Xander and AnimPlugin crew,

Firstly, thanks for a really cool animation tool! I just have a quick plea
for the future... and maybe some discussion/dialog from the newsgroup
readers...

Is there a way to add the ability to view the path(s) taken by cameras or
objects over the course of an animation within the four views of Moray? I
remember playing around with an old Release 1 of 3D Studio for DOS and it
would let you click on an object and display the path taken by that object
over the animation's run, including nodes representing frames and
highlighted nodes for keyframes. This was a VERY hand feature as it gave you
an instant view of how the path looked and if/where it needed tweaking. I've
not seen any recent releases of MAX, so I don't know if it is still a
feature or not...

An alternate feature that could replace this: enable objects and cameras to
follow the path of a 3D spline over the course of an animation. This would
prove infinitely more flexible as you could edit the path to change the
movement of a camera, for example, with instant visual feedback on how your
edits affected things. The splines nodes could be the keyframes and could be
added or subtracted as needed. Perhaps its editing could take place in an
additional tab as extrudes and revolves are now along with the same variety
of line/spline types (to enhance your current "step/linear/cubic" path
options). Is this just too way "out there" to consider?

Thanks,
-Kelly (kla### [at] usacom)

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[Animplugin requests snipped]

Well, it looks like Xander's either hiding in a corner whimpering, or 
feverishly coding if the lack of response is anything to go by... 

<big grin>

Oh, and I do know that the path highlighting feature was still in 
3DStudio up until Release 4, but that's the last version I had a chance 
to play with :(  (although I've done far more interesting and productive 
things in Moray than I ever managed with 3DS)

Bye for now,
     Jamie.

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> to play with :(  (although I've done far more interesting and productive
> things in Moray than I ever managed with 3DS)

same here, a didnt really like 3d studio much, and feel the same way about
max....

Rick

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"K. Lasse" wrote:
> 
> Xander and AnimPlugin crew,
> 
> Firstly, thanks for a really cool animation tool! I just have a quick plea
> for the future... and maybe some discussion/dialog from the newsgroup
> readers...

I will take any an all feature requests - when/whether they get done is
another matter...

> 
> Is there a way to add the ability to view the path(s) taken by cameras or
> objects over the course of an animation within the four views of Moray? I
> remember playing around with an old Release 1 of 3D Studio for DOS and it
> would let you click on an object and display the path taken by that object
> over the animation's run, including nodes representing frames and
> highlighted nodes for keyframes. This was a VERY hand feature as it gave you
> an instant view of how the path looked and if/where it needed tweaking. I've
> not seen any recent releases of MAX, so I don't know if it is still a
> feature or not...

I think I understand just what you want.  I have tried a couple of
different approaches to this.  The first approach was coded, but never
visible in a beta.  I drew a spline that passed through the origin of
the object at each keyframe.  The second approach, which isn't really
working uses a spline object that is directly edited.

To make a clean interface with Moray, and reproduce they way
splines/fcurves work in most animation packages, I still need to do
several things.  There are also a couple of things it would be nice to
have added to Moray to make the interface work easily.

Something wanted/needed from Moray...  I really want to be able to add
my own stuff to the dialog for objects.  Right now I only have control
over plugin object that I build.  The idea here is like the "modifier
stack" in Max.  I could use that to control turning on/off the display
of the spline (as well as other modifications that would only make sense
to an animation).  [Lutz knows about this and we have had discussions
about priority of this versus other things that have to get done for
Moray that really are more important.]

Where it gets more interesting is the actual display of the spline. 
What I want to be able to do is to have the spline editable in the
timeline/function view as well as in the main Moray editing windows. 
But what you are asking for is just one spline that could be associated
with an object (the Translation).  There can be quite a few splines
associated with an object (Scale, Rotate, radius, camera field of view,
...).

So, I sorta decided for an editable path it would be best to be able to
build splines graphically, and then attach them to characteristics of an
object (like translation).  It really only makes sense to show
translation splines in the Moray edit windows.  But for the other
splines/fcurves, I need my own editing screens.  Of course, this all
takes some time and thought to make it work cleanly.

Xander

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Alexander Enzmann <xan### [at] mitreorg> wrote in message
news:395### [at] mitreorg...
>
> I think I understand just what you want.  I have tried a couple of
> different approaches to this.  The first approach was coded, but never
> visible in a beta.  I drew a spline that passed through the origin of
> the object at each keyframe.  The second approach, which isn't really
> working uses a spline object that is directly edited.
>

To just be able to view the path at this point would be a great asset. Using
the spline to edit the path taken by an object's characteristic is really an
"over-and-above" feature since this can already be edited the normal way. It
sure would be more efficient, tho. Its really advantageous, also, to have a
way to show the individual frames on this spline. This shows things such as
frame spacing bias.

> Where it gets more interesting is the actual display of the spline.
> What I want to be able to do is to have the spline editable in the
> timeline/function view as well as in the main Moray editing windows.
> But what you are asking for is just one spline that could be associated
> with an object (the Translation).  There can be quite a few splines
> associated with an object (Scale, Rotate, radius, camera field of view,
> ...). ... It really only makes sense to show
> translation splines in the Moray edit windows.

Yeah, the translation characteristic is really the main thing that an
editable spline would be useful for. Thus, one per object would really be an
asset. One exception, of course, is cameras, which have "translation" for
both the position and the "look at" point. Perhaps this could somehow be
tied in to the respective buttons currently used to edit each.

BTW, have you looked at Mike Weber's Bspline plugin? I've only really
glanced it over, but it seems like a good implementation of 3D splines.
Perhaps some collaboration... ?

> But for the other
> splines/fcurves, I need my own editing screens.

As for the other characteristics, they are seldom (if ever) animated in
relation to 3D space, and therefore a linear representation such as you
currently use in the timeline/function dialog may be sufficient.

BTW, I appreciate that you are taking it slow, considering all the options
and listening to your user base. This can only result in quality.

Thanks,
-Kelly
(kla### [at] usacom)

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