How to use Twilight with SketchyPhysics
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:20 pm
SketchyPhysics is an awesome plugin for SketchUp that allows you to create scenes with physical, 'newtonian' behavior. This means you make wheels roll, blocks fall, walls break, and almost anything your imagination can come up with.
Using Twilight, it's easy to render great animations of your SketchyPhysics masterpieces. For those of you who are unfamiliar, here is a brief 'how to...'
First, you'll need SketchyPhysics installed. Follow the link above to find the latest.
Depending on your experience with SP, you may need to take some time to learn how to use it. There is a lot of functionality in there.
-but-
Twilight renders animation using SketchUp's built in animation controls.
For this, you'll need multiple scenes to render any animation.
Some things to keep in mind:
That's all there is to it. It should take only minutes to create a great looking animation using the awesome features of SketchyPhysics.
Using Twilight, it's easy to render great animations of your SketchyPhysics masterpieces. For those of you who are unfamiliar, here is a brief 'how to...'
First, you'll need SketchyPhysics installed. Follow the link above to find the latest.
Depending on your experience with SP, you may need to take some time to learn how to use it. There is a lot of functionality in there.
-but-
- If you just want to run a simple test, make sure the SketchyPhysics solids toolbar is showing.
- Add a solid floor
- Add a sphere
- Move the sphere above the surface of the floor
- Go ahead and hit the Play button, just to make sure it's working.
Twilight renders animation using SketchUp's built in animation controls.
For this, you'll need multiple scenes to render any animation.
- Go ahead and add a scene if you haven't already.
- For a simple demonstration, add a second scene. If you want the camera view to be animated, move to a new location. If not, add it in the exact spot as the first scene.
- Tweak your SU animation settings to get the length of time you want. It's always recommended to set the Scene Delay to 0.
- Open the Twilight Render window.
- Go to the Animation tab.
- Change the drop down from 'No Animation' to 'Has Animated Objects'
- Set your start time to 0, and your stop time to the end of your simulation, like 2 seconds if you only have 2 scenes, with no scene delay and the default transition time.
- Now set your Frame Rate.
- If you want to make sure you get your whole SP simulation, hit the SketchyPhysics play button, and watch the status bar. It will tell you how many frames have elapsed.
- Take that number, and divide by the number of seconds in your render (IE. 70 frames, 2 seconds, your frame rate is 35 frames per second).
- Now set your base image name. Twilight will create a sequence of images starting with that name, and appending numbers like 0001, 0002 etc. Set the appropriate extension for the image type. The default is jpg.
- Now make sure the 'Allow SketchyPhysics to run' button is checked.
- Go to the Render Tab
- Under presets, select Express->Animation->Preview Object Animation
- If you want a better quality preset, you can choose one of the others, like Low+ Object Animation through High+ Object Animation.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Twilight does not utilize the Sketchy Replay features.
- Do not attempt to interact with SketchUp while rendering an animation. Hitting any of the SketchyPhysics buttons while rendering, or attempting to manipulate the view will cause unstable results, and may crash SketchUp.
- You can cancel you animation render at any time by hitting the Cancel button in the render window.
- While using the interactive tonemapping features while rendering will work, it will only effect the currently rendered frame, so should be avoided.
That's all there is to it. It should take only minutes to create a great looking animation using the awesome features of SketchyPhysics.