animating lines

[Hugh Barton]

I am looking to display a map on which I can animate (draw), as it were, a line between two places to show a route and wondering whether anyone has tried this or any tutorial showing how to do.

Now that I have gone digital - finding the creation of side shows on PTE great - having been away from the program for a couple of years!

Many thanks for looking

Hugh

[dpeterso]

I am looking to display a map on which I can animate (draw), as it were, a line between two places to show a route and wondering whether anyone has tried this or any tutorial showing how to do.

Many thanks for looking

Hugh

I'm anxious for some information on how to do this also. I hope you get some responses.

Dave

[Lin Evans]

Hi Hugh,

About a year ago there were numerous "maps" done with PTE. Here's a sample and following, an explanation of how to do it:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/cimarron.zip

I will be making an AVI tutorial on how to do this effect and adding it to the PTE for Smarties section in the Tutorials. Here's how to proceed.

Get a jpg of the map you want to use. Go to Photoshop or your choice of editor which allows transparency and copy and paste the map on top of an identcal sized transparency then use the Eraser tool with an appropriate sized brush to trace the route you wish to display. Save this file as a PNG alongside the original.

In PTE place the PNG map on the top layer in the Objects and Animations screen with the original map in the layer beneath. Between these two layers place a red circle, square or rectangular PNG file which will be moved at the speed you wish to trace the route. You can make this a simple moving area of you can make it stay as a trace of the route depending on the size of the PNG you use.

Think of it as two identical maps lying on top of one another with one having the route "cut out" with an Xacto knife and a piece of colored paper sandwitched in between and slid along the route.

Best regards,

Lin

I am looking to display a map on which I can animate (draw), as it were, a line between two places to show a route and wondering whether anyone has tried this or any tutorial showing how to do.

Now that I have gone digital - finding the creation of side shows on PTE great - having been away from the program for a couple of years!

Many thanks for looking

Hugh

[xahu34]

Hello,

just a simple way to draw a line, provided that it does not differ that much from a straight one:

1. Open the map (original_map.jpg) in your graphics editor (Photoshop or other one) and draw the line using a brush tool.

2. Save the new map (map_with_line.jpg)

3. Import the 2 images into PTE and make an appropriate transition from original_map.jpg to map_with_line.jpg, using page effects or advanced hour hands with small values for "own thickness of smoothing line". The "transition line" should be rather orthogonal to the line on the map.

This effect can be iterated in order to achieve more complex routes (flow will not be steady).

Kind regards,

xahu34

Munich

[Lin Evans]

The AVI tutorial on how to do the map route is now up and ready for download here also linked from Tutorials:

http://www.lin-evans.net/smart/routedemo.avi

Lin

[dpeterso]

The AVI tutorial on how to do the map route is now up and ready for download here also linked from Tutorials:

http://www.lin-evans.net/smart/routedemo.avi

Lin

Thanks Lin. I wondered how this was done, and now thanks to your tutorial, I now know. You guys are the greatest!

Dave

[mhwarner]

The AVI tutorial on how to do the map route is now up and ready for download here also linked from Tutorials:

http://www.lin-evans.net/smart/routedemo.avi

Lin

Lin,

Thanks so much for this tutorial (as well as all your other tutorials). I am in the process of creating a slideshow from 2 months of travel from AZ to Montana and back as well as another from AZ through New Mexico and Colorado. I have been collecting maps for just such an addition to the shows. Your tutorial will make the job almost a snap. I was thinking of a series of layered .jpgs with a progressively moving route line, but this is so much easier! Thanks again for sharing. Please know that your efforts are thoroughly appreciated!

[Lin Evans]

Hi Mary,

I'm glad that it was helpful. As I recall, about a year ago Dominic (theDom) made a slideshow using this method and that touched off a whole series of map-type shows. Depending on the specifics of your trip and the direction and degree of turns, etc., it may be necessary to use more than one colored (red in this case) file to make it work. Also, the reason I used a PNG file for the red with a transparent background is that sometimes it's helpful to make a portion (corner, circle, spot, etc.,) of the red rectangle transparent to allow a feature to show or prevent the red from showing up at the wrong time or place.

I didn't get into that in the tutorial to keep it as simple as possible, but when you do a lot of these sometimes it can be helpful to have this option. Also somtimes the route file may need to be circular as a small red circle can be used to make sharp turns then another rectangle can be brought up behind once the difficult area is passed and the opacity of the temporary red circle PNG can be turned back to zero. There are numerous permutations I'm sure you will appreciate once you get into doing your map. Another is the creation of small PNG files to overlay on the top layer to preserve details like bridges or any area unavoidably obliterated by the red cut out. Sometimes something as simple at the text for a city name, etc., which crosses the route may need to be preserved.

The nice thing is that once you realize how easy it is to use the overlay/cutout principle the sky is the limit. Actually we played with moving boats and ships down the inland waterway around lakes, etc., and it was lots of fun coming up with new and innovative ways to use this approach.

Best regards,

Lin

Lin,

Thanks so much for this tutorial (as well as all your other tutorials). I am in the process of creating a slideshow from 2 months of travel from AZ to Montana and back as well as another from AZ through New Mexico and Colorado. I have been collecting maps for just such an addition to the shows. Your tutorial will make the job almost a snap. I was thinking of a series of layered .jpgs with a progressively moving route line, but this is so much easier! Thanks again for sharing. Please know that your efforts are thoroughly appreciated!

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

Thanks, I'm glad it was helpful. You may want to read my reply to Mary to get some more ideas and details.

best rgards,

Lin

Thanks Lin. I wondered how this was done, and now thanks to your tutorial, I now know. You guys are the greatest!

Dave

[Hugh Barton]

Lin

Many thanks for the tutorial and advice - absolutely brilliant and now have to get a rather complicated route with some difficult turns, and your second entry assists in that considerably -

Please keep up the wonderful work

Regards

Hugh

[brian65photo]

Lin

Thanks for a super tutorial and for showing us how easy it is once someone shows you the way.

Brian