Hi there;
I've animate my camera flight and would like to edit the animation..., sorry for my ignorance but..., Where the hell is the animation curve editor?, I can't find anything about it.
P.S.: Yes, I have bought the animation module. ;)
it has'nt been implemented yet
So?, How am I suppose to finetune my camera animation?, I purchased this program ONLY for the first shot of my video, so I need it to be good. I use MAYA, so you mean I need to have a tool to finetune the animation?, Now this is weird.
In the '80's we used to set the first and last camera locations. Then add more keyframes as needed. It's a pain, but I still use this method. If something does not work, the offending keyframes can be deleted; new ones added to get it right.
When I started 3D, everything was drawn out first on graph paper. Each vertex had to be input and the connections to make polygons all done in a text editor.
Sorry chap, there is no curve editing in present TG. You're stuck with an easy ease on key frames.
It gets worste when you try and export planetry scale movements from another app. TG bends x/z around it's origin.
We haven't implemented the curve editor yet, but we're going to start on that very soon.
You can remove key frames, or overwrite them with new values at any time.
Quote from: Hetzen on July 01, 2009, 07:36:35 PM
It gets worste when you try and export planetry scale movements from another app. TG bends x/z around it's origin.
How so? XYZ values are not distorted by the planet. The only thing that curves is the planet.
Matt
Thank's for your replies (I'd prefer to know that Terragen2 is unable to animate visualy before I bought though).
I read in the site that I can export .mov animation files from MAYA to be read in terragen but I can't find the way to do that, How can I read .mov in Terrgen?.
Thank's in advance.
Quote from: joiecito on July 02, 2009, 04:00:10 AM
Thank's for your replies (I'd prefer to know that Terragen2 is unable to animate visualy before I bought though).
I read in the site that I can export .mov animation files from MAYA to be read in terragen but I can't find the way to do that, How can I read .mov in Terrgen?.
Thank's in advance.
Couldn't find anything about .mov on planetside.co.uk but here's a quote from the animation page
Quote from: Planetside.co.uk
In 2009 we will add a graphical curve/key-frame editor, more interpolation options and powerful import/export functions. These will be released in free updates for anyone who pre-purchases the Animation module.
QuoteCamera motion can be imported from Nuke .chan files and Maya .mov files. Third party tools are available that allow you to transfer camera motion to Terragen 2 from Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Blender and others.
That is said here http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/39/38/ (http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/39/38/) and it must be true if it appears in the official terragen page.
I "think" you can load a .mov file in the same way as you can load a .chan file (dont have Maya to test). However once loaded since every frame is keyframed there is not much practical editing you can do.
cyphyr
Tested, Terragen can't load .mov files the same way as .chan files..., Another option?.
This might be useful then ...
http://www.reality-debug.co.uk/blog/?p=129 (http://www.reality-debug.co.uk/blog/?p=129)
Richard
That file is down, Do you have it and don't mind to share?, It export and import or only export?.
Thank's in advance.
Sorry, I just got that link from a quick google search. I don't use Maya so you may have better luck with better knowledge :)
Richard
OK I've found a mel wich is able to export .chan files and terragen2 is able to import them right away. The mel also imports .chan files, but I don't know how to export them from terragen2..., Is terragen1 able to export .chan files?, if yes, I can't find it.
Please enlight me ;)
Quote from: joiecito on July 02, 2009, 07:10:22 AM
Tested, Terragen can't load .mov files the same way as .chan files..., Another option?.
Can you send me the .mov file that you tested with? I'd like to find out why Terragen can't load it.
The "Import chan file" button on the camera node should be able to read a Maya .mov file, Houdini chan file or Nuke chan file.
If file has extension ".chan" then:
- It is assumed to be a Houdini chan file (7 channels) or Nuke chan file (8 channels)
- Lines with 7 columns are assumed to be from a Houdini chan file without a frame number
- Lines with 8 columns are assumed to be from a Nuke chan file with the first value being the frame number
- The last column (7th or 8th) is interpreted as vertical FOV
- The last 7 columns are interpreted as camera coordinates in Houdini coordinate space(*)
If the file does
not have the extension ".chan" then:
- It is assumed to be a Maya .mov file (which is identical to a Houdini .chan file if number of columns is 7)
- The 7th column is interpreted as vertical FOV if it exists
- The 8th column is not used
- The last 7 columns are interpreted as camera coordinates in Houdini coordinate space(*)
(*) Here's what I mean by "Houdini coordinate space". The 7 fields following the frame number are:
X (as TG2)
Y (up, as TG2)
Z (out of screen, negative to TG2)
Rotate X (pitch upwards, as TG2)
Rotate Y (anti-clockwise** heading, negative to TG2)
Rotate Z (bank left, negative to TG2)
Vertical Field of View
(**) I only call it anti-clockwise as viewed as a heading on a map, but it's actually clockwise as viewed along the Y axis in its positive direction.
Matt
It's not currently possible to export animation files, only import, sorry.
