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Messages - Aethelwulffe

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General Anim8or Forum / Re: What the...?
« on: June 30, 2021, 12:45:57 pm »
I recommend that you use a separate directory (under C:\ somewhere) with your development directory, utilities that are portable like Anim8or, and you texture directories/save WIP folders.  Stuff under Users/ kinda gets goofy with permissions and stuff these days.  Sometimes just windows indexing or some sort of AV or "Cloud Storage" data stealing stuff that pretends to be a backup system can suddenly create a situation where a utility can no longer access a resource.  Look at its currently indexed location in your texture list, then remove/replace it, and see what the difference was.  That stinks when you have like 30 textures...

2
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Anim8or v1.0 Beta is available
« on: May 02, 2017, 04:36:47 am »
@Steve  Giving the Beta a download and test now.  We have been waiting a long time for something with a 1.0 tag, and this is totally awesome to see.  This product has been *the* most intuitive 3d drawing software out there for a long time.  In terms of modeling speed, it is faster to produce something in Anim8or then chuck it out in 3ds for anything else that need be done with it than it is to do it natively in the other popular platforms (open-source and otherwise).  I have always looked forward to the day when there were more tools available...but not at the expense of the simple and powerful interface.  It is also the best education platform out there.  I am *inordinately pleased* that the project is still in development and has not gone off the rails (totally).
  I only wish it were open source, or at least had a developer vetting process and a team involved...with a despot at the head that could make sure the interface doesn't get "Blenderfied".  Truth is, if it were open source, I would probably stop working on medical software stuff...so that is perhaps for the best!

3
ASL Scripts / Re: Using a script to aid rendering operations.
« on: September 07, 2009, 09:37:08 am »
Thank you very much for that process sir!
  I am doing a lot of heavy coding for my game right now, but as soon as I finish fleshing out the RPG side of the engine some more (There are stations on the planet, planetary orbital environs, system charts, star charts, space stations etc... where the character must move between reliably, not to mention save games and the like) I will need to re-create some of my animated characters.  Unfortunatly, I lost one of my best models as well as a lot of other data in a double hard-drive failure.  Since I also lost my scaling data for some of the other models, it will be hard to add sprites to the existing characters (holding items and special actions) as well, so if I can get a studio set up, it will greatly help this process.  Each character is going to have some 160 images all in all.  Rough!
Of course if anyone out there likes big projects... I have a doozie!  I released this game a couple of years ago.   It is called VECTOR.  It is a Star Frontiers (old TSR RPG + space combat) game that I have some trademark rights to.  I did the multiplayer space combat version first, and have been adding the RPG element to it as I go along.  I am using World Creator software in addition to Anim8or and some other utilities.  I have a lot of movies in the game, but those are mostly rendered in a free game called Orbiter that I put ships and characters into, then capture using FRAPS.  My stuff rendered from Anim8or looks great, but my work with tiles and the like is pretty crude.  There is a lot of "room creation" that is needed, so if any of you guys are interested in that sort of interior decoration..... or anyone interested in helping with setting up and scripting a studio to do this job, or anyone interested in doing any modeling, story writing etc.. PuhLEEZ!

4
ASL Scripts / Using a script to aid rendering operations.
« on: September 02, 2009, 12:36:11 pm »
I am rendering images of models to create isometric sprites.  Ideally, I would love to have an object in object editor, run the script, and have it render an image, rotate the model 30 degrees, and render again until the model was rotated all the way around.  I have been doing this manually, and it takes about 108 images to create a 12 direction walk cycle, plus a standing position, plus more for special actions.  This ain't easy.  I know that I can do this better (I hope) in the studio, but if there is some way to use a script to assist this process, it would be a better way to go in my opinion.  I have not used ASL, but in looking through the API of functions, it did not seem to have any dedicated functions for automating rendering, just the tools for manipulating shapes and exporting the data files.  Am I correct in this or am I missing something?  I plan on starting with a simple script that simply rotates the model a certain number of degrees (30 as a default), but I was hoping for suggestions that might lead me to the correct idea to attack this issue. 
  Here is the thread where we have been discussing this:  http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?topic=2593.0

Thanks guys.  I usually do all my own proof of concept theorizing, but I would rather jump-start my usual multi-month discovery process.

5
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Rendering for 2d sprites
« on: September 02, 2009, 12:15:22 pm »
Yeah, it sounds pretty smart to set up a studio and build some bones.  Unfortunatly, I have a wide variety of aliens etc... that won't follow the bipedal format, so mostly the camera setup is the most important.  The lighting will have to be arranged the same also of course.  I must have the lighting angle appear as if it were from the same direction...I think, so hopefully I can switch lights on and off as well.  It sure would be great if a script could be made to rotate the model and take shots of it though....On click and Poof! you have your output for any model.  As a coder, I would prefer to learn ASL than to learn to use the studio!

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General Anim8or Forum / Re: Rendering for 2d sprites
« on: September 02, 2009, 08:06:12 am »
There are 13 poses (1 of standing in 12 directions, then 12 directional walking animations with 8 poses each).  Basically I would need 12 cameras, plus 12 lights, and then pose (for this particular figure) 8 times and I would be done pretty easily, right? Being that I have not set up a camera before, I hope that the accuracy of the set up is easy to achieve.  I will try that.  I will be doing this a lot of course, so I'd like to explore all options

Can the whole thing be filmed as an animation with one camera, with the framerate keyed to the keyframes?  Perhaps creating a full-on animation, or perhaps just doing the rotating with the animation, and film the 8 poses by making the framerate equal to 8 per revolution.  It doesn't really matter how the images are organized, as I can re-sequence them.  If it can be accurately done, I  could convert the video output to animated gif, then use the gif in the game engine.

I will pose this same question relative to ASL in the appropriate thread.  Exploring all avenues...Thank you very much guys.  More advice is much appreciated!

7
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Rendering for 2d sprites
« on: September 01, 2009, 05:44:55 pm »
Is it possible to use ASL to do the renderings?

8
General Anim8or Forum / Rendering for 2d sprites
« on: September 01, 2009, 05:02:48 pm »
Hello!
  I would like to ask advice on the best way to automate my animated sprite creating process.
  While I do use Anim8or to create objects for use in 3d games (primarily Orbiter), I also use it for creating nice looking sprites for isometric 2d games.  I can create a character, then take renderings of him at any angle or walk cycle, and then turn that into an animation in the game.  The process I am using to do that is seriously time consuming:

1. Create a transparent box around the model to allow the view distance and angle to remain the same during rendering.
2.  Rotate to a user view of 45 degrees using the wireframe of the transparent box and sizing it to the viewable screen to ensure that the renderings are all the same scale.
3.  Use the render function to save an image.
4.  Rotate the model 30 degrees and take the next shot.

Here is an example of how many renderings it takes to get a decent walking animation.

OK, Fact is, I have been modeling with anim8or for years, and I have never once done an animation inside the program, or ever really used the movie making features at all.  I do all my animations inside the game programs that I am putting the models in.  So I really never used a "real" rendering engine at all.   Should I animate the models in animator and then convert a movie to frames, should I write a script to take the screenshots needed, or what?

-I look forward to some great suggestions from folks that have learned to do stuff like this the right way, vs. my way.

Thanks,
Art

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