more widget work

[Zoid]

Visual symbolism that spins. It's a little on the dark side, and I think it spins too fast, but it's a step in the right direction. It's also another big file-930kb. I call it the Eye Cage (http://members.home.net/jhaskin/EyeCage1.gif)

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads0/user_image-1001898429aoy.gif

[juandel]

a leap, a run in the right direction it is! topnotch animation, Zoid! my favorite part are the clouds sailing by the window... absolutely wonderful job!

- juandel

[william]

COOOOL
&
trippy!!! :tu: :tu: :tu:

[rhom]

neat trick!

[Kaz]

Kool!

[Rembrant]

Tell me how to do amination. THANK YOU Curtis Hawkins. I Like. :cool:

[Muvlo]

Zoid, I have not the faintest idea of how you managed to create that little thing, but it sure is neat! Wonderful effect. (Any hints on its creation?) :)

[Zoid]

Thanks for the feedback everyone,

To anyone interested in creating something like this you only need to have three things in addition to ZBrush.

1. Digits Widgets, which he has so generously created and made available for download here. (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/Z-Tools.htm) This script creates an interface which sits in the script window and you enter in information as you build your animation.

2. A gif animation program. I had Photoshop 5.5 for the longest time before realising that the "Image Ready" program that comes with it could create gif animations. For other Mac users there is a freeware program called GifBuilder which does the same thing. I'm sure there are some free or very low priced gif programs for windows also.

3. You also need a very twisted and obsessive mind like mine (just kidding) I love animation, but I dont have the time or patience to use other programs. I tried it in Bryce once and it came out beautiful, but it took forever. If you try the Widgets animation script, start out simple. To make an object rotate 360, place it on your screen in edit>rotate mode. Then go to transform>info and choose one of the x,y,or z sliders and move it to the far left(-180) or the far right(180) Enter this as your "Get start" in the widget animation area. Then do the opposite setting for your "Get end" setting. I use frame rates which are 36, or fractions of 36 (18 or 24), then I add one frame. This is because the 180 to -180 settings will create a duplicate frame which causes the rotation to "hiccup", so I just delete that extra frame later in the gif program. Yes there are many tricks that you can use to make these animations. The clouds for example are just a seamless texture that I painted using the tilde key which was then applied to a rotating cylinder. http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads0/user_image-1001902225nxv.gif I will continue making these animations because they are so much fun. Now it's on to experiments with transparency, reflections, and perspective distortion. If you are trying this and have problems, please ask specific questions. Help for you should be readily available. :)

[Digits]

Wowza! Zoid :tu: :tu: :tu: Exemplatory animation, love the shadows thru the grid and the doorway. Stroke of genius in creating the cylinder tile, mind if I steal the idea in the future? :)

And thanks for taking a little time to impart some animation howto. You're right, you do end up with an extra frame using -180 to 180, that I always remove but never knew why heheh

Twisted and obsessive is good!

[juandel]

thank you Zoid for explaining the cloud magic (and the hiccups! :D) - here is a specific question re: transparent gif (as the one in your message on top of the thread): i think i knew it once but i can’t remember how to achieve this within imageready on an automatic basis (not frame by frame) - any hints would be most appreciated! :D

- juandel

[Zoid]

Hey Digits,

I think the rotating cylinder thing started with the Lumiere brothers around the 1890's. You're certainly not stealing anything from me. None of this Widget animation would exist without you. Thanks again!

[Zoid]

Hi Juandel,

I think to achieve transparency in the whole file of frames automatically would require the use of an "action" which is Adobe's term for scripting. For me, I have manually selected and deleted the backgrounds from the frames. You could record this action once and run it for the rest of the frames.Yet another thing to figure out how to do. I'm also still trying to get the fringey edges to look smoother. Oh well, keep trying

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads0/user_image-1002028171qry.gif

[juandel]

thank you, Zoid! :)

i’ll give the actions a try next time! hmmm, might the edges be due to the fact that you made a bright background transparent when the spinning sphere was already downsized? i’m not sure if it would be that edgy when selecting/deleting the background was done at a bigger size (and imageready changes a gifs size with one click - no need to do it frame by frame or to record actions ;)) dunno - just a thought.

- juandel :D

[Digits]

Not sure if this is what you are talking about concerning Transparent backgrounds but the Gif format supports a Transparent Color. For instance use black 0,0,0 as a main background for your frames. You can then specify that black 0,0,0 color when you create the gif which will turn all instances of that color to transparency.