SimFonIA Animation Tools User Guide
Contents
1. e A list of tips that will facilitate the use of SAT e A list of folders and files provided with the plugin 2 Methodological sheets The three following sheets summarize the general methodology of SAT tools We advise you to keep these documents nearby when you start using SAT SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide Physic Controf file _ Creation Animation preparation Animatior JEneEration Results Exportation Operation Vizualisation To go further General methodology of use Creation of a Physic Control file SAT tools give you the opportunity to directly build animations from a classic SketchUp 3D scene Moreover it is possible to drive the animation with data from simulation software For that a data file in CSV format called Physic Control file has to be generated Conventional simulation tools Matlab AMEsim Excel etc can directly create such a file Drawing of a 3D scene The SketchUp 3D scene should be drawn in accordance with some rules that will facilitate the use of SAT tools Building of the scene can be greatly simplified by the importing of pre animated components Preparation of an animation SAT tools let you dynamically take into account gravity effects manage collisions between objects and change entities position size or color Your raw simulation data from the Physic Control file will be fit to your SketchUp scene signal scali2. Animation with Physic Control 3 files xxx dae gz yyy anim gz et yyy csv gz Using Visualization In SketchUp interface In play video mode board YouTube Dailymotion or distributed par email UsbKey In a mobile viewer smartphone tablet computer In the repository viewer Private Public Group on invitation depending on your version In a dedicated website o Created host by SimFonlA o Created by yourself with SimFonlA tools Version ProWEB Sharing Dissemination Distribution of the animated 3D scene in the SimFonlA 3D Animation Warehouse Distribution of the video Distribution of the WebGL Animation requires a viewer 5 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide Toolbar SAT V1 LG be fetus No Cw OBA HH cOoO0Qone amp Placement of the Coordinate System of Entities Free positioning Positioning at the center of gravity with free alignment of the axes Positioning at the center of gravity with alignment of the axes on the parent axes Positioning at the center of gravity with conservation of the axes alignment Display of construction lines at the center of gravity of a surface entity Bullet Tools Registration and definition of Bullet objects Definition of a 6 degrees of freedom articulation Articulation management between bullet objects Import of Animated Component Reregistration of imported Animated Compon
3. components re registration of the component required Checking of the surfaces normal and flip sides if necessary Building of the group Hierarchy Positioning of the coordinate system using the dedicated tools Colorization of the group Prepare the Animation Registration of Bullet groups o Choice of the control mode and of the collision shape o The origin of the coordinate systems are positioned at the gravity center geometrical center Incase of an animation driven by physical simulation load the Physic Control file Building of the local and global signals with the Signal Processor Creation of Animation and Deformation keyframes with the Keyframe Editor Creation of the transformations Animation Deformation Rotation Translation Text Color etc Creation of the camera keyframes Animation Choice of the animation speed Launching of the animation Pause Play Rewind Adjust by returning to the Transformation Processor or by modifying the Physic Control file Results export when the animation is satisfactory Backup of the SKP file with its linked processors and transformations in the native format Creation of the video intermediate images are stored or automatically deleted Creation of WebGL export with o Textual descriptions o Several animations possible for one single 3D model o Simple animation 2 files xxx dae gz et yyy anim gz o
4. SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide Bring life to your lectures Move forward with industrial design Combine illustrations with your presentations Convey your ideas to your customers Test your ideas in virtual reality Energize your meetings Convince your investors ia ee Sim fat software amp services 13 Avenue de Strasbourg 67400 Illkirch Graffenstaden Web www simfonia fr E mail info sat simfonia fr SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide CONTENTS ROJU WOM WE 3 2 Methodological sheets A 3 3 Compatibility between SAT oos 7 3 1 WAIN SHOP AMONG ccd ences cteettacetantesattecedacukecsceasteus eege 7 See BUN Ee Leila 8 3 3 WebGL Exports oonnnnnnnnnnnnennnennnrrnnrrrorrrrrrrrerrrrrrrsrrrsnirsnrrnnrrnrrnnrrnnrrotrrrnrrrrrrrerrrenererere nennen nenne 8 4 Troubleshooting guide cere 9 e ER Me GE 11 Be OD CSS Or ING EE 11 UA AIIM ES te EEN 12 5 3 Iransformation DrocCesseor sarsscarsasieri e innnan annnna aRar a AEEA ERER AEREA AENEAN ERE 12 94 BUNT MPI SIC ell 13 Sho Mm Ee ue Vd OS EN 13 5 6 Additional Keel eet een ae ne eee ee ee 13 60 BaS CUNO S eet 14 7 List of folders and files provided with GA 16 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 1 Introduction In order to facilitate the use of SAT tools we gathered in this document e The general methodology of the plugin e The Toolbar description of the plugin e Tables of compatibility between the different tools of the plugin e A troubleshooting guide
