Topic: SkyDrop?? Just what is that??

[blendman]

Moments like this I wish we had a basic manual....!   

Regards,


blendman

[kais Jacob]

I agree 

[blendman]

Thanks Kais,

I can't see it being too hard for the Lumion Team to put a Glossary of terms and basic description of a Lumion feature on their web site.  I know Morten works hard to provide us with an explanation, so I'm hoping he will make this term/feature easier to understand too.

BTW, I purchased the Plants and trees animation (pretty straightforward!), the Advanced animation, and Special Effects plug-ins.  It's the Advanced Animation PIN I'm most eager to learn how to use and optimise for 3D work.

Good to hear from you.

Regards,

blendman

[peterm]

Select the object for the sky drop animation effect, it sets itself high in the sky and drops to ground/terrain level at its own specific speed, no need to do anything else.

There's a really nice example in the Gallery here looks like used throughout and especially see the flames in the last sequence, and there's been a few discussions on it, plus I made some comments on it in Wish List here for maybe a little backgorund on what it could also do.

It's a very singular, simple type of animation; drops from the sky.

[blendman]

Hey Peter, 

Can always count on you to give us the extra assistance.  Thanks mate!  Although I need to play around with this, what is the difference between this and me just using the up-dwon arrow with
the camera facing straight ahead???  Is it the bounce effect??

Regards,

blendman

[peterm]

what is the difference between this and me just using the up-dwon arrow with
the camera facing straight ahead???  Is it the bounce effect??

That's about it, it's quicker to use the sky drop as it does the whole thing for you, but like all things within the framework to which it is intended, in this case start at a non-viewable height in the sky above the camera and drop to the ground with a small bounce at end.

Not sure where this is generally used in viz animation, maybe others know or devs can allude to further, but its sort of one of those library of animations.  Use the effect from the 'library', done and on to the next task.

Animation of course adds a whole new and separate level of tasks, time and creativity to things, so having introduced one specific animation, the devs might be intending to add similar down track as time saver type library items, which would be nice so long as there's some options in settings (much like the diff. between initial cars and now having ability to change the color makes the resource that much more useful and of value I guess).

You can of course use the Basic Animation effect to do a simple move down to a position and would need to in some cases, not tested myself if sky drop recognises anywhere else other than ground/terrain for rest position.  Doing the small bounce using the Basic Anim effect would be a bit/lot more tricky probably requiring 2 or more clip shots combined.  Could be done with the Advanced Anim effect (sort of), that's another story.

Anyway, I ramble, have a play, it's of use to some, maybe not to others, used judiciously like all elements of viz it can add value of motion for a clients viewing.

[blendman]

Hi Peter,

Many thanks for this.  Right now I'm having real problems using the Advanced Animation Plugin.  Importing FBX animated files are not working...

If you can point me in the rdirection on something to help here, that would be great.

Many thanks.

Regards,

blendman

[peterm]

Well, depends, probably best in your topic raised on Advanced Animation, and 'not working" is sort of hard to respond to unless more specific.

But don't forget that 'Advanced' means more than the Basic, and in terms of imported animations (although have not had time to check it out) is the same as version 1 animation for Ultimate or animation plug-in users, that is, and more refs elsewhere including FAQ and replies from Motrn, that animation imported is transform only ie move/rotate/scale, no skin etc (as of yet).

[blendman]

Thanks for the quick reply Peter.  I need to do a search to find useful and relevant information here.  Part of the problem is my FBX file was created in blender - not 3DSMAX, ordinarily it should make no difference.  

But I suspect there is very few people here who will give me the support using open source software here.

Regards,

blendman

[Morten]

Importing FBX animated files are not working...

Hmm, the animation is imported when I export an animated cube from Blender 2.61 with the default settings (but Scale = 100 instead of 1). Are you using an older version of Blender by any chance?

But I suspect there is very few people here who will give me the support using open source software here.

No need to despair just yet, I try not to work over the weekend, so come Monday, support is up and running again

As you know, Artur, our import/export guru, is our go-to guy for problems like that, so please refer to my instructions in your other thread:
http://lumion3d.com/forum/index.php?topic=3145.msg19880#msg19880

If you focus on one problem at a time, I'm sure we can solve them in due course.

Regarding the Sky Drop effect, I wouldn't be surprised if this effect as well as the Advanced Animation effect will be refined and improved in future updates. Here's what the Sky Drop effect will look like in the upcoming 2.1 Build 1: