CompuServe Thread

#Overlaying Animations

3 messages in this thread
#190624From: Keith JonesSep 13, 1995 10:37 AM
I did'nt really explain myself enough Jack. I dont want to use video post. Eg. I have a bitmap of the stars at night. I have four small animations of space ships which don't move but you can see the thrusters burning (animating). I want to overlay the space ships onto the BMP and then move them via some program code. This effect will give me the availability to randomly place the animations on the BMP. The problem is that the ships background is black, I want it to be transparent so that the ships and the BMP look part of one animation. I also want to randomly change the BMP to different star scenes. A bit like the After Dark screen savers for windows. Thanks Geoff
#190644From: Jonas Ruikis [ADESK]Sep 13, 1995 12:33 PM
Hi Geoff, << .. I have four small animations of space ships which don't move but you can see the thrusters burning (animating). I want to overlay the space ships onto the BMP and then move them via some program code..>> It seems that you need to read pg 7-210 in the 3ds ref man for an understanding of Render-Alpha. A flic animation file doesn't contain alpha data. Please also see tutorial 22 for further insights to the alpha channel and compositing techniques. jonas[adesk]
#190728From: Yost GroupSep 13, 1995 7:36 PM
As Jonas said, you need alpha to properly composite something like that, and flics don't have alpha. You'd be better off making Targa frames with alpha, and programatically flipping through them while positioning them over your bitmap. (Presumably, you're planning on programming your own compositing system as well?) – J