Infini-D Tutorials - Tutorial 0001

II. Rotating the Objects

1. Now, we need to rotate each object to form an arc of your letters. This is where the parent objects come into play. Choose the first letter-parent of your word.

2. Using the INFO floater, in the second row of boxes, rotate the parent -45 degrees around the Y-axis.

[Info_Floater_Image]

Repeat this adding 15 degrees to the value of each letter-parent, with 20 degrees added for each space between words. Example: A= -45 degrees around the Y-axis. r= -30 around around the Y-axis. t= -15 degrees Y-axis. Next word; first letter-parent= 5 degrees Y-axis. Continue until all the parents are rotated, and your text forms an arc.

3. After all are rotated, group all the parents by dragging their names over the First parent object name.

4. Then, place a new sphere at the same location of the parent objects. Drag the first parent over this new parent.

5. Then, choosing each parent in turn, choose OBJECT INFO (command-I) from the MODEL menu. Un-check the options which are labeled VISIBLE and CASTS SHADOWS. This will make your parent objects invisible.

III. Spinning the Word

1. Choose the first letter-parent (which is the parent of all the letters) using the SEQUENCER.

2. In the ANIMATION menu, choose ANIMATION ASSISTANTS> SPIN. A dialog box will appear.

3. In the SPIN Dialog box, choose the Y-axis, and Clockwise. Set the spin at 5 rotations for 10 seconds. Hit OK. Do NOT hit cancel---this will freeze the computer. Now you will see a series of eventmarks, lasting for 10 seconds, in the sequencer.

4. Choose the newest parent (of all the letters, including the first). Choose the SPIN ANIMATION ASSISTANT again. This time, leave the axis as the Z-axis, again entering 5 rotations for 10 seconds. Hit OK.

5. If you hit the PREVIEW button, you will see your word or phrase rotating like the hands of a clock while spinning around the vertical Z-axis. The object animation is done.

IV. Surface Mapping

( For the purposes of this tutorial, we will work with simple object surfaces.)

1. Choose NEW SURFACE from the RENDER menu. A dialog box will appear. Using this, you can define the color of your surface, the transparency, diffuse shading, metallicity, glow, shininess, highlight, and the index of refraction. See the figure on the next page.

2. Create a surface of any type. Keep the colors bright and opaque, as we will leave the background black.

3. Next, create a totally transparent surface. Set the Color to black (100% Black), Highlight at 0%, the shininess at 0%, the transparency at 100%. Leave the index of refraction at 1.0. All other values should be left at the default.

4. Apply the transparent surface to each of the letters at 0 seconds on the sequencer.

5. Move the WORLD TIME MARKER to 2 seconds. Apply the color surface to each letter.

6. Move each eventmark just created by the surface change so that they are slightly staggered, with the last letter of the word or phrase the first eventmark in that section of the timeline. (see example on next page)

7. Select the first set of eventmarks for each object (SHIFT-click or drag a marquee around them).

8. Holding the OPTION key, drag them to the four second mark in the sequencer. Stagger these as well, following the same pattern as before.

create a fourth set). Then, select the third set and Option-drag them to the eight second mark.

9. Now, select the previous set (second set) of eventmarks and OPTION-drag them to the six second mark (to create a fourth set). Then, select the third set and Option-drag them to the eight second mark.

10. Select the fourth set of eventmarks and OPTION-Drag them to the end of the animation. Move each eventmark in this set to the final eventmark of the rotation marks (at 10 seconds on the timeline).

11. The surface animation is done.

V. Finishing up and Rendering

1. Select the Camera using the sequencer. Make sure the World time marker is at 0 seconds before you move the camera.

2. Open the OBJECT floater. In the rotation row, set the x rotation at 90 degrees, the y at 0 degrees and the z at 0 degrees. Set the x and z coordinates to 0. Set the y axis at about 15 (you may need to tweak this to get your entire model to show up at all times in the animation.)

3. Recheck that the motion and surface morphing are as you wanted.

4. Select RENDER> ANIMATION from the FILE menu. A dialog box will appear prompting you to input settings.

STOP! You may not want to render today at the final quality. A wireframe rendering will give a good idea of what the final animation will look like. Continue at a future date if you wish to render the animation to the final quality.

5. Click the OPTIONS... button. Set the patch detail at Low. Turn the shadows and transparency ON.

6. Choose the Camera view, and RAY-TRACE, Anti-aliasing to low, and set the size of your final movie (320 by 240 is a good preview size).

7. Hit the Return button to OK your settings. A new box will appear asking you to set a destination folder and to name the file. You can render to PICTS (which means you can interrupt the render and restart at a later time by rendering from a certain frame) or to a QUICKTIME movie file. If you picked QUICKTIME, you will see an Options... button. This will bring up the compression dialog. Choose ANIMATION, MILLIONS of COLORS and set the quality to BEST. Render all the frames at 15 frames per second (fps). Hit the OK button, and you are rendering.

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