Animating custom objects on Flythrough

[Anonymous]

First off, I've been visiting your website quite a bit over the last months... I'm still quite new to Archicad, so thanks for a very informative forum!

What brought me here is a question about the ability to use gdl scripting to animate objects (opening drawers, cabinets, trolleys, etc.) during a flythrough... I am able to do this with doors, but custom library objects are never saved with the necessary parameters.

Is there any sort of tutorial about doing this?

Thank you, best,

Josef.

PS: I don't know how I missed this one-liner before (so thanks!), but if there is something a little more elaborate, that would be great, too. Thanks!

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=204266

[Anonymous]

I have made quite a bit of progress since yesterday... it took me a while to understand that every object is at 'position zero' unless told (scripted) otherwise, and do not 'stay in place' once moved.

That aside, I've found an oddness that's a bit irksome: as soon as I animate an object, it loses its floor-plan outline (and it is reduced to a single dot in the object overview).

[Karl Ottenstein]

ThePromenader wrote:
That aside, I've found an oddness that's a bit irksome: as soon as I animate an object, it loses its floor-plan outline (and it is reduced to a single dot in the object overview).

Adding the code in the link you found is indeed how you animate... and the 3D window must be rebuilt for the objects to move in a flythrough (must check the flythrough box to rebuild for each frame).

If you are just opening a drawer/door/etc for an object, the object should not be moving - just the relative position of the subelement you are animating. Animating something like a vehicle is another story... there should be tips about that in the forum, but they're probably around 10 years old. (Nothing has changed in how to do it - I just don't recall anyone caring any longer as animation in programs designed for animation is so much simpler: e.g., Artlantis can animate any object as can Cinema4D, etc.)

The dot is not a result of animating, but some other error you have made that has made the 2D symbol invalid. Did you get any 'check script' errors after adding your animation code? Are you able to view the 2D symbol in the GDL editor?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Some other links (better results with Google vs the search link above it seems):

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=46148

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=5315

Again, you'll be time and money (if the client is paying) ahead by using an external program that supports proper animation. Besides scripting the objects, you have to mess with frame rates to get the speeds right, and Archicad's tools for creating an animation path/duration/etc are limited, especially if you want to make it smooth. It can be done, but it is a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your replies, Karl.

The animation is kind of rudimentary in Archicad, but I decided to see what I could do with it while I was there... I have my OCD to thank for that ; )

I did manage to figure out the 'relative position' scripting (for each frame), and concocted something that looks pretty good (for what it is), enough to use, anyway.

And the 2d symbols disappearing: this was due to my not creating one upon creating a new object in 3d view. I managed to set that straight by creating a 'temp' object from the original in 2d view, and copying the script from that over to the 3d-made object.

I hope this works here... attaching the finished film.

Thanks so much for your advice!

PS: nope, so attaching link to my G+ drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_LmFeEi93k8amVjbEFVbDFHWTg

[Karl Ottenstein]

ThePromenader wrote:
. attaching the finished film.

Well done! 🙂

[Anonymous]

ThePromenader wrote:
...I have my OCD to thank for that ; )

I have CDO, which is like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, the way they should be.

And if you really had OCD you would have closed the drawers before you left each room Nice work.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! It was good enough for what I was doing it for... my own amusement ; )

I think I've learned to put my OCD into a 'controlled spin', so it can be tamed. Otherwise, using this method, there would be no 'good enough'.