ComonXT

[Tom Jarvi]

I'm looking at doing some fly through/around Animations. I've tried the ComonXT animator, but I'm looking for something that offers more than that. I'd like to find something that I can Embed Video in the rendering cycle, as to add more realism to my renderings. Can anyone shed some light in a direction I can/should go with NXT?

Thanks,

Tom Jarvi

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Nothing fancy is available with nXt right now. You can do simple pathed animations, or viewpoint interpolation. (You do not need ComonXt to do these.)

[Tom Jarvi]

Do you know if something will be available in the future?
I'd really like something that will allow me to embed video within the rendering and give me more predefined paths using polylines.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

It's very simple animation right now-- it's a button under WalkAbout. Currently each animation can have one target path and one camera path-- you can probably string animations together if you're clever. The paths can be any AutoCAD curve-- splines are probably your best bet but polylines should work. No embedded video and no short term plans for any. No idea about the long term.

Just out of curiosity, what are you looking for-- monitors that play movies? water fountains?

[Tom Jarvi]

I'm modeling a site right now that's about 18 acres in size. We have portable "Jumbo Trons" that we locate around the site. The Monitor screens are 17'h x 23' w. I'd like the ability to throw some video on the screens while rendering a fly around to bring more realism to the rendering.
As far as using splines, I'm not a big fan of those. I need a more pre-defined path for rendering.
We have tent structures on this site that if you put together from one end to the other it stretches over 8 football fields long. I need the ability to set a path that will accurately let me navigate this.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

nXt is probably not the right tool for this project. I would certainly block it out very soon and do a small test to see if it can even handle the basics-- before you get too far into it. Polylines should work fine.

[Tom Jarvi]

Hi Roy,
I've been working on this site for a while now. NXT has been fine for doing a basic over all site plan. I've attached a rendering showing the size and magnitude of the site. My goal is to render a fly through inside the tents from one end to the other and once I've finalized the outside to do a fly around of the site. I'm adding components to this drawing every day. I hope this helps in understanding what it is I'm trying to accomplish. The ability to embed video would be a huge help in creating realism.

Thanks,

Tom Jarvi

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

It looks like a fun project. Embedding video is not coming any time soon-- certainly not in time for this project. Again, the animation facilities we've got are basic. Try some test ones first before you commit to it.

[Tom Jarvi]

Thanks for the help. If you do in the future decide to incorporate a more demanding animation ability, sign me up please.

Thanks,

Tom Jarvi

[Chas / Aug Posekany]

Tom,
Depending on how long of an animation you are looking to compile and how much imbedded video you will need this can be done post render before you compile the animation. Knowing you are setting up for a 20 frame per second frame rate you can break down the video you want to imbed using the same 20 frame per second and manually attach the images individually using your favorite post rendering image software in each successive frame. Then when you compile the animation it will have the video imbedded.