CompuServe Thread

Sherwood: >> what would be the procedure to get the effect of script writing going >> across the screen? There are a few ways of creating this effect, depending on exactly the look you are going after. You could try having the script writing finished as a background, with the same image without the script on an object in front of it. Then just move a matt object or objects over the script to see through to the background and animate them to see the writing taking place. Another way, if you don't have too much text, is to loft the text and then move the vertices back a bit at a time to creat morph objects and watch it grow. >> anyone that get me an anwser fast i will dump up to 5 seconds of their >> animation to betacam sp for free. Does this include the tape itself? <g,d,& r> Greg Pyros

master sherwood, >>handwriting… If you can use AniPro quality, you can make one frame with the full text, then manually erase the strokes from right to left (a little each frame, inserting a new partially erased frame each time). Just erase a little less per frame on the curved parts where the pen will slow down some. Now you have a flic of some un-writing. Then play the flic backwards. Works great, looks just like someone writing. It sounds like a lot of work but it isn't too bad (usually there are not too many frames). If you want to un-erase geometry in 3DS likewise, render the text to a bitmap, white on black, do the above and make an animated opacity map. Good method for controlled flow along flat things. JKJ

Sherwood, here's the absolute best way to simulate hand writing. If you can set up a sample of hand or "script" writing as a background bitmap and turn background view on in the 2d shaper this will really help. In the 2d shaper use the create/freehand tool (with an appropriate setting) and draw over the background image to create a path for lofting with. You can then create a simple circle of appropriate diameter to be the shape to loft along this path. Assign the path of the writing and do a path/get/shaper in the lofter and then assign the circle as the shape and do a shape/get/shaper. Object/make with mapping on, and settings of Length repeat=1, Normalize length on, perimeter repeat=1. Now all you need to do is create an animated opacity map to reveal the writing over time. I use anipro for this and it's basically a black screen that's fills with white (top to bottom or left to right, I forget) over the duration of time that the script needs to revealed. If it takes 90 frames to draw on the script then make the animation 90 frames and add extra black frames at the beginning and white at the end if you need to delay the start or hold the effect until the end of the animation This worked like a treat for me recently. If you need better details give me a ring at my house tomorrow (Saturday) before 2pm (heading for the mountains, after that) and I'll try to be more explicit and possibly dig up a sample I just did.

PMJI – the other half of the scene is animating the character in the scene, i.e. the pen. I have used a method like Martin suggests (#56163) for creating the writing itself (the opacity map is top to bottom movement). You then would use the same path used for lofting the writing to control the movement of the pen. 1) In the keyframer relocate the object pivot of the pen to the penpoint. 2) Retrieve the path from the Shaper – Paths/Get/Shaper. 3) Assign the path to the pen choosing Relocate-yes/Reverse path-no/Constant speed-yes. This assumes that the path in the Shaper and the 3D object are still in the same relationship when the shape was first lofted. In addition I like to add more movement to the pen to simulate the invisible hand. So, by using the new pivot point of the pen its easy to move to different frames in the animation and pivot the pen varying amounts in a variety of directions. Possible problems: Syncing the opacity flc with the pen movement. Using constant speed in the Path/Get process can help, but also makes the pen movement less dramatic (IMHO <g>). This is one area that I always seem to be tweeking. Also, when you create the 3D object for the ink remember that if it sticks up from the paper surface it can cast shadows that will reveal its presence – map or not(Modify/Object/Attributes/shadows off). JDH