Analog-X64 opened this issue on May 23, 2010 · 8 posts
pauljs75 posted Tue, 25 May 2010 at 4:48 PM
There's an included script in the PyCarrara demo containing the speaker. You go to the timeline for that object and then the script for the tweener should be in there somewhere. Save that back out as a Python script file, and then it's possible to use it for other objects by loading it. Yeah, that's cheap, but copy-paste is easier unless you exactly what all the code does. The speaker script only detects "loudness" afaik, but you can use it in any object that has two separate states in the tweener timeline period it's applied to. (So you can start at 100% or 0% if the other end of the timeline is the opposite, or do things like rotate 180° for that timeline span, and have a VU meter effect.)
If you do get into your own scripting, it might also be better writing some of the scripts in a text editor. I found that on occasion a bug pops up if you enter it in Carrara directly. Maybe it'll be fixed in a newer version of PyCarrara, or perhaps it could be a C6 thing (which Daz wont fix, because obviously C8 has priority.)
As for the wave thing, did you try the oscillate tweener with sawtooth and up at 100% applied to the effect? (It should look like: /|/|/| above the settings.) You should be able to get the long scrolling text to look alright by simply moving it sideways. The number of oscillation repeats does take trial and error though. (You may also have to disable the frame skipping thingy on the timeline controls when testing it, in order to get it right.)
I'd also try something more interesting with the metaball particle thing. Have it flow over invisible objects or through funky tubes or something. (I think alpha does the trick, since transparancy still seems to have reflection, and I believe no-visibility on the main object settings prevents interactions.) Also it might look better behind the text. You can take that suggestion or leave it though, since it's your project afterall.
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