Creating a Fly-Through

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know the easiest way to set create a fly-through using Archicad 10. If you could send me some type of guide it would be helpful.

Thanks

[Dwight]

Place a series of cameras that look along a path.

To see the path, enable "Cameras and path" in the camera dialog.

Depending on the speed of flythrough and the sinuousity of the path, you might have 10 frames between key frame cameras or up to 30 or more.

Each camera must be tweaked to achieve a smooth path - look out for back and forth targeting - makes viewers dizzy. Archicad cameras do not accelerate or decelerate in their path easily. Your flythroughs should crossfade in a video editing application for smoothness.

As for generating the fly-through, experiment with OpenGL views to get the framing and path correct, and depending on the power of your setup, a 360x240 pixel Rendering is not a bad starting size. Use wireframe viiew for speed in checking the path.

Always save as individual uncompressed frames for ease of replacing bad frames - save later to a movie in Quicktime Pro.

There's more.

[muzedesigns]

Is there any way to out put each individual frame (generated between cameras) as a view rather than to render it via the create fly through dialog box?

I am trying to output a flythrough (as individual TIFFS which I will compile in an external video program) .. however ArchiCAD is only managing to produce 5 frames at a time before i get an error message and it closes down..

Alternatively - when I rendered the set of camera views (30 total) via publisher it worked fine.. so if there was a way to transfer the individual frames between the cameras as well I could maybe avoid the issues i am running into .. It has been 24 hours - and I have rendered 67 out of 726 frames!

[Dwight]

This is in LightWorks.

Frame Size?

Refractive glass overlapping?

How many shadow casting light sources?

These will be memory errors.

You can position each camera individually but that takes a long time and is never smooth.

You can output to a series of still images regardless of camera setup.

[muzedesigns]

Yes, Lightworks.

I am working on a new Mac Book Pro
Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Render Method is Best, with Full Anti Aliasing.
The only 'Lights' are the Sun and Sky Objects + Ambient Lighting
Shadows are on - but it made no difference to the error pattern when i switched them off.
Image size is 1024x 576 at 72dpi (rendering out for use on a High Def Television)
Rendering out as TIFFs and planning to piece together in Final Cut Pro.

Do you mean place a camera for each of the 25 frames between the other set cameras?

So there is no way to output the individual frames between the cameras using publisher rather than the create Fly-through Dialogue Box?

[Dwight]

You don't have my book or you would know that you should step back one level in render method. Your antialiasing is also a step too high for such a distant shot - The best antialiasing merely makes surfaces smooth.

Which Archicad version? Sun object is obsolete as main light after Archicad 9. Another slodown.

But these flaws pale relative to image size.

Image size is gigantic. Not only that but there's nothing in this that would suffer if placed in Artlantis. For speed, you really DO need Artlantis or a pro application to make very many of these frames before dawn.

I am so bold as to think that you will never finish this in LightWorks. Cut to the chase right now and avoid the inevitable flaming car crash and tear filled i-am-a-failure scene where the heroine collapses on a sofa and eats a great number of chocolates with a marijuana leaf on them.

[muzedesigns]

I do have your book - that's why i use the sun and sky objects! I don't have a great memory though..

Either way, I am rendering for a high Definition Television - so am out of my league - I assumed i need to push it all to the max - if i can lower the method a stage then I will.

The camera moves in towards the building as it passes by - but i will drop the antialiasing as well if you think best, Yoda! I have to try anything at this stage!

So you reckon I should get artlantis now and move it all across?

I have the i-am-a-failure scene every day.. By the end of this I probably will need one of your special chocolates to relax!

But seriously - what is the transition process.. Does the file merge with the archicad file (or import) and then does it recognise the clusters of materials? or do i have to go through and apply it to every surface? ie. so i just create one shader/material (not sure what it uses) to assign to a archiCAD material?

I don't have THAT many materials/textures but a lot of places to place them..

[Dwight]

When the file gets to Artlantis you will tweak the materials, but they will be assigned to the correct surfaces. It is not a problem.

[muzedesigns]

OK well that sounds pretty straight forward (said with great cation and a lot of hope)!

I can't get a serial number till Objects Online Opens in the (their) morning.. I'm trying Graphisoft now - pft! sales team out lunch - i think i can get it from them..

I'll read through tutorials in preparation? any you recommend?

[Dwight]

They have one at Objects Online but i haven't heard manly bellows of raucous delight about it, as far as that can be expressed using a keyboard and not beer breath and body odor such as possessed by the typical Australian man.