New Feature Request - Unconstrained Animation in Sequence mode

[novocas7rian]

I've long wondered why bones are so much easier to position
in Figure mode than in Sequences.  In Figure, you can simply
drag a bone to the desired angle unconstrained by any axis - its
very intuitive and works quite well.

I have often wanted to rotate a bone in a direction that isn't along
a direct X/Y/Z path, and as a result I have to move it a bit this way,
then a bit that - like tacking a yacht.  It can be time-consuming and
frustrating.

Would there be any chance of making the freeform rotation from
Figure mode available in Sequences as well?  Perhaps if a bone
allows free unlimited rotation on all three axes an extra checkbox
could become active: "Allow free rotation".  When checked the
user can move the bone the same way as in Figure mode.

I do hope you consider this enhancement - personally I'd find
animations a _lot_ easier to produce.

[Francesco]

For what is worth I agree with you novocas, and I believe that the good news announced by Steve will include better figure/sequence handling.

[VBSmiles]

I brought this subject up long ago in the old forum and even displayed a small animation to help show what I would like to see.
Can't recall Steven's exact responce, but I think part of it had something to do with IK.

[novocas7rian]

I'm sorry to bring up this old topic again.  Its possible this has been discussed to death during my two years' absence, but in case it hasn't I was wondering - has any progress been made on this issue?  Is it something that will be addressed in a future Anim8or release?

My animations are mostly of organic creatures with limbs that move fluidly in unusual directions, far from the default X and Z planes, and the current sequence animation method makes anim8or extremely difficult to use.  Its a pity, given that a tool called anim8or would, you'd expect, excel at animation

[novocas7rian]

Also there's a minor bug thats quite annoying, as minor bugs often are, and its been in anim8or as long as I can remember.

Go to render a movie, and the size will be 400x300.  Change it to something else and make the render.  Come back to render another movie, and the size you chose will be forgotten - back to 400x300 again.  The filename you choose is remembered, along with options like antialias etc.  It'd be great if the dimensions were preserved as well.

[lynn22]

Anim8or v0.97d now also saves the render size of the movie in your file

[novocas7rian]

Hi lynn, I'm not quite sure what you mean ... the above bug is definitely present in 0.97d.  I've been rendering a lot of sprite images via the "render movie" function, and every time I bring up that dialog it reverts to 400 by 300.

[lynn22]

Hi Novocas, I think we might be on a different wavelength here

What I mean is that when you render an image/scene for the fist time and you set your image size and then save your anim8or file, the image size is saved with the file so if you want to render again the next day  the size will still be there.

Or did you mean when starting a new file ? Then the render size is always 400x300.

[Gyperboloid]

Yep, he means new file . But it's not a bug and it's ok.

[novocas7rian]

I'm sorry, no that's not what I mean Gyper, and for me its a (minor but annoying) bug.

I've opened scenes, rendered as a movie adjusting image size, saved the model, but for me nothing changes in the saved model file and when I render as a movie again its back to 400x300.

Perhaps you could show me an example of what it actually saves in a .an8 file?  I could then add it in manually via a text editor

I didn't want this minor issue to distract from the animation suggestion I originally raised...

[lynn22]

When you open the an8 file in a text editor it is right at the top of the file, here are the first few lines :

header {
  version { "0.97d beta" }
  build { "2008.09.21" }
}
environment {
  grid { 1 10 50 50 }
  lighting {
    intensity { 1 }
    ambientintensity { 0.60000 }
  }
  framerate { 24 }
  film {
    size { 400 300 }
    ratio { 4 3 }
  }
  image {
    size { 800 600 }
  }

You are right, the file saves the static image render size but does not seem to save the animation render size.
However, if you change film {  size { 400 300 to ex. 800 600
anim8or recognizes the new size after you saved the file in a text editor.

[Gyperboloid]

Hmm... but you have to open it in text editor, then apply the changes, then save it. Is'n that the same and even esier to open it as it is in Anim8or and just change it every time you want to render it, so you will have your kinda original file and you'll be able to change the resolution on any type. Same thing I think

[novocas7rian]

Yep, works for me, thankyou both

[davdud101]

Not to change the subject but about the XYZ Bones thing... It's like trying to move the bones of a robot, not really organic.

[novocas7rian]

Well, that's actually returning to the original subject   Yes, my point exactly - if a bone is unconstrained on both X and Z axes it'd be so nice to be able to rotate it "freehand" like you can in the Figure editor.  I know there are many important features planned (and requested) for anim8or, but this is by far the addition I'd most like to see.