5. be degraded However the video will not be affected and will properly render your animation During the calculus it is recommended not to try using SketchUp Other programs are of course functional Problems which are specific to WebGL e Make sure your faces are well oriented outgoing before creating a WebGL export e Colors should be applied to groups and not the faces in Edit Group mode or the color will not be exported e f possible avoid building faces too close before an export WebGL in order to avoid clipping phenomenon 10 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide In the case of a persistent problem Please send your problem to SimFonlA through the support section of the SAT website or send it to the following addresses Hotline sat simfonia fr Support for paid licence Bugreport sat simfonia fr Bug report add you version For SimFonlA to be able to perform the diagnosis you must attach to your package e the email that was used to download your license e your license number e an explanation of your problem in French English or Chinese e the error file of Ruby Console e the SketchUp file e a control file if you use one 5 Tips This paragraph is a list of best practices for SAT tools They are categorized according to the SAT tool they belong to These tips are based on the designers experience and this document is complementary to e Usage restrictions for SAT processors for the Bullet physical proce
6. ent Keyframe Editor Keyframe Editor Camera Animation Deformation Processors Physic Control control file ad Transformation Processor Signal Processor Backup of current selection H i EN Save the state of the current selection the list of the selected blue colored elements 2 Restore a saved selection re select the same elements Animation amp exportation Animation speed Play Continue animation Pause CH Stop amp Rewind Preview window of the video Record a video Record an animation under WebGL format SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 3 Compatibility between SAT tools 3 1 Transformations The following table deals with the compatibility between the transformations processors Rotation Orientation EE EE Scaling Color Text Position SH Rotation Orientation Translation Position aE ale Gor ves ves ves v YES Yes Yes Yes Y GE Yes Yes Yes N Visibility 1 If there is an absolute transformation in the list of a group s transformations Scaling Position and Orientation are always absolute Rotation and Translation could be absolute or relative the processor begins each time cycle by restoring the initial position of the group the position at T 0s in the parent group All the following transformations will then be applied relatively to this ini
7. formation sequences and switch e o save acomponent with embedded processors simply save the skp file You can then import it as a classic entity After the import simply press the G icon 12 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 5 4 Bullet Physic Engine e lf a group is declared as User controlled in the Bullet engine it will then still be movable by the user during the animation This is an opportunity to test interactions or to influence behaviors This function is not available while recording a video e Copy paste of groups is not compatible with Bullet see document SAT_V1_Bullet_Physic_Engine_en However if the copied group is exploded and then recreated you will again be able to register it properly into Bullet e The multiple import of a component already registered in Bullet is not a problem if the component is re registered with the button at each import See document SAT_V1_Animated_Components_en 5 5 Generation of videos e For development purposes the user may want to animate only a portion of a more complex video project It is thus possible to define the start time and the duration of a video e Similarly it is possible to lower the resolution and the number of frames per second during pre production part of the project 5 6 Additional plugins Here are some recommended plugins to empower SAT tools capabilities e Sculpt is used to deform a group at constant vertices number It is a very
8. ng averaging etc Generation of an animation You can launch an animation of you 3D model and set its speed in order to see your transformations result Export results A saved model keeps all its attributes when it is re opened You can generate video in the AVI format It is also possible to produce a WebGL animation that will give you the opportunity to manipulate your model and to launch the animation in a Web page while observing the signals values of the Physic Control file Operation and visualization Results can be displayed in many ways directly in SketchUp in a video in a web page or in a local mobile viewer smartphone or touchscreen computer SimFonlA will provide you the means to post models and animations on a dedicated Web site Sharing and dissemination SAT is designed to be a collaborative tool that let you improve the sharing and dissemination of your productions whether you are an amateur or a professional lf you are involved in a multidisciplinary project our modeling and simulation engineering team can help you to create you scientific models and our creative department can prepare 3D scenes for you SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide Methodological sheet SAT V1 Creation of an external Physic Control file optional Outside SketchUp In case of a physic model animation Definition of the 3D Scene Storyboard planning Drawing of the 3D scene with eventual importing of external
