I've got a generic curve generator called POVHerm.  It generates
.INC files that give you a 3D Vector for each frame in the scene.
The control points are easy to use and modify - I find this kind
of curve works very well in animations.  Full descriptions of
Hermite Curves and how to use the program on the website:
  http://www.geocities.com/emory_stagmer/povherm
Since POVHerm is a DOS executable, I generally setup a
.BAT file to use as a pre-scene shellout which runs 
povherm against each of my data files, then put that
in an .INI file so the .INC's get re-generated everytime
I run the animation.

I'm currently working on an animation for TechTV's EyeDrops
show, and I'm making use of these curves, especially
for camera movements - one curve for viewpoint, another for look_at.
I started this animation years ago (5!) and never finished it,
and that was before I really got this utility working, so there
is stuff in the scenes that are using techniques like those below
(which work JUST FINE BTW!).

Peter's examples are great!  I've been using POV for so long
(since 2.2 I think) and macros are kinda new, so I tend not to 
use them too much - you can teach an old dog new tricks, but
it takes more milk bones!! ;)

Emory

Peter Hertel wrote:
> 
> "GRUMBLE" <gru### [at] SPAMgmxat> skrev i melding
> news:web.3d591b9e84f39dd52c0cb40@news.povray.org...
> > are there any special techniques on how to get a better overview about
> > animations in povray?
> >
> > i mean, you only have clock goin from 0 to 1 (or whatever you set it to)
> > and everything else has to be referenced by this variable. and if you add
> > more and more moving things to it, it all gets a whole chaos.
> >
> > im actually workin on a short movie where some things are animated. and
> they
> > all start and end at different times. and im so far now, that i have
> > created an extra variable for each of it. but im still kinda confused. any
> > tips?
> >
> I won't and can't claim this is professional animation management =) But
> I've recently started another animation project, and so far it works out
> well, I'm at the first scene which so far has 4 stages..
> 
> I've done it like this:
> 1) Build a animatable object ( I did a Alien which can move it's head, arms
> and hover above the ground with fanzy fire coming out :)
> 2) Then assign the Alien to a macro, something like
> Alien(Headrotate,Armsrotate,Translate).
> 3) Animate the Alien the way you want, using Alien_Clock going from 0 to 1
> 4) Model another object ( I did a transport ) Assign it to a macro like
> Transport(Translate)
> 5) Animate the transport the way you want it to move, using Transport_Clock
> going from 0 to 1.
> 6) Then piece the two object together like this in a macro(with clock going
> from 0 to 1):
> 
> #macro Fill_Transport(Fill_Transport_Clock)
>     #switch (Fill_Transport_Clock)
>     #range (0,0.5)
>         #declare Alien_Clock = Fill_Transport_Clock*2;// makes the clock go
> from 0 to 1
>         Alien(y*360*Alien_Clock,x*10*Alien_Clock,x*20*Alien_Clock)
>         Transport(0)// Transport not moving
>     #break
>     #range (0.5,1)
>         Alien(0,0,0)// Alien not moving
>         #declare Transport_Clock = (Fill_Transport_Clock-0.5)*2; // makes
> the clock go from 0 to 1
>         Transport(x*100*Transport_Clock)
>     #break
>     #end
> #end
> 
> Now you can initiate the macro in the next stage by just using
> Fill_Transport(clock moving from 0 to 1)
> Always make sure the macro clock goes from 0 to 1, first when you model it,
> then modify the clock to fit when you initiate the macro.
> If you want to make stuff start at different times you could do it like
> this:
> 
> // command line: +KI0 +KF1 +KFI0 +KFF19 +w320 +h240
> 
> #local Pclock = clock;
> 
> // white ball
> #switch (Pclock)
> #range(0,0.5)
>     #local MY_Clock = Pclock*2;
>     sphere{x*2,1 translate y*2*MY_Clock pigment {rgb 1}}
> #break
> #range(0.5,1)
>     sphere{x*2,1 translate y*2 pigment {rgb 1}}
> #end
> 
> // red ball
> #switch (Pclock)
> #range(0,0.6)
>     #local MY_Clock = Pclock*(1/0.6);
>     sphere {x*-2,0.1+0.9*MY_Clock pigment {rgb <0.2+0.8*MY_Clock,0,0>}}
> #break
> #range(0.6,0.8)
>     #local MY_Clock = (Pclock-0.6)*5;
>     sphere{x*-2,1 translate x*-6*MY_Clock pigment {rgb <1,0,0>}}
> #break
> #range(0.8,1)
>     sphere{x*-2,1 translate x*-6 pigment {rgb <1,0,0>}}
> #break
> #end
> 
> Since I've noe used this method for very long, I'm not sure how this will
> work with even more stages, or if you want to go back and change a lot
> (minor changes work well at this stage though)..In theory, it could work :)
> I never use clock directly in my code, but rather declare another variable
> like Pclock, because then I can just change Pclock to something between 0
> and 1, and render a single frame at any stage in the animation.
> 
> I hope I managed to explain this good enough.. Hope you can use it, and if
> you want to do accelration etc. take a look at the bottom of this page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/2006/ptip26.htm
> 
> Or use clockmod :)
> 
> I'm a newbie at animation, so please, if anyone out there knows better ways
> to do this, please tell :)
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> -Peter
> http://hertel.no/peter

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