[comp.sys.amiga] Animation Package Information Request

glennl@cit-vlsi.Caltech.Edu (Glenn M. Lewis) (05/21/89)

[]
	I need to create an animation of a Steam Locomotive.  I need the
wheels to rotate, the pistons to move, the smoke to puff, and the bell
to ring.  It would also be nice if I could create a roundhouse with a
turntable, drive the engine out onto the tracks, and then rotate it to the
correct track.  The animation has to be one minute long (1800 frames).
	Unfortunately, I have to have this finished in one month, and have
it placed on Video Tape. I have an A1000 with 2 floppy drives and 2.5Megs RAM.
I desperately need information on what Rendering/Animation software is
available for the Amiga that would suit my needs.  Z-Buffering would be
preferred because of my lack of time (and access to only one Amiga).
	Could you PLEASE e-mail me your experiences with software of this
type?  It will not suffice for me to draw each frame with DPaint-III, and
then pack it into an ANIM.  I need to be able to specify OBJECTS such as
the wheels, and then be able to rotate them as the train moves along the
track.
	I very much appreciate your help.  Thank you in advance!

							-- Glenn Lewis

glennl@vlsi.caltech.edu

ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (05/22/89)

In article <10750@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> glennl@cit-vlsi.UUCP (Glenn M. Lewis) writes:
>[]
>	I need to create an animation of a Steam Locomotive.  I need the
>wheels to rotate, [ handwave, handwave... ]
>The animation has to be one minute long (1800 frames).
>	Unfortunately, I have to have this finished in one month, and have
>it placed on Video Tape. I have an A1000 with 2 floppy drives and 2.5Megs RAM.
>I desperately need information on what Rendering/Animation software is
>available for the Amiga that would suit my needs.  [ ... ]

	Well, Sculpt-3D is right out for rendering, because it will take
longer than a month just to render the frames, and I'm also told that it's
a pig on memory.  You can still use it to create your objects, though.

	Silver will also probably be too slow for you (although they've got
a new version in the works which is supposed to be yet faster), and also
needs a fair amount of memory.

	Methinks you should look at Videoscape-3D and Modeller-3D.  You
won't be able to do any 400-line stuff with 2.5 Megs.  Doing HAM will also
be a squeeze.  Also, you should be able to get by with 15 frames per second
very nicely, which will cut the needed number of frames down to 900.

	Sounds to me like you have a big job ahead.  A month?  Dunno, guy.
But, hey, anything's possible if you're motivated enough (I managed to pull
an unicycle out of a hat in just under four days a long time ago).  If you'd
like a head start, I have a locomotive object which I created a while ago
for an animation that went over like a lead balloon.  Maybe you'd have
better luck with it.

	Good luck.

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Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	      The Only Way To Fly.	      hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor

ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (05/23/89)

In article <11778@well.UUCP> I write:
>	Methinks you should look at Videoscape-3D and Modeller-3D.  You
>won't be able to do any 400-line stuff with 2.5 Megs.

	What I meant by this is that 2.5M is not enough RAM to create a
400-line ANIM file.  You can certainly create stills, which can be saved off
as individual IFF frames.  You could also use GrabANIM to take those
individual IFF frames and make an ANIM file out of it, once you quit
Videoscape.  However, this will be tedious.

>Doing HAM will also be a squeeze.  [ ... ]

	Again, with only 2.5M of RAM, you will be somewhat more limited in
your ability to create an ANIM file (you won't be able to load too many
complex objects).

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	      The Only Way To Fly.	      hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor