Multiple keypoints animation.

[ellishousedigital]

Multiple keypoints animation.

I have recently started to experiment with PTE5 and have come across a problem in objects and animation. I can assume that it is not my pc as I have tried it on another one of faster specification and the behaviour is identical.

I am playing around with animating an object moving over a customised slide. The object pans from side to side, zooming and rotating in all about seven or eight times. So there are multiple keypoints.

So far ok.

Next I tried changing from ‘linear’ panning to ‘slow down’ so that the object at the end of each pan came to a gradual standstill. Now when I play the sequence the object goes from the first to the final keypoint in a direct line missing out the intermediate keypoints. This also happens with ‘smooth’ and ‘accelerate’.

Altering these parameters in Zoom and Rotate does not cause this same problem, but others.

Selecting anything other than ‘linear’ to ‘zoom’ causes the effect to occur over the whole of the sequence rather than between the keypoints it was intended to occur.

Selecting anything other than ‘linear’ to ‘zoom’ prevents the ability to edit the zoom or rotate the object when a keypoint is selected

Selecting anything other than ‘linear’ to ‘rotate’ prevents the ability to edit the rotate when the keypoint is selected.

Any introduced rotation disappears if anything other than ‘smooth’ is selected.

These are just a few anomalies. Is it me? Or is it a bug?

Obviously if only a start and finish keypoints are chosen then these problems are not apparent, it is only if multiple keypoints are made.

One thing I have learnt is that all of the settings have to be reset to ‘linear’ before any editing of the position or size or rotation of the object is possible at a particular keypoint, and it is best to only use ‘linear’ when you have multiple keypoints

Rich

[Lin Evans]

Hi Rich,

It's neither a bug nor a problem, just that you haven't set it up correctly. First, download the User Guide and read the section on keypoints then I'll give you another link where you can get some more specifics.

Essentially, you use linear to do your animations then change to non-linear where you wish non-linear motion. This involves separating glued keypoints which is explained in the manual and in the reference information.

There are fixed non-linear motions of smooth, accelerate and decelerate plus you can customize the curve to any conceivable shape but you must separate the keypoints for pan, zoom and rotate because they almost always interconnect.

You'll find the user guide on the Tutorial's section. It's 121 pages of documentation which every user should download and read.

Here's a link to a reference I did a while back about specifically keypoints.

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6549

Lin

Multiple keypoints animation.

I have recently started to experiment with PTE5 and have come across a problem in objects and animation. I can assume that it is not my pc as I have tried it on another one of faster specification and the behaviour is identical.

I am playing around with animating an object moving over a customised slide. The object pans from side to side, zooming and rotating in all about seven or eight times. So there are multiple keypoints.

So far ok.

Next I tried changing from 'linear' panning to 'slow down' so that the object at the end of each pan came to a gradual standstill. Now when I play the sequence the object goes from the first to the final keypoint in a direct line missing out the intermediate keypoints. This also happens with 'smooth' and 'accelerate'.

Altering these parameters in Zoom and Rotate does not cause this same problem, but others.

Selecting anything other than 'linear' to 'zoom' causes the effect to occur over the whole of the sequence rather than between the keypoints it was intended to occur.

Selecting anything other than 'linear' to 'zoom' prevents the ability to edit the zoom or rotate the object when a keypoint is selected

Selecting anything other than 'linear' to 'rotate' prevents the ability to edit the rotate when the keypoint is selected.

Any introduced rotation disappears if anything other than 'smooth' is selected.

These are just a few anomalies. Is it me? Or is it a bug?

Obviously if only a start and finish keypoints are chosen then these problems are not apparent, it is only if multiple keypoints are made.

One thing I have learnt is that all of the settings have to be reset to 'linear' before any editing of the position or size or rotation of the object is possible at a particular keypoint, and it is best to only use 'linear' when you have multiple keypoints

Rich

[goddi]

...Essentially, you use linear to do your animations then change to non-linear where you wish non-linear motion...

Lin

Lin, I have tried to find the distinction/definition between linear and non-linear as it relates to PTE, but I can not. Can you give me a "Linear for Dummies" explaination??? Thanks...Gary

[Lin Evans]

Sure,

Linear relates to continuous motion neither speeding up nor slowing down. Non-linear is anything else. I realize that is over simplistic so perhaps more specifically. A linear effect begins almost immediately at full speed and ceases abruptly. A non-linear "smooth" has a gradual sloping curve beginning slowly then building in speed to a specific velocity determined by the distance between keypoints and the tme alloted to the slide. Near the end of the animation there is a deceleration period equal and opposite of the acceleration at the beginning so the curve has a slope at the head and tail which are exactly opposite but equal in duration.

An accelerate begins slowly and continues to build in speed for the duration of the animation ending abruptly. A decelerate begins like a linear then at some predetermined percentage near the end of the animtion slows down gradually.

An easy way to see these graphically is to put in a couple keypoints then from the O&A menu and Animations tab click on the down arrow beside "Linear" and you can see the curves.

With PTE it's also possible to adjust these curves to any custom pattern of non-linearity you wish and even save the changes as a template.

Best regards,

Lin

Lin, I have tried to find the distinction/definition between linear and non-linear as it relates to PTE, but I can not. Can you give me a "Linear for Dummies" explaination??? Thanks...Gary

[goddi]

Sure,

Linear relates to continuous motion neither speeding up nor slowing down. Non-linear is anything else....

Lin

Thanks, Lin. Great explanation. Now I only have to put them into some practical exercises.

Sincerely, Gary

[ellishousedigital]

Thanks, Lin. Great explanation. Now I only have to put them into some practical exercises.

Sincerely, Gary

Thanks all for your advice. I can get everthing working as I want now. Very cool effects.

Rich