Posts Tagged ‘xfrog’

1. Vue 6 Infinite: for creating landscapes and producing 3d images.
2. Poser 7: to create characters that I use in Vue.
3. Paint Shop Pro 7: for post work and texture making.
4. Expression 3: for creating vector art, post processing and texture making.
5. Serif Page Plus 11: for layout and producing PDFs.
6. Deep Paint 3d: to make textures for 3d objects.
7. UV Mapper: for preparing 3d objects for texturing.
8. Premier Elements: to edit and composite animations.
9. Cinema 4D 6: for making 3d models.
10. Hexagon 2: For making 3d models.
11. Xfrog 3.5: for producing plant models, fractal objects and strange sculptures.
12. Audacity: to work with the audio for animations.
13. Pencil and Paper: for quick sketches and composition.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. PJ
2. Chelle Y.
3. Thomma Lyn
4. Susan Helene Gottfried
5. Janet
6. Mama Duck
7. Rashenbo
8. Jen
9. Wylie Kinson
10. jean
11. karen (miscmum)
12. Busy
13. Amanda Young
14. Jennifer
15. Sybil
16. Wolfbernz
17. Shiloh Walker
18. Kim Rees
19. Barb
20. AnneD
21. Robyn Mills
22. SheSchenker
23. Raven Vampire Nightclub
24. Michelle M Pillow
25. Nancy Bond
26. spyscribbler

Just noticed this blog was a whole year old last week. So here’s a round up of projects started and progress so far.

Serious and Organised / Men of Action / The ABC System: system written needs play testing.

Arædan: Originally called Untitled Fantasy #1. In need of editing.

The Seer: About 50% written and waiting for me to go back to it.

Fairy Tale Noir: Heading on towards the 40,000 word mark with no sign of ending till it’s at least 50,000. A little longer than the 15,000 I was aiming for. May do a second draft to try to kick it up to 100,000+ and call it a novel.

impworks logo: Done and in use.

impworks website: Live since last year and growing. Recoded into Smarty templates almost as soon as I finished the first version. Some stuff (mostly pictures, scripts and tutorials to add when I find time).

Vue Python scripts: I’ve produced a growing list of free Vue Python scripts.

STEEPVM: Turned into a wednesday night post sequence instead of an article.

Characters on the Couch: Serialised here too.

Vue: Vue 6 is a huge leap forward in making my pictures look like I want them to. The new spectral sky model is worth the upgrade alone as far as I’m concerned.

Poser 7: Using it pretty much like Poser 5 and 6 at the moment need to dig into the enhancements.

Xfrog: Got a working copy again and now I’m back to exploring making abstracts with it.

Virtual Fashion: Starting to get good results from this especially when textured elsewhere.

Pepakura Designer: Need to find more time to play with this.

Blogs: This one is well established. The Vue News Blog is getting growing readership. I’ve a couple more in the pipe line too for specialist topics.

Underwater Secret Base: Redesigned to include obligatory volcano.

A third snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

Another snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

A snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

Download: objsequenceloader0_2_4.zip (4k Zip Archive of 2 files)

Instructions for version 0.2.4

Tested using Vue 5 Infinite 5.11-02 and Vue 6 Pre Release build 288741

What is it?

The object sequence loader is a script that loads a sequence of 3d model files in a format Vue can import (obj, vob, 3ds, lwo, shd, cob and some other formats)

How does it work?

It first loads the objects into the scene. These are then hidden (usually beneath the ground but you can change where they are kept) and then switched into a visible area for each frame you render. By creating an animation, the Python script will automatically switch these objects in and out to give you an animation.

Note: These do not appear as keyframed animations unless you have "auto keyframing" turned on and have rendered the complete sequence of steps that make up the animation.

What version of Vue does it work with?

The script will work with Vue 5 Infinite and Vue 6 Infinite. Vue 6′s improved importing and real world units provide significant improvements to the results of using the object sequence importer.

What other programmes does it work with?

It has been tested with objects exported from RealFlow 3, RealFlow 4 and XFrog 3.5 Full. It should work with any programme that can make a set of 3d models in a format that Vue can import.

What are the limitations?

This is an early development which is currently limited to standalone animations.

Mini Previews and HyperVue are not supported. The Python script necessitates animation sequences in order to correctly switch the objects between frames.

Object files can consume a lot of memory, so it is best to initially experiment with simple sequences of small object files to learn how to use the script.

How do I prepare the sequence?

Take your 3D objects and place them in a directory.

The sequence must have sequentially numbered file names. The numbering does not have to begin with 0 or 1. For example:

• 1.lwo, 2.lwo, 3.lwo, 4.lwo … … 100.lwo, 101.lwo
• Mesh010001.obj, Mesh010002.obj, Mesh010003.obj …
• Flower_blossom_00001.obj, Flower_blossom_00002.obj, Flower_blossom_00003.obj
• 5.3ds, 6.rds, 7.3ds

How do I run the Script?

Download the script and uncompress the zip file. You should now have a file called objsequenceloader0_2_4.py .

Place a copy of the script objsequenceloader0_2_4.py in the directory with the objects.

