Inherent kinematic ability

[MilesH]

I haven't seen any previous references to this but, some basic kinematics, for illustrative purposes, is possible in Alibre.

The 'Precise Placement' dialog box allows incremental linear and rotational movements.

The usual method to apply the incremental move is to click the 'Apply' button, but the 'Return' key is an alternative, and it doesn't close the dialogue box.

So, holding down the 'Return' key will set your assembly in motion - the apparent 'speed', and the smoothness being governed by the 'repeat' speed of your 'Return' key setting and the incremental values set in the 'Precise Placement' dialog box.

A step beyond this, is to use a keystroke macro to 'drive' the 'Precise Placement' dialogue box.

The following keys can be used for this:

Tab key - moves focus between parameters
Arrow keys - raise and lower values (values can also be inputted directly)
Space bar - toggles 'Reverse' ' tick box' (when focus is on it)

For rotational movements the 'axis' needs to be pre-loaded in the 'Precise Placement' dialog box - it can't be loaded or changed by keystroke (as far as I'm aware) However, the 'Angle' value can be cranked up, or set at 0 degrees ( for no rotational movement).

I use the macro facility on my Belkin Speedpad to record and execute the macros. This allows continuous repeats, delays etc. The maximum repeat rate with this is much faster than is usually available with the 'Return' key settings (circa 10 milliseconds) but at this rate commands tend to 'pile up' in Windows :? Anybody know if there is a setting to improve this?

If you have a 3D Connexion device, you might like to try rotating your model, whilst it's in motion 8)

When you have 'choreographed' and tested your movements, you can record them with a screenrecording tool. I find the most suitable one for this purpose is BB Flashback which is available in 2 versions. There is a comprehensive review of screencasting tools here: http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Ar ... index.html

Miles

 

[MilesH]

Free screen recorder:
http://www.wisdom-soft.com/products/aut ... r_free.htm
(I haven't tested it.)

Free macro recorder:
http://www.autohotkey.com/

Miles

 

[indesign]

Thanks for the detailed info Miles. I will definitely work with this more.

 

[rbrian]

Re: Animations - Alibre - and Photoshop Elements

Thanks for the detailed info Miles. I will definitely work with this more.

Hi - MilesH definitely provided some good info there! My own experience with precise placement - has been to use it - one frame at a time - and capture the assembly work area of the model only - with a screen capture tool like snagit from http://www.techsmith.com - and paste it into a photoshop layer in elements. It is slow - I know - but - with the end result of the animations I have currently on display on my site!

If I had the ability to run Animations in Alibre (or knew how at the time) I might have used different tools, but I used what I had. Even began them with Design Explorer unselected and used just the print screen key to get bitmaps - edited later and layered! Now - you could use a live screen capture tool like those mentioned or Camtasia (brother of SnagIt) to get the selected area into a .swf or flash video file.

Robert

 

[WoodWorks]

GadWin Print Screen free screen capture tool

I recommend the free GadWin Print Screen (http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/) software for single screen captures.

It is stable, easy to use, and I install it on every computer that I provide support for. When there is a problem, they can do a screen capture, and then I can tell what really happened.


I also recommend BBFlashback over Camtasia as the DirectX capture mode will capture live Alibre sessions without adversely effecting response time. Thanks Miles for bringing this great program to my attention.

 

[WoodWorks]

BB Flashback is Fantastic

BB Flashback is my prefered screen recorder, and here is why:

Small file size - Rather than capturing a large AVI file, BBFlashback captures the screen to their compressed format which is an amazingly small file. Check their website for the details, but it is even smaller than encoding into Flash.

Intelligent screen capture - The capture program captures keystrokes and can display them to the watcher when using the free player. The free player allows direct playing of the native capture file eliminating the need to re-encode to flash or other format.

DirectX capture mode - This mode is the best for Alibre's DirectX driven graphics and can capture an Alibre session without noticable system performance loss.

Frame level editing - Editing can be done right down to each frame, and the techniques are easy.

Multiple Playback speeds - Playback can be slowed down (1/2 or 1/4 speed) or run faster (2x and 4x). I can now preview my capture at 4x and speed up the editing process. There is only sound at 1x.

BB Flashback Express - Without any editing capabilities, the Express capture version is affordable at only $39. It will output to AVI and Flash .swf format. The web page for this version can be easily overlooked: http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBFlashBack ... /Home.aspx . Upgrade to full version later is possible if desired.

BBFlashback sound tools do not currently allow boosting the volume above 100%, but there is an easy export of the sound to an MP3. I then use the affordable GoldWave audio editor to boost the sound, and as an added bonus I can then run the sound through hiss and noise reduction filters before importing it back into BBFlashback.