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PatMarrNC - all messages by user

2016/1/19 19:40:53
Mandy Character and a Mic blickfang wrote:
Thanks Pat. I'll give that a try when I get home.

Do you have that mic you used handy :-)

The one thing I will though miss is the mic toss


message me with your email address and I'll send it to you.
(The one I linked to on Sketchup didn't come into Muvizu correctly, so I modeled my own... as such it's a simple model with no textures, just colors... but I'll be happy to send it)
2016/1/19 18:46:19
Mandy Character and a Mic blickfang wrote:
I downloaded the latest version of Muvizu last night at about 17:30 CDST and confirmed Mandy had no instruments, which is needed for the singing actions


I created this demo in the version of Muvizu that was just released. Its purpose is to illustrate what I'm trying to communicate about the Mandy character's ability to use the singing functions if you just get her a mic... (you may want to watch in full screen in order to follow the menu choices)




There are a couple of actions that would normally involve switching the mic from hand to hand ("Throw Mic", "Throw Mic between Hands" and "Big Vocal 1" for example) but due to attaching the mic to her left hand, those few actions aren't useful. But all things considered, Mandy has about 95% of the capability. Why the mic is not one of her accessories is a mystery to me (but not much of a road block)
edited by PatMarrNC on 19/01/2016
2016/1/19 16:11:23
Mandy Character and a Mic blickfang wrote:
So even if I manage to get a mic in Mandy's hand and make it semi-believable, she still won't have the lovely singing moves that some of the other characters have.


:-)


I loaded the Mandy character and went to actions..... all of the actions are available to the Mandy character for singing... its just the mic that's missing as far as I can tell. You can demo the actions and Mandy acts them out. So if you get a mic imported and put it in her hand, you should be good to go
2016/1/19 0:47:48
Mandy Character and a Mic theotherguy wrote:
I'm also trying to have a singer use a mic, I've tried downloading the file into Sketchuo, but from there it doesn't allow you to save or export a file type Muvizu can use.


Sketchup by itself doesn't have any export options that work in Muvizu. However, there is a plugin for Sketchup that allows exporting to ASE format (which Muvizu can use)

Here is the WIKI link to all the info you need:

http://muvizu.com/Wiki/wiki/143/
2016/1/18 22:49:47
2016.01.15 Bugs
I think this version's just a patch for the head movement bug.


so, is the head movement thing resolved?

I ask because I'm not experiencing the problem with opening sets that were saved in the previous release... so if the head movement bug is resolved, I'm A-OK with the current version
2016/1/18 22:27:05
Mandy Character and a Mic blickfang wrote:
Hi Pat

I tried that before and was not please with the results. We had to use a "less attractive" lead singer. Pop singers need to be attractive!! :-)


I'm curious to know what was disappointing about the results... seems like a model is a model...
2016/1/18 15:00:37
Mandy Character and a Mic even though her character does not have an INSTRUMENTS option, there is the possibility to add an imported object to either of her hands. Sketchup's 3d warehouse has a bunch of microphone models you could DL and convert to ASE or FBX format. Here's one of them:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=913b3f2c0479f19d2c9474f2c97797dd
2016/1/16 20:02:59
no sound in latest version Muvizu Play+? do you have headphones plugged in that might be redirecting sound from the speakers?

Has sound worked in previous versions of MUVIZU? or is this your first use, and it isn't working?
2016/1/16 19:54:23
15 min. Animation "Tonight at the Pizzeria" clever concept for an original story!
2016/1/13 12:19:45
Coming Soon 2016 Wabby wrote:
Hello there and happy new year for all !

So nice pictures here, again !

I promise : this year : I'll be back with a lot of surprises, now my kids are grown enough to give me some free time :-)


Wabby,
I look forward to seeing your next offering! I'm sure it will be amazing!
2016/1/12 22:02:17
Failed to load object from file I know that sometimes the core problem can't be identified and fixed in a timely manner. The key frustration to users is that they invested a lot of time in projects that can't be reopened in the current version for one reason, and also can't be opened in the last stable version due to file format differences.

Until the core problem is fixed, it would be helpful if the Muvizu team could release a utility program that converts sets from the current format to the last stable version's format. That way, people could pick up where they left off, but in an earlier stable version of Muvizu.

If Muvizu doesn't have time or resources to do it, maybe there are some geeks here with hex editors who could take an old set, copy it, open it in the latest version and save it.. then compare the two sets for differences. maybe we'll get lucky and the differences are minor
2016/1/11 8:03:33
saved favourites won't reload I think you nailed it, Fazz! Tonight, all of those favourites opened with no problem in the latest version... so apparently what happened is that I saved them in the latest version, then tried to open them in the last stable version. I like it when things turn out all right!

(I appreciate your help, Fazz!)
2016/1/10 18:53:02
saved favourites won't reload fazz68 wrote:
that unknown format error usually appears when something is trying to load from a different version of muvizu. ie sets are not backward compatible. but as you've loaded the sets ok and saved the characters it shouldnt really do that so i dunno?
what sets did you use?


I may have been using the last stable version when I saved them... but they won't reopen in the latest version. Seems like if older sets can't be opened in newer versions then the whole store would be rendered obsolete every time there's an update.

