Turntable

Started by masonspappy, February 18, 2017, 08:18:59 PM

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masonspappy

The most I've done with animation was confined to drawing stick figures in page margins, then flipping the pages to get 'animation'.  But last Tuesday I realized I needed a turntable of 38 images for some of my 3D models, so I've spent five days trying to figure out how  TG4 animation works.  Still needs work and it's a bit dark,  but finally managed to get this far at least.

https://vimeo.com/204723393






Dune

You're on your way then. What will you be using it for, selling the sleigh?

masonspappy

#2
Quote from: Dune on February 19, 2017, 02:08:21 AM
You're on your way then. What will you be using it for, selling the sleigh?
Eventually, yes.  But the sleigh model needs (a lot of)  cleaning up first.  First up for sale will likely be be Farmer's buggy below.  It's gone through a lot of scrubbing and meets turbosquid specifications (at least as far as I can tell).  The turntable view is a requirement so that's how I wound up here. The turntable TGD is saved now as a 'template', meaning that I can prop any object into it, scale it, and then quickly create the 360 degree panorama.
At least that's the plan. It's eye-opening how many things can go wrong in this process.  ::)

luvsmuzik

Are you pasting stills into a timeline editor (manually changing the camera each time) or setting up a scene to have your camera pan the object in a 360 path? I will never forget my first Terragen animation, raising the sun manually in tiny increments for frames to paste into an editor to create a sunrise, such fun!
Are your turntable clips limited on size (resolution) or length (time)?
Wonderful object btw!

masonspappy

Thanks Luvsmuzik.
I have a TGD with 36 camera positions predefined. Just load the target object (it should load at ground 0, so it's centered within the ring of camera stops. then under "Renderers > sequence output tab" I check 'extra output images', and  ensure Output Image Filename and extra output images point to something other than the default directories. Make sure the "sequence last" value is equal to the total number of images you want to produce.  Then click 'Render Sequence'  and wait for it to finsh the sequnce. When that's done i pull all the images into PSP 7 (very antiquated but it works) and create a movie. Goal was not to produce a smooth transition between frames, but to give prospective buyers an opportunity to examine the object from all angles.  Each image is rendered at 1200x1200. but it could be scaled up or down.
I included the TGD here - it's probably crude by other people's standards but the only way I could figure out how to make it work.

luvsmuzik

#5
My TG version is free...but can you also key the sun to the same movement (stops) to avoid  being overly dark? We used to script moving sun and clouds, I reckon  you can do the same now?  Key the sun, not script.
Yes I have done many in PSP5,6,7 fun stuff

Dune

And what if you use more GI or some fill lights (to avoid dark crevices and shadows) and just turn the object 360º with a steady cam? Just one thing to animate...

j meyer

A large plane object with e.g. sand and gras colors, invisible to the camera,
could be another way to get some more light.

masonspappy

Quote from: Dune on February 20, 2017, 02:10:30 AM
And what if you use more GI or some fill lights (to avoid dark crevices and shadows) and just turn the object 360º with a steady cam? Just one thing to animate...

Keeping steady cam while moving the object was my first option.  Problem is that I could never figure out how to automate it, and I'll be doing this enough that automation is pretty much a necessity.  That's when I went with the movable camera idea.

Dune

I think you just need to put the object down, set the number of frames, animate the Y rotation of the object to 360º in the last frame.

here's something I just setup  ;)  ;D

masonspappy

 ;D ;D ;D
Thanks Dune, I'll download and give it a whirl

masonspappy

Dune, I think I get it now, after studying your turntable for rotating the object, not the camera.  Was able to load up one of my objects and set up the turntable from scratch and seems to work fine.
Thanks!!!!!

dorianvan

What program did you create the object in?
-Dorian

masonspappy

Quote from: dorianvan on February 22, 2017, 12:27:34 PM
What program did you create the object in?
Created in Blender, the ultimate free and open source 3D creation suite, which has no known equal.
;D ;D ;D ;D

And, it's free.

luvsmuzik

Perhaps when you get the hang of this.....you could do a short zoom animation (mimic a walk) in your parsonage scence in TG?