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From: baer@qiclab.uucp (Ken Baer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Animation:JOURNEYMAN
Keywords: motion paths, channels
Message-ID: <1990Sep19.193423.7771@qiclab.uucp>
Date: 19 Sep 90 19:34:23 GMT
References: <4465@crash.cts.com>
Organization: Animators Anonymous
Lines: 47

In article <4465@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes:
>I'm hoping that someone who is currently using HASH's Animation:Journeyman,
>or, a rep. from HASH can answer a question for me.
> 
>I've read that Journeyman uses splines for motion paths.  Are there any
>facilities for performing effects along those motion paths???  My main concern
>is DECELLERATION...

Yes, we call it motion ease.  Unlike most Amiga animation software, object
motion doesn't use keyframes, but rather motion channels (also known as
time graph editing.  This does not apply to relative actions (which are
keyframed).  In Direction, you draw a path (with splines and/or vectors),
load a character or object, (load appropriate actions if necessary), then edit 
the channels for that path.  A channel is a graph representing some attribute
over time.  There are channel values for objects, lightsources, the camera,
and the target path (where the camera is pointed).  One of the channels
for characters (and the camera and target) is motion ease.  And the channel
graphing uses the same spline curves and/or vectors that are used for
motion paths and object modeling.  So, you have VERY fine control over
accelleration and decelleration.  The interface in Direction (where you 
build the animation choregraphy) is very interactive, so you can do a lot
of fine tuning in the channels till you get what you want.  It is also worth
mentioning that the splines we use have very accurate shape control (unlike
B-splines, and Bezier curves, and even better than CTB splines).

>...my A3000-25/50 only has the
>2MB it came with, so we couldn't even edit the 1200 some-odd-frame
>animation!).

What kind of editing did you need to do?  If you were just manipulating the
frames, you could have used Animation:Editor which works on a frame by frame
basis, and can work with any size animation, as long as you can load 3
frames at that resolution.  2Megs would be plenty.

>Will Animation:Journeyman make the next one, if not easier, POSSIBLE?

It should make it MUCH easier.  JMan is designed for complex natural
motion, so the motion control is very advanced.

>  UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc       | 
>  RealWorld: Sean Cunningham                   |   a sect. "


-- 
    //    -Ken Baer.  Programmer/Animator, Hash Enterprises / Earthling
  \X/     Usenet: baer@qiclab.UUCP  or  PLink: KEN BAER
	  "These new tax forms really aren't much easier" -- Mighty Mouse.