chazbot

I'm trying to make smooth camera movements in a gl scene. I want to make my movements follow the easeInOut pattern, and be able to overlap multiple tweens (allowing them occur simultaneously).

For example, I start tween 1 moving the cam upwards, and 

 tween 2 asks it to move back down. With a true easeInOut system, the first tween would still be "pulling on" the second tween, making for smooth animation the whole way through. Instead, I can only get max to break the current tween (stopping awkwardly), and then initiate the 2nd.

So in other words, the code would need to know about all running tweens, so that it could average them all out should they happen simultaneously. Friggin pain the ass, I know.

I can't seem to create (or find) such an animation management system for max. Has anyone had any experience / luck with this?

...also, by "tween" I mean "triggered animation from point A to point B".

I'm trying to make smooth camera movements in a gl scene.  I want to make my movements follow the easeInOut pattern, and be able to overlap multiple tweens (allowing them occur simultaneously).

For example, I start tween 1 moving the cam upwards, and before it finishes tween 2 asks it to move back down.  With a true easeInOut system, the first tween would still be "pulling on" the second tween, making for smooth animation the whole way through.  Instead, I can only get max to break the current tween (stopping awkwardly), and then initiate the 2nd.

I can't seem to create (or find) such an animation management system for max.  Has anyone had any experience / luck with this?

...also, by "tween" I mean "triggered animation from point A to point B".


multiple-overlapping-tweens

we hope to provide objects for easing type animation in a future release of jitter.

in the meantime, you should be able to construct something with either line or slide like the patch below. combining these with scale in exponential mode might prove interesting as well.

if this isn't what you're looking for, please provide a patch.

we hope to provide objects for easing type animation in a future release of jitter. 

Rob - thanks for the speedy reply as usual

I've been experimenting with such methods for some time now, but none of them seem to be getting at the "bigger system" that I think I need. (Hopefully it's not, and there's a simple answer to all this)

I've hacked up your patch a bit to further articulate my question.

You'll see that I'm triggering multiple targets for the camera's position BEFORE the previous animation (slide) finishes. This is what I was trying to get at by "cascading tweens", although it's tough to put into words.

I want to get this to work without any abrupt changes in the camera's motion. Easing in and out, which (I'm guessing) means that each tween will need to be conscious of the previous one.

It's a really tall order, but I'm hoping that there's someone who's had this problem in the past.

I want to get this to work without any abrupt changes in the camera's motion.  Easing in and out, which (I'm guessing) means that each tween will need to be conscious of the previous one.

yeah, this is a good example of what we hope to facilitate.

some sort of javascript easing engine might be the best way to go currently.

here's a link, but even in this link, the motion stops abruptly if a new target is input before it's reached the current target.

fairly complicated stuff to achieve dynamically.

yeah, this is a good example of what we hope to facilitate. 

here's a link, but even in this link, the motion stops abruptly if a new target is input before it's reached the current target. 

fairly complicated stuff to achieve dynamically.


I'm very happy to hear that it's in the works!

One approach would be to use really basic mass-spring physics to drive the camera location. Instead of easing the camera location itself, you can ease the velocity of the camera, which will provide you with more curved trajectories as you feed it new destinations. This makes the movement look more natural and you can adjust the physics of it to get different behavior like providing drag or gravity.

One approach would be to use really basic mass-spring physics to drive the camera location.  Instead of easing the camera location itself, you can ease the velocity of the camera, which will provide you with more curved trajectories as you feed it new destinations.  This makes the movement look more natural and you can adjust the physics of it to get different behavior like providing drag or gravity.
Best,
Andrew B.

09.ParticleRave provide an interesting way to smooth movement successively.

Hi,
09.ParticleRave provide an interesting way to smooth movement successively.


here's a port of a mass-spring implementation i found online. gives pretty nice results with lots of tweakability. turn down the stiffness to get less bounce.

Great stuff! Thanks so much for the examples.

I also have a z.glPath abstraction that lets you draw a path through space using jasch's bspline object, and then move the camera along that path at various speeds - looping or not. In the helpfile it's combined with a camera rotation abstraction as well. Maybe this will help you.

http://www.zacharyseldess.com/z.abstractions.html

It's available here:http://www.zacharyseldess.com/z.abstractions.html

Multiple Overlapping Tweens