#Animator Pro/3DS
13 messages in this thread
Bob,
Thanks again for the info on the books. I'll definitly check them out. I have
another question I hope (know) you can answer being into 3DS and all…What
does Animator Pro do? I know that 3DS has a pretty good animation section from
my readings, but why buy Animator Pro? Is it compatible with 3DS? Is it a
plug-in for 3DS. Give me the scoop.
Also, who could I call to get lots of literature, feature, and down to earth
pricing on 3DS/Animator Pro?
Steve
Steve,
You can locate a dealer through the Autodesk Multimedia Referral Line @
800/879-4233. Or post your city and all the dealers here will jump on you in
EMAIL.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Hi, Steve. Animator Pro is a 2D animation/paint program which goes well with
3D Studio. I don't do much 2D animation, myself, but I do use it to make
texture maps quite often.
Regards, Connie
I have been wondering about how to make a lake surface appear to be flowing. I
think something like that can be done with Animator Pro. Can it – by using
color cycling or something? Let me know please.
Hi Steven,
<< I have been wondering about how to make a lake surface appear to be flowing.
I think something like that can be done with Animator Pro. >>
Checkout WAVE.ZIP in the Animator Section of the lib.
<< other waves… >>
WAVES.ZIP demonstrates morphing ocean waves, found in Mesh/Project File section
of the lib.
WAVE68.zip breaking ocean waves, found in the Animator section of the lib.
jonas
Thanks Jonas, I'll check them out.
Steve
Yes you can use color cycling in Ani Pro to make things look like they
are moving
BUT
depends on how snifty you want flc to look.
Using 3DS and waves and spending lot of time creating meshes and
rendering can get you a very high level of realism
If you goal is to make quickly something that looks like it is moving
and takes next to no file space than color cycling works great – I use it a
lot.
[I have a poco in libary that you can down load (free even!) PLYGRD
I think and a sample flic made useing another POCO that is under development
CHGGRD something is its name – If it seond looks like it might be useful I can
send it to you – I'm looking for feed back on how well it works]
It is possible to do both – Using color cycling as maps applied to objects in
3DS can give even greater depth to your animation (and more work for you)
Some times we forget the obvious – it may be simpler to take your video camera
to beach – and you can catch waves while you're there..
As we say in the biz – what are the production values?
[read – how much time & $ does your client have?]
Steven,
Animator Pro is very useful for creating animated texture and bump maps. For
example, if you want to create an animation of a droplet falling into water and
making a ripple in 3DS, this would be a megapain to model directly in 3DS.
Instead you can use Animator Pro to make a grayscale 2D animation (called a
flic) of the ripple. Then in 3DS you just apply the flic to a flat surface as a
Bump map and render it. Voila! A ripple. Saves a lot of modeling on "animated
meshes" like this.
There is a learning curve but no more so than for 3DS. I don't know of any
other program that will create animated texture and bump maps for use with 3D
Studio, at least not at 800×600.
I may be biased — I've been using Animator Pro since its 320×200 days and have
found more ways to use it with 3DS than a porcupine has prickles. <g>
Speaking of books, be sure to check out the 3D Studio Tips & Tricks Series,
which will be available next week at your local Barnes & Noble. This is six
workbooks on different subjects for 3DS: Materials & Lighting, Glass &
Reflection etc.
Of course then I am biased again; I am one of the co-authors. <g>
Michele
Michele,
I just got 3DS but have Animator since it's first release. Does your
book mention other complementary ways to use the two packages?
I spent part of yesterday being shown what LightWave can do on the
Amiga. It had the ability to make "dents" or imprints in a 3-D sphere by
pushing a shape against the sphere mesh. Can 3DS do this also? Have I missed in
the documation? I also read in PC Video and Graphics magazine that LightWave is
being released for the PC soon. I liked the ease of use and Toaster-like menu
controls. I am trying to figure out if it will be complemetary to 3DS or just
duplicate 3DS features.
jhg
Hi John,
<< denting an object.. >>
There are several ways to do this but not the way that you describe. Here are
some files in the library to help you see the way that you can deform or
displace a geometry.
—————————————
File Info for DSPLAC.ZIP
Section: IPAS Usage Contributor: 76702,413 Size: 105706
Submitted: 5/1/94 Type: Binary Accesses: 217
Title: Yost Group IPAS Displace pxp working demo.
Keys: YOST GROUP IPAS3 DISPLACE PXP DISPLACEMENT MODELER WORKING
DEMO
This file contains a working version of Displace pxp, but cannot write meshes
back out to the
3D Editor. Displace is a Displacement modeler unique in the world of 3D
graphics… Kind of like a
super duper souped-up GIFDXF, with interactive feedback and real-time Gouraud
shading of over 50,000
polys-per-second on a Pentium with a fast display card. From Yost Group IPAS
Boutique Disk#7.
File Info for DSPFLI.ZIP
Section: IPAS Usage Contributor: 76702,413 Size: 316775
Submitted: 5/1/94 Type: Binary Accesses: 103
Title: Yost Group IPAS Displace pxp morphing demo flic.
Keys: YOST GROUP IPAS 320X200 FLIC DEMO DISPLACEMENT MODELING MORPHING
This file contains a 320×200 flic illustrating how the Displace PXP
Displacement Modeler
can be used to output multiple morph targets while moving the displacement over
the surface of an object.
Animated morph smoothing was used to make pieces of the morph dynamically
appear out of the
displacement. An inset to the animation illustrates the 2D bitmap that was
used as the displacement source. From Yost Group IPAS Boutique Disk#7.
File Info for DEFORM.ZIP
Section: IPAS Usage Contributor: 76702,413 Size: 443253
Submitted: 5/1/94 Type: Binary
Accesses: 112
Title: Yost Group IPAS Deform pxp demo flic & screenshot
Keys: YOST GROUP IPAS 320X200 FLIC DEMO SCREENSHOT DEFORM FFD PXP
This file contains a flic created with Deform pxp, a Free Form Deformation
modeling tool. In
this example, the Chevy .3ds file has been texture mapping and is seen twisting
and twitching in ways
previously impossible to animate in a single operation within 3DS. A 640×480
.gif screenshot of the UI
controls is also included. From Yost Group IPAS Boutique Disk#6.
Thanks for the tips Jonas!
jhg
In addition to what Jonas posted, you can also acheive geometric dents without
purchasing additional IPAS routines by using the boolean function in 3DS.
Often you'll need to tessellate objects before doing this, if there aren't any
vertices in the area. I'm not sure what the threshold on that is, but a little
experimentation will get you a long way. Also, if you don't need geometric
dents, then you can always just apply a bump map where the "dents" part of the
map would be darker in gray-scale than the rest of the surface map.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
You received a comprehensive reply on this from someone else which I think
wraps it up.
My new books cover very little Animator Pro. The only book I know of that talks
about using 3DS and Ani Pro together is AutoCAD 3D Design and Presentation, a
book I co-authored in 1990. The technical info is out-of-date (3DS R1!) but the
presentation concepts are still valid — how to put together a presentation
with AutoCAD, 3DS, Ani Pro, etc. I still see the book in stores all over. If
you get a chance you might want to flip through it and see if it's what you're
looking for.
Michele