Help with flipped coin animation

[harbrimar]

Hi everyone

I am trying to create an effect of a spinning or flipped coin. I think I can create the movement using the 3D parameters in Animation but there are two things I am struggling with; firstly how do I create the 'heads and tails' effect, I gather that I will have to use two images (front & rear of the coin) but how do you get both sides to appear when the coin turns?. The second question is, how do I give the image of the coin some thickness as at the moment the image disappears when viewed side on? I am using the latest version of PicToExe

Many thanks

Brian

[Lin Evans]

Hi Brian,

You have chosen a project which will have a bit of a learning curve, but will I believe be a fun adventure for you to pursue. To understand how 3D space in PicturesToExe works I think you might be helped a great deal if you download and study my tutorial on creating and manipulating a cube with PTE.

Essentially, what you will have to do for this animation the way you want to see it is to create the two faces for your coin (heads and tails) as png with transparency objects and also create the edge thickness object also as a PNG with transparency. You may want to actually photograph a rather thick coin from the edge then size and manipulate that photo into a PNG transparency.

Once you have these components, then you will essentially create a three dimensional object in the PicturesToExe objects and animations screen using these components in very much the same manner as in the creation of a cube. Think of the coin as a very thin "cube" which has a slightly different shape and with parts of it invisible. In the 3D space of PTE the object will still have six sides even though it's actually round and has only two important faces rather than six. The other four faces are the coin edge as they would be viewed if you rotated the coin in your hand.

The heads and tails portions will be adjusted (positioned) in space via the "pan Z" parameter with the edge PNG file occupying that area between. You will use a very similar type construct to the one I describe for the cube in the tutorial link referenced below being mindful of properly checking off the proper view viz the front and back (you will understand this after watching the tutorial). You will also have to adjust the spacing between the front and back of the coin to suit the thickness you decide on for the edge views.

Here's the link to the cube tutorial. A very similar construct can be created for your coin using the controlling frame and sub frames. It's possible to modify the construct to a four rather than six sided affair, but you will discover the fun of experimenting and which way will best suit your own animation as you conceive it for your project. Scroll down to the bottom portion past the red descriptives to number 18 and download the AVI tutorial: The construct for the coin will involve a great deal more experimentation and use of addional objects such as black rectangles, etc., for masking the edges and the use of changing transparency for the edges as the coin is rotated. It's not a simple animation to get perfect, but you will have fun experimenting.

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/7901-pte-made-easy-tutorials-continuously-updated/

Best regards,

Lin

[MUR]

Hi Habrimar

In PTE there are not curved surfaces, like the edge of a coin, so you have to cheat, this is an example.

MUR

coin.zip

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Habrimar

In PTE there are not curved surfaces, like the edge of a coin, so you have to cheat, this is an example.

MUR

Well done Mur, like I always say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe a good subject for a style?

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[MUR]

Thanks Yatchsman1

You can see in Slideshow, demos, made with the same "system", Egg.2 or Curved Surfaces

MUR

[Lin Evans]

There is a way to actually simulate curved surfaces such as the edge of a coin using multiple PNG sections which work well if the intent is to leave the coin in such a position as to have the edge surface face the observer. It's done by breaking the photo of the coin edge into about five pieces consisting of one long and four shorter sections. The shorter sections are then "hinged" with their centers of rotation moved in such a manner as to simulate a curve when viewed straight on or even at a relatively shallow angle.

Which way to proceed depends on how realistic you want to make the animation and actually how quickly the coin is flipped. For even a reasonably fast flip it's generally not necessary to even bother with the "thickness" because the coin passes through the zero position so quickly that the human eye can't even discern the fact that it had zero thickness at that exact time.

The value of looking at the cube tutorial is to learn how pan Z works and to see the value of using frames in the construction for controlling placement and motion while acting as the "glue" which holds the components together.

Best regards,

Lin

[MUR]

Hi Lin

I agree, I use this method of stacking multipes images, with small displacements of z and light rotations around x and y, for small thicknesses, like a coin.

MUR

[Jean-Cyprien]

Unfortunately I've at the moment no time to modify and/or explain the attached template. You'll find two methods to do the edge. It was made at the end of 2009 with the new PTE version 6 as an example (very rapidly made - some frame "Cadre" are useless). It works without problem with the new versions.

Please excuse me for the brevity of my answer

Pile ou face V2.zip

[Lin Evans]

Thanks Jean-Cyprien, That's a perfect example of how multiple small png sections can be used and manipulated to build a curved surface. It takes lots of time to build and adjust but the effect is very, very realistic.

Very nice example of this...

Best regards,

Lin

[MUR]

Hi.

The example of Jean-Cyprien, maybe simplified (copy-paste-paste-paste-............-paste)

MUR

coin.zip

[harbrimar]

Hi Everyone

I am very impressed with the responses from Lin, Mur and Jean-Cyprien and thank you so much for tackling the problem for me. The 3D animation capabilities of PicToExe are truly amazing and I am grateful to you all for giving me your time. Having played around with your solutions I think I will use Mur’s first idea as I like its simplicity. The subtle movements of the images and the blur create an effect that is realistic enough for my purposes.

Kind regards

Brian