWalk is off to see the Wizard.
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: the smoking man, gdmsynth, vincehardy, jlemukuhl, mhough (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
Rodney: Yucker, he has already rendered the animation.
RG digital: ?
xochi: <actual problems with QT4 and B4 here, FYI> (sitting back down now)
tuckersaur: i see - 20 seconds is short enough to render again - in my book
Meta Robert: What problems xochi?
vincehardy: Rrodney what kind of hardware do you suggest to make animations at video size?
sorry
AuntiAlias: The Smoking Man... You're UP!
The Smoking Man: Any tips for keeping textures stable over time in an animation? Mostly on terrains.
xochi: <cursor crashes on B4 launch - doing a Tech Support email now with some debugging info>
slareau: ?
Rodney: Vince, the baddest you can get. Sell the kids.
slareau: LOL!
Hanover: Great, that will be to me xochi
Clay: LOL
Rodney: Smoker, define stable.
Hanover: ;}
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: gdmsynth, vincehardy, jlemukuhl, mhough, RG digital, slareau (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
Rodney: Are your textures moving or are they "shimmering"?
The Smoking Man: It seams that they change from frame to frame.
Mindcrime materializes from thin air.
The Smoking Man: yep
They Shimmer
Rodney: Smoker, they do. Every frame is differemnt. That's why we render at 1.5.
The Smoking Man: 1.5?
Rodney: Keep your frequencies down.
j_lehmkuhl: Sounds like an object space problem??
tuckersaur: shrinking them back down after render tames them down
Meta Robert: Yes, keep the high frequency noise down
moleman wants to play too.
Rodney: Higher resolution terrains seem to help but that could be coincidental.
KPT Chuck saunters in.
j_lehmkuhl: I had that problem before changing terrains to "object space"...
Meta Robert: Try less complex textures
Rodney: Always have a bit of camera movement and that minimizes the obviousness of the temporal noise.
The Smoking Man: How do you change them to Object Space
Meta Robert: Rodney, don't you downsample too?
j_lehmkuhl: Smoking, are your terrains assigned to Object or World space ?
The Smoking Man: World I think. Still pretty new at animating in Bryce.
j_lehmkuhl: Select and under edit the check under the rotate object changes from World to Object space
Rodney: 1.5= render at 1 and a half times the resolution you want. We want 720x540 so we render at 1080x810
j_lehmkuhl: That was my problem.
The Smoking Man: Ah I get it
AuntiAlias: gdmsynth, you're up! :D
gdmsynth: Rodney, why do you render at 1080 x 810 and reduce? Isn't the NTSC resolution lower than that of the computer monitor? Oh, but Rodney just answered - to keep the shimmer down right?
Meta Robert: If your textures are in world space, and you move the object... the texture will appear to move
tuckersaur: so do I now - got the tip from Rodney and it works well at taming the shimmer
The Smoking Man: cool thx
Rodney: Then, since we go out to video, the frame is vertically squeezed to 720x486
Meta Robert: but it's actually staying in the same place while the object moves away from it
Wintermute: slareau: you here?
Bob Van Ess slinks out.
slareau: Yup
AuntiAlias: Hi! we're having Q & A...
if you have a question, type ?
if you want to go chat with someone else, please open up another room, too
so we can concentrate on Q&A here! : ) Thanks!
renato!: ?
gdmsynth: To eliminate shimmer?
Wintermute: slareau: find any of that good hardwood in K-town yet?
tuckersaur: ? for Rodney
Wintermute: slareau: I'm also in BryceTalk lobby2
Rodney: yep and to soften the harsh edges of Bryce objects.
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: vincehardy, jlemukuhl, mhough, RG digital, slareau , renato tuckersaur (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
The Smoking Man: ?
Rodney: Those knife edged rocks look kinda weird on screen.
AuntiAlias: vincehardy... you're on!!
M'Kell: ?
vincehardy: got my answer already, I have to sell the kids.
Clay: LOL
AuntiAlias: okay.. jlemukuhl! (sorry about the kids, vince)
gdmsynth: So this would preclude using DV as a storage medium huh?
j_lehmkuhl: thank you
Rodney: <trivia... on Planetary Traveler we actually rendered smaller than NTSC and resampled UP>
j_lehmkuhl: Suggestion on how to make objects appear in the middle of the animation ?? I've tried using invisible but I don't think that woked the way I wanted....
Meta Robert: Use transparency with no refraction (100) like air.
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: mhough, RG digital, slareau, renato!, Smoking Man, M'Kell (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
Meta Robert: fade in over one frame
collisont wants to play too.
Baument has more important business elsewhere.
j_lehmkuhl: ¯ ya
JPSullivan has more important business elsewhere.
mhough: Will the new movie include more linked movement compared to Planetary Traveler? Oh yeah, and will it be starring Sumac again? :)
rvanderlippe has joined the party!
Rodney: LOL Much more camera stuff. And Sumoc "passed on" in the first film
Carthach: ?
Jammer has just entered.
Rodney: Infinity's Child is the story of the expedition that found the abandoned mothership.
j_lehmkuhl: Aunti A... lots of people here and no crashing !!!
Bryguy is off to save the world.
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: RG digital, slareau, renato!, Smoking Man, M'Kell, Carthach (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
mhough: Will there be any things with moving parts?
Rodney: Did you check out the test renders, mhough?
collisont is off to see the Wizard.
AuntiAlias: http://www5.metacreations.com/products/bryce4/talk/events.cfm
Look for the link under Logs. You'll see movies. (QuickTime 3 is required.)
(those are the test renders)
mhough: Yes. The flatwheel looked to have some
AuntiAlias: RG digital, you're ON! :D
RG digital: Rodney, when does the sequel to Planetary Traveler come out? I was so inspired by P.T.!!
Rodney: We're trying our bedamnedest to get it out in time for Christmas. We'll have a trailer on the Austibn Powers 2 DVD this summer.
Meta Robert: Sorry folks, gotta run...
tuckersaur: ? Aunti you dropped me from the queue
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: RG digital, slareau, renato!, tuckersaur, Smoking Man, M'Kell, Carthach (type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
Rodney: I've got 9 machines rendering 24/7 in my den right now.
RG digital: sweet!! Yea baby!!
tommy: yhanks MR
RG digital: mmmm.....render!
Kikuchiyo: ?
ccasady: Thanks again Mr. Robert!
Meta Robert: It's been fun :)
Rodney: Robert... don' abamndon me...
RG digital: This has been great!!!
ccasady: let's do it again soon
tuckersaur: Awesome stuff Robert!
JeffP: Thanks Robert
gdmsynth: Yes, please stay...
Meta Robert: Sorry for the thick tips
AuntiAlias: any of you in the queue have questions for robert? if so
and it's quick
Clay: It was great guys, very informative! Good luck on your projects, cyall later:-)
renato!: thx robert
AuntiAlias: maybe we can squeeze you in (okay by you, robert?)
tuckersaur: later clay!
Meta Robert: sure
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