Skindigo animation: 'how to' explained.

[kwistenbiebel]

Hi Skin-di-go'ers,

Whaat implemented an animation feature in Skindigo which is really easy to use. Just use the classic way of making a SU animation by creating scene tabs . (Frames in between 'scenes' will be generated automatically).
To render an animation an executable file will be made by Skindigo.

Here's a quick 'how to' :

A QUICK GUIDE TO SAVE THE BATCH.EXE FILE
--------------------------------------------
Actually, rendering animations is a hidden feature.
To use it, go to the render settings screen of Skindigo ---> 'options' tab.
Double click on the words 'output options'.
A window will pop up that lets you save the batch.exe.
It will ask you which framerate you want.
I chose 10 frames per second, but for a really smooth animation consider 25 fps (if you have a render farm )




HOW TO SETUP RENDER TIME PER FRAME
----------------------------------
Easy: go to 'render settings panel' ---> 'Advanced' Tab.
Set the time you want each frame to be rendered at 'Halt'.
For instance 60 seconds.




2 examples of animations I tried using this feature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAxdSfJ8JHo

AND:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8Yvz90VKg


Regards,
kwistenbiebel

[Pibuz]

Very useful kwisten: gotta definetely give it a try!
Thank you a lot!

Er, i've got to ask you a question, seen you're good in SU animations: i tried to record one, but it happens that the output video stops for a very short time every time the virtual camera reaches a new shooting position. How can i make the stop go away?

(i know i'm a little off topic here: sorry )

[kwistenbiebel]

Hi Pibuz,

If you are in SU 6, go to the 'view' menu > 'animation' > 'settings' and set the 'scene delay' to 0 seconds.
In that way there is no pause between scenes.

I hope this helps.

Cheers and happy animating

[cpfresh]

kwistenbiebel what software can you recommend for compiling the resultant png images into a movie? thanks!

[kwistenbiebel]

The thing I use and which is really easy is 'windows movie maker'
It's free and comes with XP or Vista.

[dougal2]

cpfresh
Also, look at VirtualDub. It has filters which can help reduce render noise too.

[Whaat]

Truly, the most useful aspect of the SkIndigo animation feature is the ability to batch render all of the scenes in your SketchUp file automatically. You should be able to do this with the latest version but it might be a bit tricky. In fact, I forget how to do it I think you have to disable scene transitions and change the scene delay to one second. Then, you have to select a certain frame rate for the animation of 0.95 or 1.05 frames per second (can't remember which one).

This allows you to set up several scenes with different camera angles and sun positions and then render them all through the night. Now instead of one noise-free render to wake up to, you might have three or four! Can someone try this to confirm that this works??

BTW, more than just sun and camera can be animated.... Sorry, no SketchyPhysics...I know of at least two other settings that should work with animation. Can anyone guess?

[cpfresh]

movie maker is rather cumbersome when setting frame durations. are you manually moving frame edges or is there some speedy way to set all frame lengths to .01 seconds or whatever smallest period possible??

[Whaat]

movie maker is rather cumbersome when setting frame durations. are you manually moving frame edges or is there some speedy way to set all frame lengths to .01 seconds or whatever smallest period possible??

Why would you want to do this? Then your animation will be over very quickly. (100 frames for a one second animation). I'm confused.

[kwistenbiebel]

@Cpfresh, yes there is a speedy way in movie maker:
Before pasting the frames in the timeline go to the 'Extra' menu > 'Options'.
Lower the values to the minimum. done

[cpfresh]

ah ha! the awesomeness continues! thnx kwistenbiebel!

hey whaat for additional options when exporting movies, theres also sections. does skindigo mind the section cuts?

and as for frame duration times at 0.01, that may have been a gross overestimate! the shortest time allowed by MM is 0.125 and 0.25 for transition duration. got it now.

[cpfresh]

also, the multiple scene for different views/sun angles worked fine for the most part. i set up 3 scenes, each with a different view and each with a different sun setting -- and i ended up with two of the first scene, a second scene and no third scene. im going to try again with another file.

thanks for the great idea whaat!

[Whaat]

also, the multiple scene for different views/sun angles worked fine for the most part. i set up 3 scenes, each with a different view and each with a different sun setting -- and i ended up with two of the first scene, a second scene and no third scene. im going to try again with another file.

thanks for the great idea whaat!

I am guessing you used a frame rate of 0.95. I think using a frame rate of 1.05 will solve that problem.

[Richard]

3d browser from Moo Tools is free and it has the ability to process your images into video frames at click of button. Animated gif also supported with a bunch of other stuff too like font browsing, lossless JPG resizing, 3d file browsing and polygon crunching (crude).

Mind you it will time out then only run in demo mode that runs the same as it did before time out. weird

[crojack]

One thing I noticed is that the windows command window needs to stay open for each render to start. At least it seems that way, and the only way to quit the batch render is to close the command window and than quit Indigo, otherwise it was opening op the next igs file.

Couldn't you set your render to a certain halt time and than start the batch? I don't understand why you have to do the .95 or 1.05 frame rate.