Camera Animation

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 09/06/2008 at 06:17, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   10.506
Platform:   Windows ;
Language(s) :     C++ ;

---------

Hi! I'm writing an exporter plugin and need information on how to extract camera animation. The camera is animated through its parent null object aligntospline tag.
As i was unable to find any documentation on how this animation system works I have tried numerous approaches to retrieving this animation data.
My first approach was using the Taligntospline tag;
(pseudo)

> \> ... \> for (LONG i=doc->getMinTime().Get()\*fps;i<doc->GetMaxTime().Get()\*fps;i++) { \> BaseTime time(i / fps); \> doc->AnimateObject(obj,time,0); tag->GetParameter(DescID(ALIGNTOSPLINETAG_POSITION),data,NULL); \> Vector pos = data.GetVector(); \> ... \>

That didnt give me anything useful (all data was 0) so I tried using CTracks etc. Iterating through the object hierarchy i I searched for CTracks;

> \> CTrack \*postrack_x = op->FindCTrack(DescID( DescLevel(ID_BASEOBJECT_POSITION,DTYPE_VECTOR,0),DescLevel(VECTOR_X, DTYPE_REAL,0)) ); \> CTrack \*postrack_y = op->FindCTrack(DescID( DescLevel(ID_BASEOBJECT_POSITION,DTYPE_VECTOR,0),DescLevel(VECTOR_Y, DTYPE_REAL,0)) ); \> CTrack \*postrack_z = op->FindCTrack(DescID( DescLevel(ID_BASEOBJECT_POSITION,DTYPE_VECTOR,0),DescLevel(VECTOR_Z, DTYPE_REAL,0)) ); \>

But that didnt give me anything but NULL (I also searched all tags).
Clearly i must be missing out on some fundamental concepts of this animation system. I assume the data is stored in a CTrack somewhere (??), but I cant figure out how to find'em (IDs??). And yes, I did call Polygonize(true). Also tried getFirstCTrack().
What I need is either a link to find some documentation on this issue or some pointers to guide me back on track:)

Thanks!

- bo

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 09/06/2008 at 06:30, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Just read out the global matrix of the camera object.

Vector campos = camobj->GetMg().off

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 09/06/2008 at 06:41, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok, I tried that earlier, but maybe I was passing something erronous to animateobject etc (only got static position/orentation). Back on track now, thanks :)

- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 11/06/2008 at 06:09, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok, still only getting static position and orientation from the global camera matrix. If I understood your post right, the GetMg() matrix will be updated using animateobject()?

Here is a code snippet:

> \> ModelingCommandData cd; \> BaseTime t1 = doc->GetMinTime(); \> BaseTime t2 = doc->GetMaxTime(); \> LONG fps = doc->GetFps(); \> for (LONG i=t1.GetFrame(fps);i<t2.GetFrame(fps);i++) { \> time =BaseTime::BaseTime(i,fps); \> doc->AnimateObject(op,time,0); \> cd.doc = doc; \> cd.op = op; \> if (!SendModelingCommand(MCOMMAND_CURRENTSTATETOOBJECT, cd)) { \> ; \> } \> newpos = op->GetMg().off; \> newhpr = MatrixToHPB(op->GetMg()); \> } \>

I have also tried using the cd.result object but that gives nothing. AnimateDocument() is giving the same results. Clearly I must be missing something essential to get the matrices updated. (I also tried setting the global matrix from the cd.result->getIndex(0) object)

- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 11/06/2008 at 06:49, xxxxxxxx wrote:

You have to use AnimateDocument().

> \> BaseTime tmin = doc->GetMinTime(); \> BaseTime tmax = doc->GetMaxTime(); \> BaseTime time; \> LONG i, fps = doc->GetFps(); \> time.SetDenominator(fps); \> \> \> for(i=tmin.GetFrame(fps); i<=tmax.GetFrame(fps); i++) \> { \> time.SetNominator(i); \> doc->SetTime(time); \> doc->AnimateDocument(NULL, TRUE, TRUE); \> GePrint(VectorToString(op->GetMg().off)); //my Vector to String function \> } \> \> EventAdd(); \>

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 12/06/2008 at 05:23, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi again, sorry for nagging about such a simple task :/
I just cant get the above sample to work. I copied it into to the stl exporter stub provided by the SDK, grabbed my camera object from the WriteObjects() method, cloned my document with doc.Polygonize(TRUE). I suspected that maybe the tags were working on a cloned document or something like that, but Ive tried all the tags GetDocument()'s, getActiveDocument etc. I get the correct (static) coordinates from my object so im working on the right object.

