CompuServe Thread

#Cycle object prob.

9 messages in this thread
#84341From: Michael W. ToweJun 12, 1994 12:59 AM
Hi Guys, OK I gota question for ya. I have created a model of a book. The model contains the folowing objects, A cover that is joined with a font object, a back cover, a block in the middle to simmulate pages and a binding. I want the front cover to open up during the animation. I brought the object into the cycle editor and made one key cell with the cover closed and anouther key cell with it opened. If I make the animation in the cycle editor it works fine. The cover opens away from the book. When I bring it into the stage editor and make the animation the book opens away from the cover and down into the table it is sitting on. What am I doing wrong here??? Regards, Michael W. Towe Falcon Video Peoductions Santee Ca.
#84355From: Peter GreciJun 12, 1994 2:08 PM
Have you tried using STATES instead of the Cycles ed?
#84371From: Michael W. ToweJun 12, 1994 3:34 PM
Hi Peter, Hmmmm states?? now thats an idea I havent tried yet but now that I think about it it just might work. Thanks for the reply, Mik
#84474From: Peter GreciJun 14, 1994 4:55 PM
Glad to help, hope STATES does the trick for ya. Since States was implemented I have essentially given up on Cycle Model Making
#84505From: Michael W. ToweJun 15, 1994 7:34 AM
Hi Peter, Well States did work…. once I figured out how to get it to change from one state to anouther :-). A few more key frames to get the camera moving right and I will be ready to sit back and let the rendering begin. I am going to be siting back for awhile on this one. Thanks again, Mi hael W. Towe Falcon Video Productions Santee Ca.
#84526From: Peter GreciJun 15, 1994 5:25 PM
Glad States worked for you. Be nice if eventually we can use States like Cycle Objects by simply saying ok use State 1 ,2 5 and 7 and make it a 20 Frame loop and continue looping as long as "ACTOR" is present in that timeline……So a 300 Frame Anim would have the STATE anim Loop 15 times…..
#84543From: Michael W. ToweJun 15, 1994 10:51 PM
Hi Peter, >>>Glad States worked for you. Be nice if eventually we can use States like Cycle Objects by simply saying ok use State 1 ,2 5 and 7 and make it a 20 Frame loop and continue looping as long as "ACTOR" is present in that timeline……So a 300 Frame Anim would have the STATE anim Loop 15 times…..<<< Well with any luck the folks a Impulse are taking notes 🙂 and we might see this in the future.(hint …hint) All in all though I am EXTREAMLY HAPPY!!!! with Imagine. I was all ready to spend months on a learning curve before I would ever be able to produce anything (since I am new to 3D) boy has Imagine proved me wrong 🙂 BTW Peter, just out of curiosity what are you using Imagine for??? As you can tell by the tag line on my messages I own a video production co. and thats what I use it for. Regards, Michael W. Towe Falcon Video Production Santee Ca.
#84359From: Charles BlaquiereJun 12, 1994 3:09 PM
Michael, I have a hunch that you've encountered the 180-degree problem. Imagine is a keyframe-based program: set the start values, set the end values, and let Imagine calculate all the in-betweens. If your start value is a rotation of 0 degrees, and the end value is 180 degrees, you have a problem. You see, 180 degrees and -180 degrees lead you to the same final position; given that position, how is Imagine supposed to decide whether you wanted to go from 0 to 180 by moving through positive values, or 0 to -180 by moving through negative values? The answer: Imagine can't. It'll make its best guess, which can change depending on the circumstances of the moment. Sometimes Imagine will go from 0 to 180, other times from 0 to -180. Imagine users should always be unambiguous when specifying keyframes. For example, in your final keyframe, rotate the book cover 179 degrees rather than 180 — nobody will ever see the difference. Another situation where this occurs is when you want to rotate an object 360 degrees. The final keyframe, at 360 degrees, is interpreted as 0 degrees, so Imagine will tween from 0 to 0, and your object will not rotate. If you use 3 keyframes (start, midpoint, end) and set them to 0, 180, and 360 degrees, the values are ambiguous and Imagine will probably rotate your object in a ping-pong manner, rather than a full revolution. The solution here would be to have 4 keyframes (start, 1/3, 2/3, end) and set rotation angles at 0, 120 , 240 (or -120, same thing), and 360 (or 0, same thing) degrees. Blaq!
#84370From: Michael W. ToweJun 12, 1994 3:33 PM
Hi Charles, Thanks for the reply. I have ran into this problemn before and so this time the rotation was right. Hmmm…. I quess I will just have to kep pluging away. I have tried both pivoting the links in the cycle ediotir and loading poses form the detail editor and still get the same result 🙁 Mike