Run the Python Script and follow the options. For more help on running a script see my Vue Python for Beginners Tutorials.

The script may not work with script quick load menu in Vue after other operations have been used. For reliable run it with Run python script…

A number of options will be presented to you. Respond to each one in turn. If this is your first time using the script I would suggest using the following options:

• Group objects: Yes
• Drop on import: No
• Align on import: No

I’ll write some documentation to explain all the options soon.

I’m Using XFrog is there anything I should know?

If you are importing a sequence of objects from Xfrog you will be asked for a file name prefix. This is the part of the filename before the first 0 in the numbering sequence. So for a sequence including Flower_blossom_00001.obj use Flower_blossom_.

What Happens when I’ve Answered all the Questions?

When you have completed all of the options the script will start to load the objects.

The settings from your last object import will be used by Vue while importing the files. The loading process may take some time.

Once the script has finished loading the files a dialogue box will pop up to let you know.

The Sequence is Loaded what do I do next?

You will notice several objects in the scene:

• Imported Object Target
• Imported Object Out of Shot
• Either the individual objects or a group of objects depending on the options you selected

The Imported Object Target is where the object for a specific frame will be displayed. You can scale the objects by scaling this object. You can rotate them by rotating it. You can position them by position it. If you selected "Drop on import" make sure this is over something else in the scene so that when the object is dropped it has somewhere to land. The Imported Object Target will not appear in renders.

The Imported Object Out of Shot is where objects that don’t appear in a specific frame will be placed. It starts at a position that should be out of shot. If it isn’t you can move it. If you do move it and want to see the objects reposition render a frame and all the objects should move. The Imported Object Out of Shot object will not appear in renders.

How do I render my animation?

When you are ready to render the animation open the animation rendering panel. If you do not have any other animation in the scene you will need to tell Vue how many frames to render by selecting "Render Sequence" and entering appropriate numbers. You should then be able to render your animation.

How can I save the sequence?

If you want to save the sequence the results of using this script you must render the scenes animation before saving. This will create key frames in the scene for the objects. To perform this process quickly render a very small version of the animation with preview quality. Once this has been done delete you can delete Imported Object Target and the Imported Object Out of Shot objects. They will not have any effect on the sequence when it is reloaded.

Trouble Shooting and (In)Frequently Asked Questions

Vue Crashed while loading the objects. What can I do?

If you have too many objects in the sequence for your computer to cope with Vue may crash. If this happen try loading the sequence in smaller parts and then compiling the final animation in video editing software.

There don’t seem to be any animation paths. Is the script broken?

Earlier versions of the script created animation paths for each object. This technique has now been superseded. Instead a technique similar to a 3d flipbook is used. Each time a frame is rendered the script moves an appropriate object to be displayed and moves the others elsewhere.

I want to have two sequences in the same animation. Can I do this?

Running this script multiple times on the same scene is only possible if the earlier import has had key frames created by rendering an animation sequence. Once a second import is carried out the first import will not be editable by moving the target objects.

Can I use this with Network Rendering?

This script hasn’t been tested with network rendering. It may be possible to network render an animation created using this script by first using the technique for saving the animation. I’ve not tried this. If you try it and it works please e-mail me so I can update other users.

A pop up telling me I have "nothing to drop on". What should I do?

The problem is with the drop on import option. When using drop on import raise the height of the Imported Object Target and ensure it is dropping onto an object.

Can I change the textures of the object in Vue?

Yes.

Thanks

I’d like to thank e-on software, greenworks and Roderick Davies for their help in developing and testing this script.

In case you don’t recognise the name Jorj X. McKie is the lead character in several stories by Frank Herbert. He works for an agency charged to slow down a vast galaxy spanning government by conducting dirty tricks “in lieu of red tape”.

I don’t need the help of a saboteur extraordinary to slow the process of government down rather that of industry and in particular computer graphics companies. Most of the stuff I regularly use has had significant new releases in the last two months. First was Vue 6 Infinite then PePaKuRa 2, Daz’s Victoria 4, Virtual Fashion Professional 1.5 and Poser 7. Getting back into XFrog 3.5 as well. On the horizon is the behamothic figure of the next version of MS Windows. New versions are great but trying to keep on top of and learn all the new, cool stuff can start to feel a bit daunting. I’ve yet to get Virtual Fashion Professional 1.5 and Poser 7 just so I can catch up with the other ones first.

One update is coming in very handy with all this though. My broadband doubled in speed last week. Thats one update I’d prefer Jorj not saboutage.

After a little modification and a repeat of the 3 hour render here is the test animation from XFrog 3.5 Full into Vue 6 Infinite using the completely rewritten object import script. It’s one of the animated objects supplied with XFrog. Still not 100% perfect as the objects’ positions wanders a little. However I think there may be a way to stop that happening in XFrog I just need to spend some time playing around to see if I can get it to stop fidgeting.

Dandelion Animation (845kByte Div X AVI)

Finished the new version of the object sequence loader script, almost an entire ground up rewrite of the code. I’m going to spend a while testing it but it does now load numbered sequences of files and has features to load Realflow and Xfrog 3 Full animations. Hopefully no problems will appear during testing and I’ll be able to make it available soon.