The camera is animated from a null object like this:

NullObject [XPresso, XPresso, AlignToSpline]
|- CameraObject

I call AnimateDocument(NULL,TRUE,TRUE) so it should eval all expressions and keep anim. So Im guessing im working on the wrong document ??

Thanks for all help.
- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 12/06/2008 at 06:44, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Here is the test code from the stl exporter stub.

> \> void test(BaseDocument \*doc, std::vector<BaseObject \*> camlist) { \> \> BaseObject \*op = camlist[0]; \> Vector pos; \> BaseTime tmin = doc->GetMinTime(); \> BaseTime tmax = doc->GetMaxTime(); \> BaseTime time; \> LONG i, fps = doc->GetFps(); \> time.SetDenominator(fps); \> for(i=tmin.GetFrame(fps); i<=tmax.GetFrame(fps); i++) \> { \> time.SetNominator(i); \> doc->SetTime(time); \> doc->AnimateDocument(NULL, TRUE, TRUE); \> pos = op->GetMg().off; \> GePrint("pos = " + RealToString(pos.x) + ", " + RealToString(pos.y) + ", " + RealToString(pos.z) ); \> } \> GePrint("CameraName: " + op->GetName()); \> EventAdd(); \> } \> LONG mypluginSaverData::Save(PluginSceneSaver \*node, const Filename &name;, BaseDocument \*doc, LONG flags) \> { \> if (!(flags&SCENEFILTER;\_OBJECTS)) return FILEERROR_NONE; \> \> mypluginSAVE myplugin; \> CHAR header[80]; \> \> myplugin.flags = flags; \> myplugin.doc = doc->Polygonize(TRUE); \> \> if (!myplugin.doc || !myplugin.file) return FILEERROR_MEMORY; \> WriteObjects(myplugin,myplugin.doc->GetFirstObject(),Matrix()); \> test(myVRplugin.doc,cameralist); // cameralist populated in WriteObjects, getting correct objects. \> \> ... \>

- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 13/06/2008 at 05:19, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Any ideas?? Already broke my deadline so im kinda hoping for some support here. I see the timeline updated in the editor, but the GetMg() matrix of the camera object does NOT get updated with AnimateDocument.

- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 13/06/2008 at 05:38, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Just an idea, is the document in your test function the polygonized document or the original document? You should animate the original document or a clone and polygonize it for each frame.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 16/06/2008 at 00:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi, I tried both of the documents. A polygonize pr frame makes c4d crash. Even if it were not to crash, it sounds very expensive, and im working with very large models.

- marodern

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 23/06/2008 at 00:56, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Well you have to polygonize it for every frame. You can not animate a polygonized document. You could also animate the document and manually go through the hierachy and use a Current State To Object.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 04/07/2008 at 14:25, xxxxxxxx wrote:

...just be sure that you're freeing the (each) Polygonized document when you're done with it...

    
    
      
    ....... S N I P ........  
      
    BaseTime tmin = doc->GetMinTime();  
    BaseTime tmax = doc->GetMaxTime();  
    BaseTime time;  
    LONG i, fps = doc->GetFps();  
    
    
    
    
    
    time.SetDenominator(fps);  
    for(i=tmin.GetFrame(fps); i<=tmax.GetFrame(fps); i++)  
    {  
        time.SetNominator(i);  
        doc->SetTime(time);  
        doc->AnimateDocument(NULL, TRUE, TRUE);
    
    
    
    
        BaseDocument *pPolyDoc = doc->Polygonize();  
        if( !pPolyDoc )  
        {  
            MessageDialog("Error cloning Document.");  
            EventAdd();  
            return false;  
        }
    
    
    
    
        ExportAFrameOfData(pPolyDoc);
    
    
    
    
        BaseDocument::Free(pPolyDoc); // <-- be sure to free the cloned document
    
    
    
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    ....... S N I P ........