Anim8or Community

Hi Steve

I have a 200 frame 1920 x 1080 simple animation on a green background rendering using ART, anti aliased, xvid codec.
I'm running on an 8 core i7 4800MQ 2.7GHz.

1329 renders in 31 minutes    [processor is running at 96% during render]
1321 renders in 15 minutes!     [ processor is running at 15% during render]

Both tests are running with the PC using about 5GB of 8GB RAM, anim8or is using about 250MB during both tests.  Multithreaded is checked.

Let me know if I've might of set it up incorrectly.

I watched a Terranim8or tutorial video and that put things into context for me.  I was going to use it in my other world project but I tried the script first and found it did just what I needed.  The problem with the script is sometimes it does not work and it doesn't tell you why.  I'm getting better at finding the reason, often the material seems to have "lost settings" but I can't work out how to force this issue so not sure if its me doing something or a gremlin.

Hope the project goes well

Hi Ian,

Not sure what you mean.  I think you mean that you don't see the animated texture while viewing a single frame in scene mode (or object mode).  I will try and explain that, if I've got the wrong end of the stick let me know

In scene mode, as you step through frame by frame you see your objects move to the required position for each frame.  e.g. in my example, if you select top view, you can see the camera moving as you advance through the frames.

If you have an object with an animated texture, the texture changes frame by frame, in the same way as an object moves frame by frame. The water splash starts as a video, it is converted to many single frame images - Tan0001, Tan0002, etc. Raxx'x script swaps the texture (Tan0001 for Tan0002, Tan0003, etc.) on the material depending on the frame that you are viewing.  So in scene mode with an animated texture, you will not see any animation while looking at a single frame, the animation is done by selecting each image in turn as you move through the frames. It does'nt become animated video again until you render your scene.

If you had a splash consisting of 12 frames from start to end, you could make a stop frame animation with 12 images.  You could put each image on a its own object, and in scene mode key the visibility of each object (each object is a frame of stop frame animation) so that the objects are displayed for 1 frame, one after the other.  When you render, it will appear to be an animated texture on one object.  Raxx's script achieves exactly the same, but with a single object.  The expression that calls the script calculates which image should be selected given the frame number.   The files Tan0001, Tan0002, etc. are each frame of the stop frame animation.

Let me know if that makes sense.

Have you seen Raxx's video tutorial on this thread http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php/topic,5333.msg39604.html#msg39604?

[Still frames / sprites become an animated texture when you render (or play) the scene.
I could not find your reference "Raxx's method of "add to project"?
I don't know terranim8or, but my guess is that it creates many objects (particles) adds them to your anim8or project file and keys them in scene mode to splash / explode / smoke / fire ,etc.]
A

Hi Ian - no problem.  The second time I used the script I had all kinds of issues because I had forgotten some of the steps so any excuse to practise helps me remember, in the short term at least

Hi Ian

I've made an example project to practise doing this.  (zip link below) It tool me a while the first time I tried.  In the zip is a word doc with notes on each step.  I hope it reads OK.

This was the result:

[/youtube]

Let me know how you get on

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ag0is5Le3T-0kgagntrGeciRdZqS  (the project is too big to attach - 17MB)

Welcome; the other guy looks good

Are there any particular features of anim8or that stand out?  I've always found it very intuitive, and keep finding things I never knew it could do

  looks great

When I tested my file I didn't get a shadow using an infinite light - it was under the object

Glad you've got it working