Eric2575 Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 As it stands, I added 10 key frames to a clip, one every second, and alternated 0 and 100% for the ambiance settings of a model bulb. Setting the interpolation to "hold" gave the quick blink. Clumsy, but it works. Never having used expressions before, could someone give me an idea of how to do this over a 10 second clip? This would be more elegant than keyframing, especially if I wanted to do this for a longer clip. Thanks Quote
NancyGormezano Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 If you are really wanting to learn how to do expressions - then ignore the following: But perhaps do it in an action? then you can control the cycle time, and number of repeats for many different situations Quote
KenH Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 Yeah, why would length make a difference. You could even just copy your already existing keyframes. For an expression, you'd use a Sine wave. I'm not sure exactly of the formula though. Quote
Darkwing Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 The Dave Rogers book has a whole chapter on relationships and expressions, I could look and see if he says anything, but when I read the book, I just skipped thaqt chapter because that stuff was WAY to complex for me!! Quote
Eric2575 Posted July 13, 2007 Author Posted July 13, 2007 I thought if I used an expression, I wouldn't have to worry about keying all those frames and manually updating the on/off properties? It doesn't matter if it's an expression or not, just the most economic way to turn properties on/off over a given length of time. Wouldn't the use of an action also require manual updating of all the settings? I wanted to automate that if possible. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 Eric2575 said: Wouldn't the use of an action also require manual updating of all the settings? I wanted to automate that if possible. It wouldn't matter how long your action was (could make it 2 frames if you want with just 2 keyframes: 0 % ambiance & 100 % ambiance) - you would adjust the # of repeats, and the cycle length of the action after you dragged it into the chor. So if you wanted it to repeat every 10 frame, for 200 frames then set the cycle length to 10 - and the # of repeats =20. (200 frames total). Similarly, if you wanted a longer cycle & wanted it to repeat every 40 frames for 200 frames - then set cycle length to 40, repeat = 5 (total # frames = 200) Quote
Eric2575 Posted July 13, 2007 Author Posted July 13, 2007 I'll try that out right now. Thank you Nancy! Quote
Luuk Steitner Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 You can do it Nancy's way but still it's always good to learn expressions If you add this expression to your ambiance setting it will blink: If(Sin(ChorTime()*10)>0,1,0) The '10' stands for the speed, if you increase that number the speed in increase. The first '0' is the range the sin function runs from -1 to 1 so if the value is 0, the light will be on 50% of the cycle. If you want it to light for 10% of the cycle the expression would be: If(Sin(ChorTime()*10)>0.8,1,0) I hope this is clear enough Quote
Eric2575 Posted July 13, 2007 Author Posted July 13, 2007 Thank you Luuk, I will also give this a try. What resource did you use to learn about expressions? Quote
Eric2575 Posted July 13, 2007 Author Posted July 13, 2007 Using Actions per Nancy blinking light Sorry, I'll get that link working in a sec - fixed! Anyone know of a FREE web space provider that has more than 10 GB of storage? Quote
NancyGormezano Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 yup - yah sure, you betcha - that's a blinking light, alright Quote
Luuk Steitner Posted July 13, 2007 Posted July 13, 2007 Eric2575 said: Thank you Luuk, I will also give this a try. What resource did you use to learn about expressions? I don't remember what resource I used at the time but you can take a look at this tutorial. I think that'll get you started, it isn't that hard... Quote
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