Creating animated presentations

[Allan Chesney]

If ever you have a need to present your renderings to someone, don't overlook PowerPoint (or similar presetation software) as a way to do it and give it a slightly animated effect.

The presentation below was to give the effect of building 'from the ground up'. Renders were done as sections of the model were gradually turned on in the View Filter and some of the Powerpoint transitions and timing used to 'string it all together' and give it an animated effect.

A similar process could be used for walk throughs and zoom-in effects, although these are somewhat more jerky than using the TFP Animations to make a movie. Movie file sizes can be very big of course, so using PowerPoint may be another option, although PowerPoint will grow quickly too if lots of images are used.

This web application (www.synergy.net.au/renovator) was created with TFP movies (eg house rotation and roof removal for insulation and airconditiong) as well as sequential images (eg the lawn being removed and replaced with 'waterwise' plants). Sequential renders such as this could just as easily be used in PowerPoint and be an effective way of showing your work to others.

Allan

[Jack Zimmer]

Hi Allan,

I've never really used Power Point but I certainly like the results. I in fact could use it for an upcoming project.

Is it hard to get the appearance of indivdual 'parts' being added? Seems like a reverse of Dynamic Cutaway    Any tips would be appreciated.

thanks,

Jack

[Doug.S]

Another "trick" is to create a 360 degree view file for mousing to see all around...as seen in many Real Estate sites selling houses.

From an inside view of a room with camera at dead center and level.....render pics to cover 360 degrees, with some overlap...usually 6 to 8 renders (resolution does not have to be high, smaller images OK)

Combine all images into a pano image (Photoshop works very well but there are other programs, some free I think)....then use pano2qvtr (free app; http://gardengnomesoftware.com/) to generate a quicktime file.

Can be done to make a fly-around object too...a bit harder to do and a TFP fly-around may be easier as a video....just scrub the view slider to stop/change view.

I have not done one in a long time but it is fun and effective. You can do 360 view QT using a camera too (photographs) of a real room....that is how Real Estate site make theirs.

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Jack,

Is it hard to get the appearance of indivdual 'parts' being added? Seems like a reverse of Dynamic Cutaway    Any tips would be appreciated.

No it is not hard at all and is excellent for showing others what you have in mind.  If you have access to a projector it is wonderful for presenting to large groups or even small groups - very impressive! I have done presentation like this to many large groups - over 400 in one case and they really get the idea of what you have in mind.

The secret for sequential views is to keep all the render settings etc exactly the same and move the camera smoothly so the angle does not change - to zoom in for example just click the Plus or Minus buttons rather than the Walk button.  To add the sequential animations to the rotation movie in the web application, I had to mark the centre of the project for the movie camera and mark the still camera positions on the movie track circle around the house and point the still camera to 'ground zero' by typing in the details into the camera dialog. If you did not do that there was a 'jump' in the image when put together. That would not be as critical with PPT but it is still seen. Sometimes the transition will mask it a bit. Most will be so impressed with the renders they will not notice that anyway.

It helps too to render once in Advanced and then move the camera viewpoint in Radiosity view, then just do the Raytrace. Much quicker of course but it means the lighting is always consistent. It looks wrong if the shadows move for example between views, unless you are demonstrating seasonal or time of day effects of course.

What looks most impressive to the client is if you have modelled different colours or styles. Set and name the camera positions, the do the advanced render and move the camera using the dropdown list in he render dialog and render the different views, then go back to the model, turn of the alternate roof design or whatever and do the renders again from the different camera positons. Now put the views together in PPT. eg from view first roof then front view second roof and do a nice transition so that one morphs into the other. Repeat the sequence from the different camera angles. Dead easy but very impressive to the client!!  Extremely impressive is to morph and alteration / addition onto an existing photo, A little more complex as you have to cut out the new bits and superimpose them on the photo but it works very well

I normally use some other software that gives very smooth and more flexible image transitions but the forum will not accept the file type and size. Most people have probably have PPT or equivelent so it is not too bad and easy to use. In the example I posted before I would have liked a slower transition for building the walls but there isn't a slower one in PPT.

The example below goes back to V11 days. It is just a simple example of using photos and adding the modifications using TFP images.

Allan

[Jack Zimmer]

Thanks Allan,

I looked at PPoint and see the different swipe options available. Seems the same could be done in Windows Movie Maker .

I can record a PPoint with Camtasia (built into the program) and in doing so could adjust playback speed. I would then have a variety of output options from WMV , FLV to I POD formats.

I'll be using it on an advertising project.

Jack

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Jack,

Sounds a good combination. Seems it gives you the best of both (or all) worlds!
Is the ad for your b usiness or someone else? Wouldn't mind seeing it when completed (if practical).

Allan