#Ani txt map problem
11 messages in this thread
I am trying to test the use of an animated text map, counting on the
behavior described in the note on p.9-34. i.e. I want to render a portion
of my total animation (somewhere in the middle) and have the animated text
map, a .flc file, start at frame 1 regradless of the frame of the 3D scene
I am rendering. For some unknown reason, the firts frame of the 3D scene
uses a frame in the middle of the 66 frame flic.
Am I overlooking something (most probable) or is something amiss?
CHris Barnes
I don't think you can control a flic in that way. I suggest making the flic
into a sequence of .gifs using animator pro's numpic function (flic to
pics) and then creating an .ifl text file which you can edit to have
certain files used on certain frames. If you don't have anipro you can
always set up the flic as a background and render to .gif files in the
keyframer, with no geometry visible – make sure the resolution of the flic
and the resolution in your render/setup/configure match to avoid having the
dreaded rescale happen and slow things down. This will give you another
method of creating your numerically sequenced images. Use of .ifl text
files is also described on P9-34 of the reference manual. For example to
start your animated texture on frame 35 of your animation you could quickly
shell out and edit the .ifl as follows:
file0000.gif 35
file0001.gif
file0002.gif
file0003.gif
This would make file0000.gif (the first frame of your converted flic) be
used be the first 35 frames and on the 36th file0001.gif would be used.
Very powerful feature. Change the number 35 back to whatever you want when
finished with your tests.
Thanks for the reply Martin. I started to use IFL files for this
application but thought I could get away with being lazy…the ifl list
will be about 500 frames and I didn't feel like typing all those gif file
names in <g>. Still, I wonder about that note in the manual…"If you use a
flic…the first frame of the mat map animation is paired with the first
_rendered_ frame of the KF animation, _regardless_ of which segment of the
kf animation you are rendering."
Any ideas as to why I'm not experiencing life as it's described in the
manual?
Chris Barnes
You shouldn't have to type all the .gif names into a text file. You can use
makeifl.exe (availble on the forum as makifl.zip, I think) or create the
gifs the use the dos5 dir commmand:
dir file*.gif /od /b >files.ifl
This will put all those gifs in order in the text file. Just substitute the
name you want for "file" and the add the appropriate frame count if
necessary.
When I was typing that message I was thinking to myself that there must be
an efficient way, i.e. some type of utility or command I hadn't run across.
Thanks for the help!
Chris Barnes
I just took a look at that note in the docs, and it looks like we've got
another documentation error that we've got to fix up for r3. The first
frame of the flic is always paired with frame zero in the KF.
– G
That pesky little note…<g> Thanks for the info.
Chris Barnes
Couldn't you just add some blank frames to the animation at the beginning?
<Couldn't you just add some blank frames to the animation at the
beginning?>
Yes, and I did before I downloaded makifl.zip. I don't know why I
hesitated to use .ifl lists before because they are ultimately much more
efficient than adding blank frames to a flic.
Chris
I don't know if this was mentioned earlier, but here's a suggestion for
future manual updates: On p. 9-34 the .ifl discussion only specifically
addresses .gif and .tga files, yet I believe that .cel files can be
included in .ifl's also.
Chris Barnes
Thanks Chris. Page 9-34 will definitely be rewritten for release 3.
– J