Ideas on animating the process of writing?

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00o00
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Ideas on animating the process of writing?

Post by 00o00 »

Hi, how can I animate what I write? Is there possibly a recording botton that will record the movements I make with the pen for playback later?
That would be a good function.
...Also can moho's pen draw in trace not vector?


Thanks!!
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Lost Marble
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Post by Lost Marble »

Take a look at the very end of Tutorial 2.6 in the user's manual. The sample file it refers to uses masking to expose some text. Modifying this somewhat could probably give you the effect of animated writing.

Or, animate the movement of a layer using the Translate Layer tool. Move the layer around to trace out the path of the writing. Then, use the Layer Trail script (Scripts->Layer Effects->Layer Trail) to add an animated line that follows the path of the layer.

I don't understand what you mean by "can moho's pen draw in trace not vector"...
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Could you use particles to write?
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7feet
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Post by 7feet »

Perhaps I can take my modification and, er, further modify it so that could advance frames, add curve segments (with auto outline), for each new point added. I just tried it, and it doesn't work (why, dunno yet) in quite that manner, but that should fit the bill. If you have a tracing image and add appropriate points (with each new segment creating a new portion of outline for that frame) it should work. Haven't had a minute to think about any scripting the last coupla months, but I'll look at it soon. Would be useful. Beyond text, in the "draw it out in time" thing. Might end up with a lot of keyframes, as I don't see that Moho could do any morping between newly created points on the timeline, but if you don't mind if segments pop up entire when a new point is set, no problem. I'll give it a shot.

Masking may still be more flexible, but following the curves of hand drawn writing to reveal it realistically is a trick. Another option is to draw the text out with the free hand tool, a tablet helps here, in real time while the timeline is running. Then, you can select each new point on the frame it was created, as well as the previous point, and create a new outline shape (using the Create Shape tool) for that segment of the line.

Or, maybe, that's what I should do. Draw a shape in realtime, and then write a script that will create segment outlines (and perhaps fills where appropriate) automatically based on when the frame was created. That should do the trick. If I did do it that way, I would more likely prefer to do the drawing with the project settings at a much lower frame rate, and then kick it up to the proper rate after. I don't draw (or sign my name) very well when I'm rushed. Overall, that should provide a nice " Hey, I'm drawing this now" tool.

--Brian

PS Bupaje - what do you mean by using particles to write? That hadn't quite stuck in me head when I saw it, but perhaps you could use static particles appearing along an emitter path to draw things out. Gut reaction, and dunno if that's what you were thinking, but I'll have to give that a shot. Might be an elegant solution.
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