m:studio 2.4d in use on SA Sports Hall of Fame

#181

This is probably a daft question, but how do I select a viewport without clicking a button or accidentally keyframing the currently selected object?

Are there hotkeys for it?

#182

The best I can find is to click once on a viewport’s magnifying glass. This selects the viewport without doing anything adverse.

I’m really enjoying messiah’s viewport speed, interactivity and the motion graph editor. What a pleasure. My scene has roughly 340,000 polys. I switched off some objects and now have 225,000 polys active, switched to point view mode and - super smooth - and I don’t have a top spec machine or graphics adapter.

The motion graph’s Bezier edit mode is nicely implemented. However, I’m still struggling along without a motion graph zoom solution for my tablet. I can just barely zoom using the magnifying button in pathetically short strokes before I hit the side of the screen.

#183

David once pointed out to me that he is clicking in the viewports with the ALT button depressed to avoid changing anything.

I don’t think this is a real solution, but at least it is a workaround - before that, I also clicked on the viewport navigation tools :slight_smile:

One could also create a dummy armature that only serves as a “click-catcher”.

I have to say that I still hate it that I can’t see and directly drag the edit sphere in all viewports. For me this defeats the purpose of multiple views.
Messiah is the only app where I don’t work in 4-view mode all the time.

Yes, the interface speed is sweet! :slight_smile:
I once had to visualize and animate the usage of 3 prototype mobile phones that I got as CAD data. Also we had to use Poser high-rez people fully rigged because of a tight deadline.
Worked like a charm with hundredthousands of polys.

Motion graph zoom with the ALT & SHIFT buttons doesn’t cut it for you?
Because it always zooms relative to frame 0?
Do the Rightclick modes of the autofit buttons help?
I think this was discussed on the “inoficial buglist” thread and Taron mentioned that they have a solution already - hm…

Cheers!

#184

OK, cool, that’s another way to do it. Thanks for sharing. Thanks David!

One could also create a dummy armature that only serves as a “click-catcher”.
One could, but I refuse to go that far :slight_smile:

I have to say that I still hate it that I can’t see and directly drag the edit sphere in all viewports. For me this defeats the purpose of multiple views.
This is one rude current feature. :sad:

Motion graph zoom with the ALT & SHIFT buttons doesn’t cut it for you?
How do you zoom in the motion graph using ALT & SHIFT? I tried and in the process found a much needed vertical zoom using right mouse button click+drag. :scream:

Because it always zooms relative to frame 0?
My normal zoom works relative to the frame marker. If there are other ways to zoom and they don’t, then I’d like to test it and file a bug report. :shrug:

Do the Rightclick modes of the autofit buttons help?
Yes, for certain things.

Thanks for the tips Thomas — incredibly appreciated ! ! ! :thumbsup:

Not having liquid and hair and cloth is one thing, but you can’t go without a PERFECTLY smooth functioning GUI with every little tiny detail well thought out and WORKING like a well oiled machine when push comes to shove.

#185

Well, when I use Shift & Alt with the left mousebutton to zoom in 2.4d it is relative to Frame 0.
I think Taron said that in future versions it will be relative to the left border of the visible area - don’t know if that makes more sense than being relative to the frame marker or - even better - relative to where you click with the mouse - should be a preset IMO or something you can select with different mouse buttons.
Mabe it can be made available to the Key Command Manager?

Couldn’t agree more with the oiled machine statement…

Cheers,

#186

Here by me things work as follows:

SHIFT + LMB drag in motion graph window = rubber band select keys
ALT + LMB drag in motion graph window = pan X and Y axes if they are not locked

So I still have no effective way to zoom-in on the motion graph window.

#187

Great thread Paul. :slight_smile:

Not sure if I’m off the mark here, but with a ‘wheel mouse’ you can zoom into motion graph window to frame marker using the wheel.

R

#188

Glad you like it. :slight_smile:

Wheel mouse sounds good. I do everything with my stylus, even typing fast while holding it - so I always have my pointing device in hand without the need to let go of one thing to do another. I find the stylus a VERY efficient input method - roughly 5 times faster and way more accurate than using a mouse. Problem is it doesn’t come with a 3rd mouse button or a wheel.

#189

I don’t understand this: If I hold ALT and SHIFT down at the same time I can zoom with the left mousebutton horizontally and vertically.
Since this can’t be customized, I can’t imagine this being different at your machine???
Do you really press them both?

P.S. the newer wacom stylii (?) come with three buttons (thanks god - otherwise XSI would be a pain here) and there is even one with a wheel, although it is sold separately and expensive, it’s called the “Airbrush”…

Cheers,

#190

Is CGtalk about to break down? I get incredible loading and editing times and - like in this case - double posts…

#191

No I didn’t!

I misunderstood. I tried them separately >duuuu-uh<

OK, finally, I’m saved from total frustration :scream:

Now all they need to do is center the zoom around the mouse pointer . . .

But I’m so very happy now :thumbsup: I was starting to count down to the release after next :eek:

Thanks Thomas and sorry for missing that.

#192

I set up a slider called Slider_oscillation and deactivated all slider channels but one and renamed it from xpos to beats to customize it.

Trying to access beats in an expression I used [Slider_oscillation:beats] but this gives an error.

I then used [Slider_oscillation:xpos] and this works perfectly, although the channel is called beats.

Is this how it’s supposed to be?

#193

No, but it is how it is :wink:

Cheers,

#194

I wanted a watch arm starting at frame 190, rotating 345 degrees and then stopping at frame 380.

