Quicktime VR Object movies (help needed)

[ooz]

i know what ur talking about, i'm just throwing ideas here, but cant u set up just one camera and set keys so that it jumps from one location to the other and then just leave it to render.

the way to do this is to set up ur timeline to 544 frames, and then position ur camera where it needs to go on every frame and key its translate and rotation values. this way it will jump from one position to the other immedietly and render all ur shots for u to find the next morning.

did that make sense?

[sebast1an2]

hi, exactly this is some of the reason why there are often sequences of 36 (36*10°)images, so the camera does an full 360° spin at frame 0 to 35.. the best way is just to use framenumbers which are dividable by 360°.. so:

just set up you camera to frame 0 at the right position and move the camera pivot (insert tab) to the center of your animation, set a key, go to frame 35 (for example), type -350 in the related rotate axis and set another key.. the same for every additional vertically-moved spin..

I would use only 9 vertically degrees (1/4 radius of 36), so the total number of images is
36*9 = 324...


..and plz tell me how you create this quicktime vr with these images;)

[Pete2003]

I think the trick must be to use only one camera. Hmm...

1) Use the dome that you used to create your circular curves.

2) Create a "straight line curve" and project this curve onto your dome. Create a curve from the curve on surface that this projection creates. You will notice that when you move that straight line curve up and down the newly created curve on surface will move up and down too.

3) Attach your camera to this curve on surface as a motion path (start frame 1, end frame 17). If you open the graph editor you should be able to set it so that at frame 18 the camera goes back to 'the start' of the curve. Select the keys and set the post infinity curve to be cycle, I think that should work.

4) Now, remember that straight line curve we made at the start? At frame 18 move this up 1/32 height of your dome. And in the graph editor use a cycle with offset post infinity curve.

So, after all that, I guess your camera moves around the circular curve from 1-17, then the curve moves up and the camera moves around the curve again, camera moves up and so on.

Btw, Ive absolutely no idea if thats gonna work (not got time to test right now) but it sounds like it should in principle. Let us know if you try it out and it works.

Just so I can feel pleased with myself :)

Cheers, Pete.

[*EDIT: Heh, as luck would have it, I was just browsing highend3d and there is a Maya script on there for qtvr rendering. Apparently it automatically creates a camera with the attributes you need so you might wanna check that out too. Its just called qtvr.mel]

[sebast1an2]

pete3003, this wpuld be also a way to do this but it's really complicated... I's much more easier as I said, and you just have to set 18 keys and type 9 times -350 + the 9 vertically degrees in the attribute editor of the camera... but the easiest way should be to use the script;)

[shi]

i see now my question wasn't clear, sorry guy's, my bad.
the question is that i need a SINGLE camerasetup in wich i can be sure my images are exactly spaced out (in relation to their rotation and elevation) and that they line up when i import the images in my qtvr-authoring package
(its a forensic visualisation of a cold case, i have to go to court with this thing)

ooz> theoretically you are rigjht but if i am reading it right what you said.....are you sugesting i handcalculate all the rotation and translation values for the camera and hans set every keyframe manually??? all 544 of them :)


sebast1an2> okay less images would indeed reduce rendertime but i do need this quality.
as for the camerasetup. it would reduce the flexibility of the setup graetly, if i want to adjust the amount of images on a later time it would mean to set all the key again...manually.
besides i am afraid this setup could possibly create aditional images i don't need inbetween the spiral level jumps and or would mess up my farmenumbering, wich is critical for my workflow.
as for your question, i create the qtvr with apple quicktimeVR authoring studio. in the program just specify the number or collums and row's you use, specify an codec and your control mode(in my case" drag only) and presto :)

PETE2003>
THANK YOU! you are a certified genius!
this setup was exactly whai i needed, as soon as i am back in my office i am testing it, i'll keep you posted how it works out

about the mel-script i couldn't get it to work yet but i read it through. yes it would work to. i thought it was a qtvr-panorama script but i actually has a object functionality :)

thanks again :)

[theB34N]

Hi - I've just finished using the qtvr.mel script and it works perfectly. And just in case you need a free VR authoring tool (no fancy stuff - just rows and columns), and you happen to be working on a Mac, you can download the "QTVR Object Edit" application from:

http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/quicktimeintro/tools/

Good luck.

[sebast1an2]

ok, wait a minute.. how you have to import these images?
1.)all vertically frames at once >> 36 sequences
2.)all horizotanlly frames at once >> 9 sequences

(my example)

??

