Last few days I spent making a small scripting object in viz3 scripting which will allow me to animate interactive panels from whithin script. I already had some functions to do that so basically I had to put it all together. So here it is – Animation Easing scripting object.
VizToolkit Scripting Library
Like I mentioned before I decided to put all of my plugins into one package so it will be easy to redistribute them and make changes in the future. Thus VizToolkit Scripting Library was created. It now contains Texturizing Tool and newly added Animation Easing scripting object. But let’s get back to this second one and let me tell you what it can be used for.
VizToolkit Scripting Library
What is Animation Easing?
Animation Easing was designed to simplyfy process of animating elements in interactive scenes. Sometimes when I construct such scene I want to show or hide some panel in a specific way. I could do this with director animation but sometimes it’s just not handy. When using directors is not an option – here comes Animation Easing. This simple scripting object is absolutely independent from director animation as it animates an element in real time just after it is told to start animation. It also alows you to choose which animation easing should be used. To acomplish this I used Robert Penner’s easing equations which were designed specially for Action Script and reimplemented them, so the could be used whithin viz|engine.
Animation Easing Settings Panel
Once you place AnimationEasing on some dump container in your scene tree – this container becomes animation manager for target container of your choice. Now on you can set up transformation values, select easing and parameter type for your animation. Every time you hit Start Animation button it triggers target container’s animation from current transformation values to those you inputed. Of course you can always trigger animation from your script by writing this single line:
plugin_cont.GetFunctionPluginInstance("AnimationEasing").PushButton("start")
where plugin_cont is a container with Animation Easing plugin on it. You can also set up other plugin paramets with SetParameter[Type]() function ([Type] is a parameter type you are trying to access). Actually it is crucial to set plugin parameters every time you want to target container, because if it animates its transformation to values you inputed – it won’t do it again as starting point and ending point are the same.
I included Animation Easing scripting object along with Texturizing Tool in newly created VizToolkit Scripting Library. It’s available in Download section. Package contains MSI installer package and User Guide in PDF format. Just be sure to uninstall previous version of Texturizing Tool before you install this library. You can also check out example scene – viz3 archive available.
GHTime Code(s): nc 7e943
You are great dude !
:-) so I assume You like it. Thanks – enjoy it and hope it will be helpful.
Do you have script examples on how to animate the bounce easing plugin? I am very new to VizRT and was looking for a good way to add easing to the animation timeline?
Hi Dale,
Actually this plugin can’t be animated on timeline. It was designed to be used from viz3 script only.
Pls,
I need advice how connect this plugin with molden’s M2Touch plugins…? I don’t know how to combine with scripts….
i am a beginner in the field viz3….
Hi Lukas,
I don’t have any experiance with M2Touch plugins. To trigger animation of a container using AnimationEasing plugin you should do something like this:
' locate container with AnimationEasing pluginDim aCont as Container = Scene.FindContainer("Scripts$Animator")
' get AnimationEasing plugin
Dim plugin as PluginInstance = aCont.GetFunctionPluginInstance("AnimationEasing")
' set up which container should be animated (this container)
plugin.SetParameterContainer("target", this)
' set which parameter should be animated
' 0 - position, 1 - rotation, 2 - scale
plugin.SetParameterInt("param_type", 0)
' set destined position (0, 150, 0)
plugin.SetParameterDouble("dest_x", 0)
plugin.SetParameterDouble("dest_y", 100)
plugin.SetParameterDouble("dest_z", 0)
' set desired animation type
' >> Bounce_Out = 5
plugin.SetParameterInt("ease_type", 5)
' finally set duration of your animation in frames (50 frames)
plugin.SetParameterInt("duration", 50)
' you can now trigger animation
plugin.PushButton("start")
You should put this in your code in place where you need to trigger animation.
Hope this helps
Chris