9. ows folder but with the SketchUp command File Open e Make sure that the path to SATTemp which contains temporary backup for videos and WebGL animations does not contain accent or special characters Also ensure that you have access rights to that folder Otherwise change the path using the menu Plugins Simfonia Select a temporary Folder e Sometimes very infrequent a SketchUp internal error freezes the animation In that event save your template exit and restart SketchUp e Did you comply with the operations order specified in the above methodology e Are you using the 8 or higher version of SketchUp e Did you read the technical FAQ on the website If problems persist then check the following points e Physic Control file o Ensure that variables names are unique o Ensure that the first variable in file is the time e Unit and precision o Ensure that units are consistent with your SketchUp model A displacement without unit in a scene set in meters will for example be undetectable to the eye o Check the precision of your model Window Model Info Unit length If the precision is too low compared to the precision of your transforms the results may not be satisfactory e You should not try to edit your model during an animation SimFonlA set up a security to avoid breaking the model but it s not 100 reliable e Transformations oln both transformation proces
10. pdated 2 The Bullet engine has the priority When the object motion is no longer updated by Bullet the transformation processor takes over This function has to be avoided because the results are not guaranteed 3 Registration to Bullet engine is only effective for first level groups whose parent is the 3D world If it is not the case the position and the shape of the bounding box will not change 4 An entity continues to respond to collisions even if it is invisible 4 NO 1 3 3 WebGL Exports The following table indicates what is exportable in WebGL With the Transformation Processor Rotation Orientation Scaling Color Text Visibility Proc Anim Proc Def Translation Position The color should be applied to a group and not directly to its faces In addition faces should be adjusted outwards In this version of the plugin material type texture cannot be exported Case of Bullet physic engine All Bullet types are compatible with WebGL export YES YES YES SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 4 Troubleshooting guide In case of problems or of an animation that does not comply with your wishes stop the current animation open the Ruby Console Window Ruby Console and re launch the animation In case of problems this is where the errors are reported Remember to first check the following points e SketchUp models that contain animations should not be directly open from their Wind
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12. sor and signal processor ensure that the generated signals are listed before the transformations or other signals which use them o The sequence of transformations that move or deform a group is very important If the result does not meet your expectations review the transformation order and check their compatibility in the table of the previous chapter o Also check coordinate system type local or parent which are associated with transformations In some case this can have a great importance on SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide transformations order o You can deactivate transformations to check them one by one o Ensure that all transformations are activated o If keyframes such as Animation respectively Deformation are used ensure that a transformation Animation respectively Deformation has been really defined and activate e Did you register imported component in SAT processors KE Special cases e The Deformation tool is compatible with circles and arcs of circles only if their curves drawn by SketchUp have first been explode Explode Curve e Ifthe camera view does not comply with your camera keyframes make sure that they were created in perspective mode e The decimal symbol for all transformation is the point e The keyframes time resolution time between two keyframes should not be less than 1 100 time the speed factor e Inthe case of a complex and heavy animation SketchUp preview can
