Hi,
I see that there was an answer about not being able to automate a 3D walkthrough. I captured a manual walkthrough and edited the video, but of course the manual walkthrough is not very smooth. The manual talks about drawing an animation path under the detail tab, but nowhere could I find a way to have the camera follow a path, so I assume that it can't be done.
As well, the animation path is useless as the capture program captures the entire program and not just the 3D window. I have to resize the 3D window over top of the plan, so I can't see the path anymore.
I didn't find anything about this in Patricia's great book either.
Has anyone found a way to have the camera automatically follow a path and capture the video?
Thanks,
John
Hi John,
the post http://forums.turbofloorplan.com/index.php/topic,3016.msg14927/boardseen.html#new is correct: TFP doesn't record animations.
As the animator tool is not a TFP feature, it is not included in my eBook.
Hope this helps,
Patricia
@Patricia,
Thanks. I was just wondering if anyone found a way to do or run an animation smoother than moving the walking man around manually. My video isn't bad, but could be better. Of course, I did have to cut out some bad parts. Sometimes when stopping the walking and releasing the mouse button, the 3D image is incorrect for some reason, and I have to nudge the image to get it to show correctly. This happens occasionally, and is not due to something on my part, I'm in the middle of the room and all I see is a closeup of a wall.
It would be nice is there was some way for someone to script a walkthrough, but I guess that IMSI has no plans for this. Too bad.
Hi John,
I just tried to explain and answer your question regarding the reason why my TFP eBook doesn't include references about animations. ;)
Some notes:
- when you click + move the mouse, the TFP 3D screen shows working screens. When you release the screen, the TFP 3D screen shows a rendered image. This is why, the images in the screen may look different with / without movement.
- I used a recording screen capture program some time ago, so my experience is limited. However, in order to create an animation using TFP, I'd suggest that you use the multiple monitor feature => in this case, one monitor displays the floor plan and the second displays the 3D window (that you can capture).
The multiple monitor feature is present in TFP Pro 2015 http://www.imsidesign.com/Products/TurboFLOORPLAN/TurboFloorPlan-Pro-2015#10745379-new-features
- In my experience, animations are very tricky so the best option is recording short sequences and then, assemble the segments using transitions, morphing, add music, etc. There are many programs to do this job, some of them are free. The animation in my website includes music and was assembled using Corel.
http://www.punchhelpers.com/movies_gallery.htm
Hope this helps,
Patricia
Hi Patricia,
I changed my capture program and was able to do somewhat better. I use 2 screens. However, I found that it was easier and smoother to use the walking man to navigate through the building, in my case, a museum with art work and some sculptures, rather than dragging the viewpoint icon around.
I use Magix Video Pro X7 for video editing and I have tools galore. I just wanted to get something a bit smoother from the start. Like you, I edited out the bad parts, did transitions/fades, etc., and I can modify the speed throughout. The trick is to take it slow and easy and then edit.
I noticed that you did not seem to stop in your referenced video. I had to stop and release the mouse button occasionally as I have some sculptures that are under glass and the transparency doesn't work unless the mouse button is released. I noticed that the room is brighter so long as the mouse button is kept down. Releasing it shows the shadowed areas. This can be a bit distracting.
Overall, it's quite good.
This project (for my wife) was a mockup of a museum with paintings, photos, explanation cards, text on walls, etc. The program was very useful for this, and was something a little different from remodelling the bathroom. For the sculptures, I trimmed out the background from the photos and imported them as plants to see them from all directions. Excellent tool that!
Thanks for your comments,
John
Hi John,
The images imported as plants are a great resource, especially with peoples' images, because they always look at the camera. In my video, you will notice that the lady rotates with the camera.
In this image in my website http://www.punchhelpers.com/commercial7.htm (also a museum), people and art were all imported as plants, dinosaurs included :D.
My video has a couple of "cuts", the most notorious is opening the main door. However, using a morphing transition, it becomes just an effect.
Disclaimer: my video was not created with TFP. I use different programs for my work, TFP is just one of them.
Patricia