Skindigo animation: 'how to' explained.

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Whaat
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Post by Whaat » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:15 am

crojack wrote: 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.
That method is only required if want to batch render several scenes automatically. (not in the context of creating an actual smooth animation)

Does this not make any sense??

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cpfresh
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Post by cpfresh » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:16 am

you need to have your halt time or samples per pixel set in the skindigo settings for them to take effect on export.

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Post by crojack » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:23 am

I see, so you only get a single image of each view tab that you want, instead of getting all the ones in between if it were to be an animation.
sorry, having to do real work all day makes my brain tired. :(

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cpfresh
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Post by cpfresh » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:24 am

makes sense here whaat. :D

i was able to get the multi-view going by using a scene delay of 10 seconds and then entering a frame rate of 0.1. then i got my 3 scenes where they were supposed to be. also, scene transitions were disabled.

i dont know that using 10 seconds was neccessary, but it wouldnt make the correct scenes with a 1 second scene delay ...


edit:
for multi-view renderings (non animation style)
if x = your scene delay, then frame rate == 1/x
*transitions are disabled

Richard
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Post by Richard » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:30 am

Wow kwisten

Mate is that whole scene modelled?? Did you use instancing for the trees and also mate how many frames did you render???

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cpfresh
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Post by cpfresh » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:48 am

Whaat as a suggestion for SkIndigo 1.0.9, when doing animation exports maybe the command line entries could be changed from using the /max option to /min so Indigo can go about its business without popping up on the screen every so often?

edit
...maybe use the console for larger batches? I don't know if there are any performance pluses on Graphical vs Console version.

-doing a heliodon render of todays date on some test blocks. awesome!

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kwistenbiebel
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Post by kwistenbiebel » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:54 pm

Richard wrote:Wow kwisten

Mate is that whole scene modelled?? Did you use instancing for the trees and also mate how many frames did you render???
Hi Richard,
Instancing is Da Trick :)
It is really easy once you know how:


Let's say you imported a Xfrog tree.
Right click that component and 'enable instancing'.
Next make a cube or something (I usually make a trunk like slim vertical beam, a stick) , group it and and make it a component.
That new component is going to be the 'dummy' component. In it's entity info panel, make sure it gets the exact same name as the Xfrog tree but with the addition of '_dummy'.
Right click the new component and 'enable instancing' .

Copy around the dummy component in your scene. done :)

important note:
See to it that the 'axes' on both the full 3D component as the dummy are alligned.
To check it: on the selected component, right click and choose 'select axes' and move the axes to the base of your component.
Once you did that, you can use the 'component spray tool' to have millions of dummies spread around your scene. (you can find the component spray tool over at SCF forum)

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Post by Richard » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:53 am

Thanks mate I'm just running my first test render now! Haven't tested out Indigo really till now - the sliders on the values in the plug have been a great help to getting started. Still no idea with blended materials.

Mate have to say yet again your abilities to pic up an app and run with it just blow me away!!!!

Must grab that script!

Cheers mate!

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kwistenbiebel
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Post by kwistenbiebel » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:21 am

I am trying to render some moving objects.
Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be possible as Skindigo does a 'quick export' for each frame in which it doesn't export the geometry information.

@ Whaat,
Doing a full geometry export per frame would increase the render time dramatically which would be a bad thing.
Wouldn't it be possible for Skindigo to just export the information of the geometry that changes per frame?
That would be cool, but maybe impossible to code?
Last edited by kwistenbiebel on Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Whaat
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Post by Whaat » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:42 am

kwistenbiebel wrote:I am trying to render some moving objects.
Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be possible as Skindigo does a 'quick export' for each frame in which it doesn't export the geometry information.

@ Whaat,
Doing a full geometry export per frame would increase the render time dramatically which would be a bad thing.
Wouldn't it be possible for Skindigo to just export the information of just the geometry that changes per frame?
That would be cool, but maybe impossible to code?
Can you explain your workflow? SketchUp doesn't save geometry location with the scene, so animating moving objects is not yet possible. How do you plan to do this?

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kwistenbiebel
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Post by kwistenbiebel » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:00 am

Hi Whaat,
Indeed, SU is a b*tch when it comes to moving objects in animations.
A method that works is that you model the object in 'scene1' and hide it in 'scene2' while you have a copy of that object visible but moved some inches away. For third scene you hide the earlier object etc....



It' s a tedious workflow and I am not planning using that much.
I just wanted to try out if Skindigo could render it.

I can imagine the Sketchyphysics script is much more suited for animation, but unfortunately it doesn't make the animation into 'scenes'.....

Rodrigonotor
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Post by Rodrigonotor » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:51 pm

cpfresh wrote:kwistenbiebel what software can you recommend for compiling the resultant png images into a movie? thanks! :D
A lot of time ago, I use a Bink Software to convert the png`s in a movie (bink movie, very ligth file), later convert the bink movie to avi file, with the codecs instaled in my computer, but in a bigger file.

Realy easy and free to download.

http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

leona
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Re: Skindigo animation: 'how to' explained.

Post by leona » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:11 am

kwistenbiebel wrote:
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 ;))
I dont know how but I dont see the options tab in my skindigo when I go into render settings. Please help!

Thanks!

Rodrigonotor
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Post by Rodrigonotor » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:00 am

Double click over the text "Output Options"
Attachments
doubleclick.png
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kwistenbiebel
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Post by kwistenbiebel » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:57 am

Sometimes the image says more than the words... :)

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