Animation Standards :: Distance and Frames

[mbr]

Does anyone have a rule of thumb for how many frames per second you need to cover x distance? I know it's vague, but it seems like it would be a huge help for estimating the frames necessary to cover a given distance without feeling like you just hit hyperspace or were walking like a zombie!

 

Just trying to make a good guess for a long, linear animation.

 

Thanks.

[jvlive]

i always do this calculation:

12kms/hr(a slooow ride) divided by 3600 = 3.3meters/sec

assuming you use 25fps, then its like 3.3m/25frames.

 

...but i always end up adjusting the speed by eye when i preview in wireframe(coz its more accurate compared to shaded). by then i dont know exactly how fast it is but i figure should be around 3-6m/25frames. for interiors, i think can be slower like 1-2m/25frames. sorry for being metric, hope i've helped.

[DrFx]

It all depends on what you're showing. If you want to look at, say, a candelabre with more attention, you should be moving real slow, but if you're in a long, boring corridor, you'd want to move quicker. A normal human's speed walking fast is about 5 Km/h, but most stuff would be kind of boring at this speed.

[STRAT]

i've timed myself walking a distance of say 10 meters before now. then for 25 fps, just multiply the time taken on your walk in seconds by 25. this will obviously give you the frame count for a 10 meter distance done at walking pace.

[Vince Paske]

I go with what "feels" right. I think that mathmatically calculated walking speed seems too slow. Watch a movie like Scorsese's Mean Streets and look how the camera is handled there. Put on your Director\Cinematogrpher's hat and have fun.

[mbr]

Thanks, guys, I"ll break out that caluclator and figure it out!

 

This is for the quote, so I don't have a model. Normally I just eye it, but this has a lot of long pathes, and if I do this with GI, it'd be a HUGE difference in rendering time.

 

Cheers.

[Andrew Schroeder]

If you're concerned about the path length, and the animation 'feeling' slow or hyper fast, consider clipping portions of the long paths into scenes that transition together in post. I often use this to cover longer distances like this without changing the pace too much.

[mbr]

One more question:

 

Does 5 ft per second seem reasonable? Seems like a good starting point. I know this is vague, but I'd like to be able to present several options, including the full length and spliced animations.

 

25 frames per second as opposed to 29.97/30 frames per second? These animations will be played on a computer (distributed via CD). Is the PAL/NTSC of any concern for this? Obviously, 25 frames/sec saves a lot of time in the end.

 

 

Thanks.

[jvlive]

yeah, 5ft/sec is a good starting point if your close to the focus area. its like walking speed, so if your viewing your building from across the street i think its a bit slow. i always render using 25fps, like u said, saves a lot of render time. i think the pal/ntsc issue can be solved by your video editing software. havent looked into it though, always played anims on pc's.

[BrianKitts]

another tip along this subject for previewing and checking your speed is to use the RAM PLAYER built into max. When you create previews of animations in either wireframe or otherwise, when loaded in the RAM player it loads every individual frame into your RAM (so its not just a cleaver name!) The playback is perfectly smooth, the amount you can preview all depends on how much ram you have in your system. This was you can get an exact gauge of your speed with no hitches due to your processor.