Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!fernwood!oracle!news From: jlange@oracle.com (Jim Lange) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Subject: Re: Imagine Message-ID: Date: 28 Mar 91 20:56:11 GMT References: <91076.234200ACPS1072@Ryerson.CA> <965@celia.UUCP> Sender: news@oracle.com Organization: Oracle Corp., Belmont CA Lines: 49 In-reply-to: neil@celia.UUCP's message of 27 Mar 91 23:02:29 GMT In article <965@celia.UUCP> neil@celia.UUCP (Neil Richmond) writes: > I had a demonstration of Imagine yesterday. It was, I confess, the first time > I saw it. There were some nice things, but it could use a lot more. One thing, > is that I was wrong about the motion descriptor. You draw a path and Imagine > takes the number of frames you give and fits it to the path. No keyframes! No > splines! Big disappointment! But it is a useful way of planning a path of > action, just limited. They should implement some spline functions. You will probably get several responses to this, but apparently whoever demonstrated Imagine did not understand (or convey) all of its features. It does support keyframes. In the Stage Editor you can interactively move objects in designated keyframes and create new keyframes easily. Or you can enter coordinates in the position bar (channel) of the Action screen (also part of the Stage Editor). Some new menu options in version 1.1 allow you to "split" the position and alignment channels while moving objects interactively, thus setting a new keyframe for the object. Also, in the Cycle Editor (which apparently was not demonstrated), you create hierarchical motion using keyframes. Go back and ask to try the Cycle Editor tutorial so see how easily you can create a walking figure. Imagine has splines! All paths in the Stage Editor are splines with multiple control points. The only non-spline paths are those used for extrusion (and a special effect called "grow"). Version 1.1 now includes ease-in/out for path motion. You specify the starting velocity, acceleration frames, deceleration frames, and ending velocity. Although this is not as nice as the spline channels used by Animation Journeyman, it is still nice. > The object > editor is VERY NICE. It shows the most work of the two modules. ... There are actuall four modules: Detail, Forms, Cycle, and Stage. > .... I think it is short sighted to depend on morphing to do all your > character animation, like facial expressions. It means you have to make > targets for each expression. This does pose a problem for Imagine. If you constructed your face as a group with lips, eyebrows, etc as separate objects, you could use the cycle editor to animate expresions so some degree (limited to rotation, scaling, and motion), but I don't think separate objects in a group can be connected by faces so you can move a collection of points as one object and have a stretching skin connecting it to its parent. Jim Lange Oracle Corporation