Dimensions change during animation

[BillyJoe]

Hi,

I'm making some simple animations, but have run into a problem I hope there is a simple solution to.

Im using a rectangle to illustrate a tube. During the animation the tube does extend in length, but the diameter shall remain constant. Its really a rectangle where the longest sides gets longer in the next frame.

Anyway, as the length is extended, so is the thickness (or diameter) of the tube. It looks like it is the border of the rectangle that is growing. It looks ok in each frame when editing, but when previewing or exporting the animation this growing effect happens.

Anybody know how I can correct this?

Thanks,
BJ

[BillyJoe]

Still struggling with this one.

According to the help file the "Scale Line Widths" toggle on the Selector tool infobar determines whether line widths will increase or stay constant.

I cannot get this to work, independent of shape or line the thickness seems to increase with the "Scale Line Widths" toggle in both on/off state.

Anyone?

BJ

[Soquili]

Hi BillyJoe,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

I'm not sure if the problem is with Xara's flash export or if this is a common effect of flash.

Perhaps Egg Bramhill can provide some more information for us.

[Egg Bramhill]

The Toggle Line Width option should work so I don't understand the problem. Is this what your after?

[Soquili]

Egg your file works correctly on my machine. A file created on my machine exhibits the changing line width with or without the Scale Line Width selected.

[BillyJoe]

That is exactly what I am looking for. But I can't get it to work.

All I do is extending the rectangle by pulling the center handle on the short side.

Also, how do I avoid the weird behavior of the angled rectangle? I started with the smaller light-blue rectangle, selected upper left corner as origin, and rotated 45 degrees. On the second frame I extended the length, then rotated 45 degrees the same way. Scrolling through the frames everything looks ok, but when shown as an animation the rectangle has this weird movement. Is this to be expected, or am I overlooking something basic here?

Rec Example.swf

(Sorry, couldn't figure out how to show the animation in the post)

Thanks
BJ

Edit: Soquili Added code to show the flash animation:

[Soquili]

BillyJoe would you attach your .xar file for the animation. That will help determine what may be causing the weird movement.

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi BJ / Bill, I don't know what's messing your lines up but I always try to avoid using lines in Flash for this very reason. If you want to use a Line fake it by cloning a rectangle with no line, then use the contour tool , external contour, 2 pix / inset path, send to back and group.

I'd do the pipes differently. see attachment. Change the page colour in the xar file to see what's going on.

[BillyJoe]

Hi,

Thanks for your replys.

Soquili, thanks for making the animation visible in this thread. The strange thing is that when viewed here the pink horizontal rectangle looks ok, on my computer(s) it has this increased border thickness problem in Xara preview, IE and Opera, and as object in MS PowerPoint. Puzzling

Egg Bramhill, the method you are suggesting is very cunning, a keeper. I have experimented a little with the technique, but can not see how it will work on a multicolor or patterned background (like the one I have made in the attached example).

Also, as mentioned in earlier post, the angled rectangle is created as a vertical shape, then turned 45 deg. In frame 2 the rectangles length is extended, then rotated 45 degs. Both times the origin is set to upper left corner.

After struggling with this, I will hesitate before asking the next question, how to make the "tube" curve;-)

Thanks and regards,
BJ

[BillyJoe]

Hi again,

Found that by disabling the Line Fill the growing effect disappears. By proper shading using the fill tool it looks ok. Still interested in an explaination of the line fill issue though.

BJ