Instead of a smooth rotation, I wanted the arm to ‘ratchet’ slightly. Imagine the seconds arm of a normal analogue watch ticking or ratcheting every second. That’s what I wanted except I wanted the frequency 5 times per second. Why 5x? Precision analogue watches often have movements which run at 18,000 beats per hour or 5 beats per second. I wanted to mimic that frantic ratchet ticking to add character to my watch arm - I’m not using character animation software for no reason. :stuck_out_tongue:

In 3DSMax an object can have a base motion graph and then you simply additively set up another graph and Max will do the rest. In messiah I had to find another way.

My TD of course had many ways in which to automate it, one of them by using messiah’s Compose. My mind just refused to grasp learning all that despite all my TD’s coaxing and promises that it will all work out. Maybe next time. :slight_smile:

Here’s how I solved it and learned basic expressions while at it:
[ol]
[li]Loaded watch arm object into scene.[/li][li]Add Null_pulse and key 5 frame animation on its heading channel, a single sawtooth pattern from 0.0 to -1.0 to 0.0, and then switched repeat on under the spline tab. The 5 frames of animation is for 5 beats per second. I’m working inthe PAL system which runs 25fps. If I was using NTSC, one sawtooth would have been 6 frames (6x5=30fps). I made the graph splines linear.[/li][li]Add Null_arm_swing and key 0.0 degress at frame 190 (start stopwatch) and 345.0 degrees at frame 380 (stop stopwatch) on the heading channel.[/li][li]Add a Slider with one channel and add 4 keys: frame 190 slider=0.0 (OFF), frame 191 slider=1.0 (ON), frame 379 slider=1.0 (ON), frame 380 slider=0.0 (OFF) (the slider is to activate and deactivate the ratcheting oscillation, else the watch arm oscillates even while standing still - not what I want). Make sure splines are linear.[/li]
[li]Using expressions under the Command tab, add a variable.[/li][li]Connect the variable to the heading of the watch arm object.[/li]
[li]Add the following expression to the variable: [color=MediumTurquoise]([Null_pulse:heading] * [Slider_oscillation:xpos]) + [Null_arm_swing:heading][/color][/li][li]Press play.[/li][/ol]OK, here’s what happens: the sawtooth animates from 0.0 to -1.0 over 3 frames then back to 0.0 over the next 2 frames, making the 5 frames for one ratchet beat. Switching on repeat automatically provides an infinitely long sawtooth pattern.

If I would add the sawtooth to the rotation of the arm, then each 5 frames of advancing arm rotation, I subtract 1 degree from the current angle. In other words: within each 5 frames as the arm swings forwards, I jerk it back slightly.

To limit this ratcheting to only frames 190 to 380, I multiply with a slider value. If the slider is 1.0 (ON), the effect which is added is (1.0 x -1.0) = -1.0 degrees. When the slider is 0.0 (OFF) then the oscillation is zeroed and there’s no effect.

It was quick to figure out the formula using nulls and a slider, but I took some time to work through expression tutorials in the docs. The slider was a total breeze except for the non-obvious thing (to me at least) of slider channel renaming (see my previous post).

As most of you know, messiah’s expressions are awesome and easy!

I hope my TD is proud of my effort. :slight_smile: I think my solution is elegant because I can easily edit the shape of the sawtooth in various ways and my changes will be applied by the expression with no worries.

I’m sure there are many ways to do this and probably easier too.

#195

Cool! Thanks for sharing!
Reminds me that I wanted to try something related with bird flaps…

#196

Yes, your TD is very proud of you!!! >LOL< :wink: :thumbsup:

I still think compose would have been even easier, but there is something about compose that makes me wanna cry everytime I use it. Half of it is sheer beauty and elegance, but the other half is a twisted mess.
This part would need some serious effort to become what it was supposed to be as far as workflow it concerned…

Cheers!

#197

My pleasure. :thumbsup:

If its like this for you, then no wonder I clammed up a few milliseconds after opening the Compose Tab. Some things in life test my sanity and I immediately knew I was being tested. I’m sure this can be overcome with patient enduring study and tutorials . . .

#198

The docs talk about Render Groups but don’t say how to create one. After some fiddling I created a RGroup node in the Surface List.

I see that you can only drag objects into the Render Group, not surfaces. This would make render management easier for me. Or can you group surfaces?

#199

I don’t know if this is going to help you, but I made a post in the Advanced Tips section about render groups some time ago.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3433614&postcount=26

#200

You’re right, you can’t drag surfaces into rendergroups, just objects.
It would be hard to know what surface belongs to what object otherwise.
And since messiah isn’t as dumb as Lightwave, where each surface has it’s own material that has to be changed in case of refining it, instead one material can be used on multiple objects so that changes are delivered to all surfaces at once, which should take care of most cases just fine.

I guess you want to create your timewarp with such groups?

I would rather do it inside the different materials or render two passes and blend them in post (most flexible way of doing it).

While Rendergroups are very cool for some stuff, bear in mind that they are NOT perfect. When f.i. you have 10 objects with elaborate materials in a group and override them all at once with something that should render very fast (black objects - white background f.i.) I noticed everytime I tried, that the rendering is much slower than if I put the black and white on the object themselves and deactivate the complicated materials.
It seems as if messiah is evaluating at least parts of the stacked textures, even if the opacity on the group material is 100% opaque.
So be careful with rendergroups and stacking materials - as cool as it is.

Cheers,