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shockwave82
08-21-2009, 12:23 AM
Hi,

i want to animate a dashed line that goes from one end of a curve to the other. its must not be present at the begginng of the animation, and it must reveal its self as it goes on the path.

i hope that this is clear,

there is exactly what i want to do. 16 seconds into the reel

http://xplsv.tv/movie/4500/

any ideas?
sundialsvc4
08-22-2009, 12:31 AM
I have done that sort of thing with animated textures (in other programs).

(1) The "inner" animated-texture is simply a set of dashes (with alpha=1.0) separated by gaps (alpha = 0.0). Since anything with alpha=0.0 is "not there," the effect is that of dashes floating in space. This texture is quite short, and is repeated down the entire length of the curve.

(2) To cause this to "fade in here, fade out there," an alpha-map is superimposed over the entire length of the curve, and the alpha-values are varied as needed. This map is not animated.

The final mathematical calculation of the alpha (and color) values at any point along the curve is simply the combined effect of both.

Since the system I'm using (Blender) now supports texture nodes, it is now much easier to do what I laboriously did. (I've hunted-around for my old files and, alas, can't find them now.) It should be possible for you to devise a way to take the curve-position, index that through a (two-dimensional, as it were...) alpha-mapping function, and apply that alpha to the entire object. Voila! Fading as we go...
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