Caged Block

**simsmj** · 31 March 2005, 09:38 AM

Ahhh! It seems we can post images again.

The one below I tried to post a couple of days ago, and is just a simple demonstration of using a frozen or paused animation to provide a little alternative control over positioning of objects than you can conventionally achieve through the GUI.

The two perforated plates are separated in the z-axis by the Ripple animation, and paused at the max separation, and the gap can be adjusted by stepping through frames on the timeline toolbar. If you need finer steps, add more frames to the animation cycle. Since we are only using the animation feature to create specific frames, there is no file size penalty for the exported image. This doesn't stop you making an animation out of the resulting images, as the YinYang anim showed.

Mike

**simsmj** · 31 March 2005, 12:02 PM

This is the image I had tried to make over a year ago, but could only make one end, as I had no way to make both ends in the same image, so I left it. With the new paused Ripple animation trick, I have been able to take it much further. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

It is an attempt to model a spectacular engineering project in Scotland called the Falkirk Wheel, and I was much impressed with it. It is a rotating canal lock designed to transfer canal boats between two canals that meet at oppsite ends of the carriage, but one canal is about 30 feet higher than the other. A boat enters the trough through the gate at one canal, the gate is closed and the whole wheel, with both troughs each carrying a boat if necessary, rotates 180 degrees and deposits each boat at the other canal. I was really taken with the shape and the mechanics of it.

Later I'll try animating it, not promising when.

Mike

**fencepost** · 31 March 2005, 12:39 PM

Later I'll try animating it, not promising when.

Knowing you, it'll be later this afternoon. You're so efficient!

Another great job!

Care to explain your steps using the ripple effect?

Art

**simsmj** · 31 March 2005, 01:47 PM

Art
The ripple is one of the built-in animations in Xara3D, and simply moves objects back and forth along one of three possible axes, x, y, or z. Essentially all I did was select the whole original image, that is, one of the end pieces you see here, and copy it to another line (but because both occupy the same screen space you only see one). Then apply the Ripple animation with maximum amplitude (999%) to the whole image. It moves back and forth along the z-axis, both sets moving together, so it still looks like one end piece.

I select one of the end pieces, and click on the reverse direction button in the Ripple dialogue, and now you see two end pieces move in opposite directions from and towards each other. Let them move to maximum separation, and pause the animation. You now have two objects offset along the z-axis, something you cannot normally do in Xara3D, as there is no GUI option to adjust this.

At that point you can start adding other shapes, like the two long tanks. These are set to have the ripple amplitude at 0%, so do not ripple but stay in the centre between the end pieces. Select them and extrude to fit the gap. The end caps of the tanks are matched to the end shapes.

To do proper justice to the animation I alluded to in the previous post will take a fair bit of time, as I want to embed the thing in something resembling its real world setting, to give it its proper context, so there is a lot to do yet, and I'm expecting to have to migrate it back to XaraX for that.

Glad you like it so far. I haven't bothered to crop the spindles off the animation, it is just to supplement the text. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Mike

**fencepost** · 31 March 2005, 02:21 PM

Thanks, Mike.

Again, great job!

A

**Egg Bramhill** · 31 March 2005, 05:33 PM

Fantastic Tip Mike
When I get some spare time I must try to mess around with this.
Looks more like a Canal Boat Crusher at present. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Egg