//edit

..I don't know why you need a higher vertically resolution and only 32 images horizontaly..
if you use 36 * 9 images (don't forget that you only need 90° vertically), you got the whole "dome" in 10° steps.. and If you key the camera as I said, you can get the whole sequence from 0 to 324 at once... just set your camera at 0°, set a key at frame 0 and go to 350° (rotate y -350) and set another key at frame 35...any this 9 times (frame 0 to 324 on the timeline) you don't have to set 544/ or 324 keys!!! only 18!

[shi]

sebast1an2

i need the 16 frames vertically, its double the amount of frames of the horizontal resolution.
horizontaly i use 32 for a full circle, and vertiocally i use 17 frames for a quarter circle. actually i should only use 16, but i need the 17th because of a embarasing mistake i made with the camera. 90degrees above the model the camera loses it's UP-orientation.. i only just now figured out that it's easy to fix.....i.m here to learn :) but i do need the double amount of frames.

i actually did use the camera setup you described. but i can
't get it to work properly, but then again, i suck at keyframing. but with me strange stuff happends when my camera changes from one horizontal spin to another. my images end up not aligned.

the import, i have to import all the images at once, the package just fills up the rows (or collums)from left to right till it has filled the entire matrix. i just import all the images at once, what can i say, its an old program......its still running on os-9.2 but it gets the job done.

[sebast1an2]

well, I don't know what now the problem is with your setup.. I just viewed the examples from apple.com and they used 36*9 images... 360*90 degrees in 10° stepps...

[shi]

in most cases when you make an object the 10 degree rotation works perfectly, i even made objects(the analog way with photo's) with a 20 degree rotation. it all depends on what you want to show in the object and in this one i need 34(-2) in a horizontal pan

[shi]

sebast1an2>
tried your setup again and now it works :)
i must have done something wrong, i don't know what but someone alterted me taht i schould look in the graph editor, if the camera makes its sweep i told you that afterwards the images didn't align. well it was because for some strange reason the graph acting strange, it eases the camera away from its first key and it eases it in to the end key.. rthus resulting in horribly alligned images.........i don't know what i did wrong but it works now.

[Emil3d]

Shi,
I was checking my favorite 3D sites today and just came here from 3DBuzz where I answered the same thread posted by Coal. In case that’s not you, here is my answer here too, which after so many replies here, it will be just another way to choose from.



Create a curve circle with sweep 90, Degree – Linear, Section – 16, and then rotate 90° along X and Y. Display the curve CVs.

Create a camera and scale it down to a comfortable size. Snap the camera to the first CV of the curve. Press ‘t’ to select the Show Manipulator Tool and snap the center of interest to the center of the grid (world).

Set the animation time from 0 (not 1) to 544. At frame 0 key the translate Y, translate Z, and rotate X of the camera.

Go to frame 32. Make sure the Show Manipulator Tool “t” is selected and snap the camera to the next CV on the curve. Key again the Translate Y, Translate Z, and Rotate X of the camera.

Repeat the same for the frames 64, 96, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 288, 320, 352, 384, 416, 448, 480, 512, 544.

Open the Graph Editor select all keys and apply Tangents>Stepped.

With the camera selected, create a group. At frame 0 key the Rotate Y of the group, then go to frame 544 and for Rotate Y enter 6120 and key it.

[Emil3d]

Hi - I've just finished using the qtvr.mel script and it works perfectly. I downloaded it and tried it, but unfortunately it doesn't work with Maya 6. It says: [Works on: 2.x, 3.x, 4.x]

[mthemelis]

let's say you create your camera. and it works ok.

in what format do you render your VR animation?

i read something about AVI. is this correct?
you just open an avi from quicktime and voila ...it's vr?

please shed some light on this one.


thanks,
mike

[shi]

a quicktime-vr-object movie is a functionality of the apple quicktime format.

i need to render single frames (for exampje bmp, jpg or tiff) and then import them into my objectmovie authoring tool. and that converts the single frames to an quickytime movie

[pisosse]

the qtvr.mel script works in maya 6 even if it's real old and i'ts crasy easy.

The only thing I have troubles with is to figure out how many frames in how many rows and collums the script outputs... And then from there figure out the settings in vr worx. is it really 45 times 360? (45x360 = 16200 frames!)

[bambam]

Ok: I the guy who wrote the qtvr script...... a long time ago

I'm still surprisd it works in maya 6

I wrote this to work with most vr authoring tools and used there set up lingo

so in the top node of the camera the expression should give you the total frames need(animation length)...ie

columns = 30
rows = 10

10 x 30 = 300

if you have other ? let me know

Terry

[bambam]

by the way
i use to have a nice tutorial on how to use this but alias took it off there site:

If i get a chance I'll see if i can dig it up and posted on my home page

Ter.

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