As far as the question of which sets I used... just about everything in the store that includes characters (which is why it took all evening. ;-(

I've had some other situations since then in which characters I've saved as favourites won't spawn. Also the set in which they were saved won't reopen, with a message like the one we've been getting after making head moves & timeline edits. I wonder if the problem they've been trying to track down and fix might have a connection to character favourites... possibly being the element that won't load....?
2016/1/10 2:36:53
saved favourites won't reload Hmmm... the other night I stayed up for hours loading sets with characters other people created, then saving them as favourites. Today, none of them will spawn... I get an "unknowm format" error. has anybody ever seen this before? If so, is there a known cause? I'd hate to do this again because of some dumb thing I'm doing....

Sometimes I get the feeling that in life's dialog box of preferences, I need to uncheck the tick box for IDIOT (but I can't find it)
2016/1/8 15:15:31
Spinning propellers? Braj,
that propeller looks great....
2016/1/7 6:21:46
Timeline Endpoint Setting If you go to the CREATE VIDEO menu, there are text boxes that let you set the start and end times for your rendered movie... but if you change the end time there, it also changes on the timeline. Whether that's faster or not... depends I guess. ;-)
2016/1/7 6:10:55
Sketchup Roundup AWESOME Braj!

You are apparently a much faster learner than I am. What you just figured out in an evening has taken me months to unravel!!

I look forward to seeing your next project using all this cool new knowledge!

Here's a quick & dirty way to change textures without navigating menus in Muvizu:
The ASE file is an ASCII text format which can be edited in notepad. A few lines from the top you'll see the path and filename to the texture bitmaps you used in Sketchup. Just edit the filename and reload the object in Muvizu, and the textures will be whatever you edited.

(But make sure files with those names actually exist in the path you specified, or you'll get the "file not found" error again)
edited by PatMarrNC on 07/01/2016
2016/1/7 0:32:00
Sketchup Roundup
My big issue right now is actually general about SU exports: how do you control orientation of objects.


When your model comes into MUVIZU, it should have the same orientation it had in Sketchup... so it's up to the modeler to put it in the right place before exporting.

Any object that mates with a character will need to have X0 Y0 Z0 origin pretty close to where the mating occurs. If its a hat, origin should probably be on the bottom, if its a sword, origin should be on the handle etc

If models don't come in at exactly the right place, the properties dialog box gives you some leeway for adjustment in every direction, including rotation

For one model I created just a cylinder and it stayed on the ground properly, then I added a tower and it tilter over, once I unchecke Keep Upright it fell over. :

yeah, you probably don't want to uncheck "keep upright" if you want it to stay upright. ;-)
2016/1/7 0:22:18
Sketchup Roundup Here's a very simple procedure that works pretty well for me, even without any more plugins

1) in the folder C:\UT3 you already created, edit copies of toto.bmp and save them as the various colors... for example, red.bmp, blue.bmp, white.bmp etc
You may also want to create some commonly used textures in this directory, like wood, fur etc and name them accordingly (wood.bmp, fur.bmp mainly so it's easy to remember the filenames

2) now, You have a model in Sketchup .... open the material editor

3) click on surfaces that you want to be different (color or texture, it doesn't matter)

4) apply a texture, and choose your textures from what you have stored in C:\UT3\
(This will keep from generating "file not found" errors)

5) repeat as needed until all the different colors or textures in your model are defined

6) export as ASE

7) when you bring the model into Muvizu, all the colors will be where you put them in Sketchup. But you can select other colors or textures if you want to by using the color / texture menus in the object's properties.

The whole goal of assigning textures in sketchup is to define REGIONS. The regions remain absolute, but the colors and textures are variables that you can change at any time afterward to your heart's content
edited by PatMarrNC on 07/01/2016
2016/1/6 23:42:36
Sketchup to Muvizu braj wrote:
ukBerty wrote:
braj wrote:
I get a message 'file not found' am I missing something from the setup?


Sounds like toto.bmp to me.

Create a 256x256 pixel bmp file and name it c:\ut3\toto.bmp and this may fix it.
edited by ukBerty on 06/01/2016


Ah, thanks, that fixed it, for the most part. What does that file do, and what color should it be? Does it matter?


I think the reasoning behind making it that awful pink color is so you know that color needs to be changed ASAP before you puke. ;-) It is also a highly visible color.

It works when I create simple objects, but any models from the 3d warehouse still give me grief. But it definitely is progress!

I've noticed the ASE exporter gets really slow depending on the complexity of the model. I usually scale down and simplify models in another program before I try to export them to ASE. When using models from 3D warehouse, (a fairly uncontrolled collection of models, many of which are just terrible) you have no idea how complex or large it might be.

as a side note (too late to keep it simple!) I was trying to convert a fairly complex model to ASE the other night.. an hour into it, it still wasn't converted. So I switched to Blender and exported it to FBX in about 1/3 of a second. That's one compelling reason to look at Blender before you start a learning curve elsewhere.

One thing I don't know how to do is get textures mapped to the objects, trying to apply them in Sketchup results in a missing file error when importing in Muvizu.


Once you create the 256x256 pink bitmap named C:\UT3\toto.bmp that error should go away

Applying anything in Muvizu results in a tiny repeating pattern.

I would really love some tips on using this, though at least I can now create some more diverse landscapes and stuff, I really appreciate that.


One nice thing about SketchUV is that you can see exactly what you've got before you export it to ASE. Watch the videos in that other thread, then keep asking questions and we'll get this sorted out pretty quickly
edited by PatMarrNC on 06/01/2016
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.