Animating an assembly

[SANTA FE]

I'm trying to animate the assembly of a few parts with the view remaining the same but parts (classes) changing position as the animation proceeds to bring together the elements of an exploded view into a complete object. I'm finding this is impossible because the software's logic seems to require moving the "camera" through a series of positions in relation to an object rather than changing the parts of the object. If I "set view" just for a changed element in the view it just defaults to one of the views without changing the position of the objects between each view. Anyone have suggestions on animating the elements of an exploded assembly view of an complex object?

Conrad Skinner AIA

Santa Fe, NM.

[Matt Panzer]

Hello Conrad,

OzCad's Animation Works plugin can do some animation of objects directly in VW, but I'm not sure it can handle everything you're after. I have a feeling you may need to export the model to more capable 3d animation software. Cinema 4D would certainly be perfect for the task, but it might not fit the budget.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Matt Panzer

[SANTA FE]

Thanks Matt - I did check out Animation Works briefly this am. Gotta ask them some questions.

[Benson Shaw]

Conrad - There are some Vectorworks files with moving part animations of Machine Components in the Vectorworks folder>Extras>Goodies.

This is the same folder included in the installation of every version since v8, I think. Probably the files are just converted each year.

Anyway, these animations are done with scripts which can be viewed in those Goodies files via Tools Menu>Plugins>Plugin Manager. Could one of these be customized for your needs?

-B

[Matt Panzer]

I was going to mention scripting, but thought it might be a bit too much. Depending on the complexity, a script might get you what you need, but I have a hunch that it would be a bit too involved - unless you plan to do similar animation projects often.

There are some low cost (and even free) 3D animation apps out there. One free one is Blender (www.blender.org). It imports a few different file formats that VW can export. It looks pretty capable and certainly worth a shot.

[jamesmise]

I use Animation works to show theatrical scenery tracking across the stage but I didn't use it for the table below.

I had a trick table that converted from a table to a pipe organ. I basically used the old Disney technique to make a demo of the transition. I created as many classes as frames that I wanted. Table-1, Table-2, Table-3 etc..

I copied the parts and then rotated/shifted each part a small bit and saved the table in a new class. Then I copied/rotated/shifted it a bit more and saved it in the next class.

When I was done I could step through the classes and the transition was shown step by step.

Each frame could be saved in an animated gif I suppose.

Walt Disney would have been proud.