13. ssor and for the processor video for export to WebGL All details can be found in the following documents SAT_Transformation_Processor_en SAT Bullet_Physic_Engine_en SAT _Animation_Export_en e Table of compatibility between SAT tools and troubleshooting guide that were presented previously in this document 5 1 3D Scene drawing e Use the Outliner window to easily navigate through the model hierarchy name groups eic e The SketchUp instructor teaches interesting commands that rely on keyboard use e o lock the position of a group and avoid an unintended motion right click on the group and then check Lock The bounding box of a locked component is red e To quickly hide respectively smooth a large number of edges which may have appeared during a Deformation transformation select the Eraser tool f and press Shift resp Ctrl Move the cursor upon elements to mask while holding the left button of the mouse pressed To unmask move again on the elements while holding Shift Ctrl pressed 11 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide e When you move an object use the arrow keys of the keyboard in order to lock the motion along a reference axis of the parent group o Right arrow X axis red o Left arrow Y axis green o Up or down arrow Z axis blue e Consider using the guide lines produced by the tool Draw Construction Lines at Centroid in order to o Easily draw 3D objects o Built relevan
14. t coordinate systems for your transformations o Get in one click the center of a circle or of an ellipse o Centre your objects in relation to each other Once the development is complete it will be easy to destroy the Layout in which they are contained e Select a group and click on the Register tool in order to quickly explode it 5 2 Keyframe Editor e When a group contains keyframes such as Animation make an habit of o Creating a support group to be the reference of moving entities o Creating a parent group that contains the entity to animate and its support group o Hiding if necessary the support group The behavior of the moving entity will thus be kept when this parent group is imported in a new model e The Animation tool will look for the shortest path between two positions The interpolation can soften the corners of your trajectory If you want a very specific path preferentially use a combination of transformations e Deformation keyframes o To build Deformation keyframes one has to be in Edit Group mode o To easily select all elements of a group use the shortcut Ctrl A o Vertices number of a group that contains Deformation keyframes must not be modified e Animation and Deformation tools are compatible and can be combined 5 3 Transformation processor e Sequential behaviors are easy to achieve with the combination of tools for signal generation trans
15. tial position and in the order they are listed lf one wants to combine an absolute and a relative transformation he could position the group of interest on a Support group which could be hidden afterwards The two groups could then be merged on a parent group where the first transformation could be applied ee 2 The tool Animation does not depend on the previous position of the object This transformation places the entity at the position defined by the interpolation between keyframes There is no problem if the transformation is followed by another absolute transformation By contrast the user will not see the effect of other relative transformations unless the motion is very large To overcome this problem one can create a support group which could be hidden afterwards and merge it with the group of interest in order to create a reference parent group The Keyframes and the transformation Animation will thus be related to the parent s group and the others transformations will be related to the initial child group SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 3 2 Bullet Physic Engine The following table deals with the compatibility between the Bullet physic engine and the transformations processors Rotation Bullet Orientation Scaling Color type Translation Position YES User 1 Bullet Controlled Fee 2 4 BS om won 1 The group can move or deform but the shape and the size of the collision box is not u
16. useful tool to build Deformation keyframes e Shapes is used to easily draw common shapes e Any plugin related to drawing Please refer to the following document to find numerous links to plugin website e SAT_V1_SketchUp References en 13 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 6 Basic curves The SAT_PhysicControl_example_V1 csv file contains the values which allow testing your models without carrying out specific physical models The total duration of this file is 10 seconds You can find the descriptions and the forms of these basic curves as follows zeman ossee Inn zeman cosine ats Ts esse 0 1 aan tee ep oe se o o O swns se o e O mwen e o o rem se o o O mewes se o o on e o o on oe o o oi se o e om J e oa o O mw meine o gt 14 SimFonlA Animation Tools User Guide 7 List of folders and files provided with SAT The plugin SAT is provided with the following files that you will find in the directory Plugins simfonia SAT_ Data e SAT _BasicShapes contains classic 3D shapes as sphere cylinder cone torus etc and some more original shapes e SAT _AnimatedComponentsExamples contains some animated components ready for importing tests e SAT Examples contains the examples which are addressed in the SAT documents e SAT _PhysicControl_example_V1 csv the reference Physic Control file used in the SAT document
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