#How To Figure Out Timing
16 messages in this thread
Hi there,
I have a quick question for all of you. It's something that has been bothering
me for quite sometime: Is there a rule of thimb when using timing for
animaitons? Let me explain:
If I'm, for example, animating letters walking across a plane and jumping into
place in a logo, how do I know how many frames to put in between each movement
or morph? I have no PAR or any other device on which I can see the animation
at 'real-time' speed so I have no way of knowing whether the speed of movement
is slow, fast or even.
Do you guys have a trick I could use for the future? I'm sort of caught up in
the middle of a proyect and don't have time to do "tests," the first try has
to be the right one.
I appreciate any suggestions..
Alex K.
Hi Alex,
<< I have no PAR or any other device on which I can see the animation at
'real-time' speed so I have no way of knowing whether the speed of movement is
slow, fast or even. >>
Motion study took on a new meaning after I started to use the PAR. If PAR-like
devices are out of your budget, you may wish to look at flic
compression/playback techniques as a motion study solution. Search the
libraries for keywords SMACKER and NEWAGE.
jonas[adesk]
Hi Jonas,
Thank you for your reply. I will try them out to see how they work out.
Thanks again…
Alex.
Hi Jonas,
<<Motion study took on a new meaning after I started to use the PAR. If
PAR-like devices are out of your budget, you may wish to look at flic
compression/playback techniques as a motion study solution. Search the
libraries for keywords SMACKER and NEWAGE. >>
What are these SMACKER and NEWAGE programs? How would you use them for motion
study solutions?
BTW, How are the slopes?
Chris
Hi Chris,
<< What are these SMACKER and NEWAGE programs? How would you use them for
motion study solutions? >>
For someone who does not have a realtime playback device, these 2 programs add
additional compression techniques to the flic file format and through their own
players, are able to achieve realtime playback. It's this ability to view 30
fps on your computer monitor that makes these two programs valuable.
jonas[adesk]
ps.. skiing is real fun.
For very early video-oriented motion tests, Alex, I usually set the Keyframer
to play back at 30fps (in the 3DS.SET file), and go ahead and "play" the
animation in box-mode in the KF.
The next step could be rendering out a small Preview flic with Set Speed's
Check Speed switch ON for a guaranteed frame rate during playback.
-Alan
Hi Alan,
Thank you, I tried the Keyframer also, however, since my mesh is rather
complicated, it won't "play" the mesh at that high speed. Oh wait a minute…
Box mode? Hmmm haven't tried that one yet.. Thanks!!
I'll talk to you later…
Alex.
Alex
< Is there a rule of thimb when using timing for animaitons? >
This may help you in your quest for what you seek.
Get Tony White's book called "The Animators Workbook," published by
"Watson/Guptill."
I think it will tell you what you need to know on how to get started. The
reason I say this is because animation is a study of motion and sometimes the
timing that you want is a matter of your perception and no one elses. Also
study live action from a film with a stopwatch to get the aproximate timing for
the scene that required.
Hope this helps.
Chuck Rogers (Reel Images)
Alex,
>> animating letters …. how do I know how many frames to put in between each
movement or morph? <<
I usually figure out the timing in my head, by counting or pacing out the scene
in seconds or parts thereof. I'm usually pretty close when I render tests and
see the action.
>> don't have time to do "tests," the first try has to be the right one <<
you're asking for trouble here. You almost always need tests.
Hi Martin,
I know what you mean, when you say that you always need tests, but I'l going to
have to wing this one (g).
Thanks, and I'll talk to you later…
Alex.
As an add-on to what Alan said, I usually do previews at a lower
resolution (i.e. 320×240 instead of 640×480). I also usually only render
preview every 2nd or 3rd frame, then set preview play speed at 15fps or 10fps,
respectively. Using this method you will get a decent preview in a short
rendering time. Its then easy to simply slide keys in the KF to tweak the
timing, rerender, tweak, rerender…etc.
Paul S.
I'll try that too Paul. thanks!
Alex
You're getting plenty of replies. When you get around to project in which you
have time for tests, here's a technique I discovered that was too late to
document. You can create a spline/path in the Shaper using the Freehand tool.
When applied to an object as motion, it'll come close to imitating the velocity
changes of the mouse that were used when creating the freehand spline. Of
course, you can't always apply such a path directly to an object you want to
animate in a scene, but you can use it on a draft object to get an idea of
comparitive movement, and then imitate the timing in the Keyframer.
– Jack
Hi Jack,
Sounds interesting, but at this time, I don't even have time to think about
that (g)
Thanks anyway….
Alex.
A rule of thumb that I have is "Make things happen faster than I think they
should happen." My work always comes out slow and stupid looking.
Your milage may vary.
– gruhn
Hehe! Thanks for that one, I'll keep it in mind…
Thanks again…
Alex