Matt
Well, if I export the .mov file directly from MAYA, terragen doesn't understand it, but if I export it with the mel, it does it perfect.
So I can't export animation (publicity says it can by the way), but can I export a mesh from the terrain or something I can use for reference (an .obj or something)?.
Thank's in advance.
Quote from: joiecito on July 03, 2009, 05:03:05 AM
Well, if I export the .mov file directly from MAYA, terragen doesn't understand it, but if I export it with the mel, it does it perfect.
Any chance you can send me the .mov and the .chan please? I would like to test the .mov and compare with the .chan. My email address is matt at planetside.co.uk
Quote
So I can't export animation (publicity says it can by the way), but can I export a mesh from the terrain or something I can use for reference (an .obj or something)?.
Thank's in advance.
If there are any false claims on our website I apologise. I hope there aren't! I'll correct any mistake if you show me where.
You can export the terrain in a couple of different ways, depending on your needs. Both export Lightwave objects (.lwo) but you should be able to import those into Maya.
1) If your terrain is just a single heightfield, then you can export that by creating a "Heightfield Export LWO" operator. This will create a pretty large/dense mesh, but it's broken up into multiple pieces.
2) Alternatively - and this works for any procedural terrain, not just a single heightfield - you can use the LWO Micro Exporter. It will export a view-dependent mesh of the terrain and you can control the resolution. It works by rendering an image and exporting all of the micro-triangles that are generated during the render, within the view of the camera. Put the camera wherever you want to control what part of the terrain is exported. There are some limits to how detailed the export render can be. It's best to try with very low detail first (e.g. 0.1). More information here:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=6346.0
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1910.msg18752#msg18752
Matt
OK, now I'm able to export a lws with my terrain. My terrain is procedural, so I made what you said and connected the terrain to a heightfield generator wich is connected to a lwo exporter. But I can't find the way to control what section I want to extract because I don't know wich part of my terrain is generating the heightfield generator..., Could you point me or made an idiot-proof tutorial on this?.
Thank's in advance.
P.D.: Sorry but the last .mov was deleted and now is working as espected, so I can't recreate that .mov situation anymore.
Another question:
If I'm not be able to export any animatoin data from Terragen, then I guess I can just copy the translation and rotation values of the came in the first and last frame and continue animating in MAYA (since I can import that animation in Terragen).
But the camera doesn't match the one on terragen. So I guess MAYA doesn't share the same 3d axis as Terragen. Wich are the differences between Terragen and MAYA space coordinates so I can match them?.
Thank's in advance.
I've got say that I've not managed to work out how to get camera data into TG with a 100% success rate, hence my earlier comment. I've had some camera track from cloud height over a scene, which seemed to have not got the camera rotation correctly. I've not really had much time to investigate why. So any tips I pick up on in this thread will be usefull, like for example the curvature of the planet over altitude. Thanks Matt.
Here's how to copy camera coordinates from TG2 to Maya:
First, in Maya set the camera's Rotate Order = zxy. The final rotation will be wrong if you don't do this. The default rotation of xyz is OK only if your z rotation (bank) is 0. In all other cases you need to use zxy.
Translate: copy the Position XYZ values from Terragen, but negate the Z (3rd) coordinate
Rotate: copy the Rotation XYZ values from Terragen, but negate the Y (2nd) and Z (3rd) values
Angle of View: copy the Field of view from Terragen, but in some cases you may need to set Terragen to use vertical instead of horizontal to be able to match it.
Matt
If you're using Shader -> Heightfield Generate -> Heightfield LWO Export, look on the "Use shader" tab of the Heightfield Generate node. It allows you to set the position of the heightfield in space as it reads the shader, in X and Z coordinates. You can specify either the centre or the lower left corner of the heightfield. The size of the heightfield is the pair of values near the top labeled "Size in metres".
The other set of values to the right of the "New heightfield" checkbox specify the resolution of the heightfield. Use this to change the detail of your exported geometry.
(If you were to apply this heightfield back onto the planet for rendering, you would enter the same position settings in the Heightfield Shader to make it line up with the shader that generated it.)
Matt
There may potentially be line-up issues if you're using the Shader -> Heightfield Generate -> Heightfield LWO Export trick, if the heightfield is very large or far from the origin. That's because the Heightfield LWO Export doesn't know about the planet curvature. In that case use the Micro Exporter method, as it is the most geometrically accurate.
Matt
I can attach two file I've exported from MAYA, a .mov and a .chan.
The .mov is exported directly from MAYA and TG2 doesn't open it right, it imports 375 frames, but all are the same.
The .chan is exported with a mel and TG2 imports it right.
Do you want to test them out?
Yes, please attach them here, or email them to me.
Matt
Here are the files, if you can find where the problem was, please tell me :)
Any news on this?, Did you find the problem?.
I looked at the files. At first I thought it was a problem with the difference in line endings on the platform that generated the file, but that doesn't explain how it still knew to set all 375 key frames. I'm afraid I haven't been able to look deeply enough to find the problem, but I will do.
Are you able to work with the .chan files for the time being?
Matt