schmoron13 Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I have a map and I'd like to animate the path by outlining the path, a la the map effect in the Indiana Jones movies (where the dot "grows"). I'm not sure how to go about this. Should I animate a slice modifier so that the red dot grows to be a line? I'm just not sure what to do? I know it's simple, but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 ok, the slice thing didn't really work. The problem was that since this is a loop (for a race course), the slice modifier would cut out the wrong parts (the beg AND end for example)...anyone have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 How about having the path object with an animated opacity map? Don't delete any of it, just make it transparent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 thanks for the quick reply, Ernest. Now, I've never used animated opacity maps, so how do I go about doing that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 thanks for the quick reply, Ernest. Now, I've never used animated opacity maps, so how do I go about doing that? Neither have I. But it would work. So would several other ways, too. Could you better explain what you are trying to do? An 'Indy' type map trace (showing the plane crossing the Atlantic) is a straight-ish thing. Are you trying to do a circular trace? Would it build until complete (you mentioned beginning and end) and then loop? That gets a little more complcated. Or would a solid section of red follow a course--fading away behind it? Maybe I'm not getting your intent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 Basically, here's the rundown: my boss is having me do an animation of a catamaran race (boats), somewhat like a suped-up version of "dot races" at sporting venues (when you have dots racing around a circular track from a plan view). The rest of the things I've taken care of (things like getting reactor to create realistic wakes, etc) but for the moment he wants a red line to trace the course (it's not a true oval). THus I figured the closest effect is when you see a map and a red line is animated from point A to point B. does this make more sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 If you are using max, can't you loft a circle along the path and the animate the loft process from one end to the other? -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 Chad, I suppose so, but I've never done an animated loft, and max's help files don't mention how to do so...could you explain the process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I'm not really sure how to...that is why my post was in the form of a question. I only use VIZ....I'm sure it is quite easy for someone who knows. -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch83575 Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Generaly I would do this type of thing post. If you are rendering boats and water it would be very easy to add trailing lines on a good compositing program like Shake. Shake in particular has fantastic painting tools (though I havent used combustion much, i am sure it must have similar tools). In Shake you can even set a tracker on a boat and have it automaticaly make the brush stroke without using lots of keyframes (but remember it is basicaly 2d program, so camera moves are a little more complicated). I think that this would surely be the easiest way to get an effect like that, but if you dont have access to a composting program it wont be much help. You might look at apple's new program "Motion", I haven't used it, but i think it has many cool paint tools borrowed from shake, and for $299 it looks like a bargain! Then again, you might not have access to a Mac either. In that case i am just out of sugestions. -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archmage Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Dude - If you want a trail go to your tutorials and read about Particle systems. U can do almost anything with them. Just set the life of your trail so that the particles dont die until the end of your movue and assign a material to the particles that would represent your red line. I am sure there are other ways to animate a line also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milfora Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Try creating a spline for the path, and a small box with a lot of height segments. Apply a Path Deform Modifier (Worldspace) to the box, pick the spline path, and animate the stretch parameter. If the animated path appears to 'jolt' around the corners, simply add more height segments to smooth it out Cheers AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kainoa Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Generaly I would do this type of thing post. I definitely agree with Chad. Something like this would definitely be better acheived in a compositing program. Shake, Flame, Combustion, Illusion, or After Effects are great tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Gray Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Try creating a spline for the path, and a small box with a lot of height segments. Apply a Path Deform Modifier (Worldspace) to the box, pick the spline path, and animate the stretch parameter. If the animated path appears to 'jolt' around the corners, simply add more height segments to smooth it out Cheers AM Do this exactly. Consider adding a visibility track to your dots (assuming you are using MAX). You can then turn them on and off when the extruded line intersects the 'way points.' Do some research in the help files - I'm certain you will figure it out. Never underestimate the power of the F1 key... Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaCyborg Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Te solution is simple, you create a circle that you get from the shapes menu and a line, be it straight or curved, and then do the lofting. you have to pay special attention to the percentage value in the panel beside your screen, then you activate the autokey and move the time slider to the last frame and put the 100% value on it one red marks will appear whenever you put a different value in the box to know that they are animatable. the value in the firs frame could be zero, and the last one 100%, and that is it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaCyborg Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 If you dont know how to do the lofting is simpler, you select the lofting tool from the compounds tab and click on the one that looks like a cable, and if you select the circle first then in the options in the panel beside you will appear a button to get the path or viceversa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizzy Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 6 minutes of work, and 3 minutes to render: http://www.3idee.nl/cgarchitect/trail.avi == render in divx http://www.3idee.nl/cgarchitect/trail.zip == max file M4.2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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