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Does anyone know if SU Animate works well with VRAY. I cant find anyone who says it works. I am doing a big animation and the clients wants it in SU, but wants it to look real, with V-Ray. Any other tips would be great, I have been searching most of the day. Thanks!
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- Doweth! -
Re: Animation
Ummm No it doesn't work well at all. SU Animate makes a scene for each frame and has components placed in different places in each of the scenes. Because V-Ray does not update the geometry that's being rendered, this means that it basically doesn't work. In terms of animation, the only thing that you can really do at the moment are fly through animations where only the camera moves. Sorry, but thats the way it is...Damien Alomar<br />Generally Cool Dude -
Re: Animation
OK, thats kind of what I thought, as far as flythroughs, any other reccomended ruby's to use in conjunction with vray? I know doing interior flythroughs it can get kind of weird when you have to add a lot of pages to get around a tight corner, the flythrough isnt at a consistent speed. Any ideas? Thanks for all the help!- Doweth!Comment
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Re: Animation
Well, I'm not sure if you could use SUAnimate in this way, but if you could set up camera and target curves, then that would certainly help out. I find that the hardest thing about animating in SU is in between the pages. The movements are typically rather clunky, and there's no real control. Also, because there isn't a camera object (or even a way to manipulate the points of the camera, as in Rhino) small adjustments are very hard to make accurately.
The thing ultimately is that SU isn't really an animation platform, so is not really conducive to a effective, structured workflow for animation. Its not to say you can't do anything, just that what you can do is going to be limited and you might have to jump through a few hoops. Getting an animation "just right" is hard enough as it is...Damien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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Re: Animation
Indeed it is, I have found a couple rubys that work ok, but they are still, as you said, clunky when it comes to scene or page transisitons. It makes it feel like the guy walking in the hallway keeps tripping or stumbling. Well for now, until the company / clients wants us to go to Rhino or Max, I'll deal with this, thanks for all of the help Dalomar.- Doweth!Comment
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Re: Animation
Well (of course) the first thing I would suggest is Rhino, but its kind of a double edged sword. There are some basic animation tools built into Rhino, and they do a decent job, but they are still not fully fledged animation tools. Bongo is Rhino's animation plugin (which is extra, although developed by McNeel) which has more options, but isn't too robust when compaired to fully fledged animation tools. Its kinda rough to work with and pretty buggy.
There are other apps out there that may be worth looking into for animation that aren't an arm and a leg. Blender is free and has a huge following for an open source app. Cinema 4d is good for animation as well, isn't that expensive (about a grand I think), and has a V-Ray implementation (http://www.vrayforc4d.com/). Modo does animation as well, although its not a very mature feature. Modo's built in renderer is fairly respectable, but its no V-Ray.Damien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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Re: Animation
Also, I haven't heard much about it over the last year or two, but Electric Image Animation System (EIAS) is also a pretty good animation package. Just took a look at their website and it looks as though they upped their render as well (still no V-Ray). Price is about $800 bucksDamien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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Re: Animation
Thanks Dolomar for all the tips. I have played with Blender, but cant quite figure it out, it reminds me of Maya, very confusing. Do you know if any of these programs take SU models well? Most of our clients like SU since it is quick, but they always, always want to take it to the next level, which is why I recommended they get into Vray. But I guess thats not good enough anymore. I will look into these programs, Rhino might be the best option, seemed fairly straightforward. Seemed that way...
Thanks!- Doweth!Comment
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Re: Animation
I wouldn't say that V-Ray isn't good enough, I'd say its SketchUp. We're limited to what our host application can do along with what it allows us to do, and SU is very limited in a number of ways. I'm not saying SU doesn't have its place, but...
Rhino will natively read SU files. Rhino is however a Nurbs modeler, so even though you can model with meshes, its not how its really meant to work. I believe C4D also works fairly decently with SU files, from my limited experience with it.
Just realize that 3d is a complicated thing, and anywhere you have to go you'll have to manage more complexity than SU. These programs are not impossible to learn though, and with the complexity comes the possibility of doing more complex, intricate work. If you spend the time understanding the environment, what you have to do, and how the given application achieves it, its easier to make the transition and begin getting a foot hold. Find a some good documentation if you can or a book if its out there.
Just be glad you don't have to learn any CAM apps...those are so much more convoluted and make next to no senseDamien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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Re: Animation
Yes, agreed SU is extremly limited, and slow. I have been looking into C4D and Rhino the past couple hours, and am going to pitch those to try out here and for my own business. Yes, I do understand there is different environments and I will have to take up the learning curve again for something else (dang this always happens when I get comfortable, first autocad to microstation, then revit, then su, now vray and su), oh well keeps it interesting I guess. Thanks!- Doweth!Comment
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Re: Animation
If you've got autocad experience, the Rhino should be fairly easy to work with. It actually used to be a plugin for AutoCAD way back when, and has retained some of its familiarity with that style of working. However, it does a whole lot better
Damien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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Re: Animation
Interesting, mayyyyybeee i will check it out. Looks like ive got some learning to do.
Thanks for your help Dolomar.
joe- Doweth!Comment
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Re: Animation
Joe,
Check this site out http://www.smustard.com/scripts/
There is a plugin called flight path(Free)& flight path 2($7), flight path 2 has a few more functions. All you have to do is draw a line were you want your camera to follow and flight path will create pages along the line, you can also set the speed and camera angle, you won't win any Oscars using this but it does help........
zzzSPUDzzzComment
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Re: Animation
Joe,
I just downloaded flight path 2, so if you want it I will send it to you..............
zzzSPUDzzzComment
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Re: Animation
at $7 I can't imagine its not worth it...Damien Alomar<br />Generally Cool DudeComment
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