CAT beta released

[arno 1]

Yes, I use VB. I already have another idea, going to give it a try right now.... :D. If it works I will make the people happy that don't like working with BGLC code and hex variables and also the people that want access to that info.

[arno 1]

New version (0.12) is now available.http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/cat.htmlThe list to select variables has also been added :).

[spotlope 0]

Fantastic! It works great now on my test project... I'm proceeding directly to trying it on a more complex animation. I really like the solution for variable choosing, it's quite elegant and works great. Good work! I'm going to really give it a workout and see how things turn out.thanks,

[spotlope 0]

Hi again, Arno,I've been doing some more testing and have come up with an interesting scenerio. My hangar door animation is (as I'm sure you're tired of hearing) comprised of 5 separate door sections that are each animated. With the exception of the innermost sections, each section has three keyframes, the first is the doors closed position, the second keeps the door in place until its "turn" to open and the third is the section's final position. So to make the doors open in a realistic way on a 400-frame timeline, the innermost sections would just start at closed and open all the way at 400, the second section would start closed, then have another keyframe in that same position at frame 80, then be all the way open by frame 400, and so on for each section.Because of the more complex keyframing (not just "open" and "closed"), CAT creates a backwards (doors closing) animation that isn't the reverse of the doors opening. I understand why this is -- after all, the final (outside) door sections would start moving only at keyframe 320 and stop at 400 on the forward animation, but would start moving at keyframe 80 and stop at 400 on the reverse animation. If you think about this, it's pretty clear. I assume CAT is just reversing the translation positions for each keyframe on the reverse animation, right? If so, do you think the math could be worked in to change the keyframing on the reverse so it's a true backwards animation on multiple keyframe anims? You've done a lot already and I love the way the tool works, I'm just curious about how far the concept can be extended. Feel free to tell me to screw off if it's just too much to consider ;-).I've attached a sample gmax project to illustrate my conundrum.thanks,

[arno 1]

Hi Bill,OK, I think I know what the problem is (already got another report about it). Do all your animations end at the same frame? So do they all stop at 400? Or do some parts have lets say 300 as end? In that case the reverse would indeed go work. Will have a look at it.

[arno 1]

Hi Bill,I had an extra look at source file (and the source it made). There was indeed a bug in the calculation of the reverse keyframes. It is fixed in this new version.http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/cat.html

[Guest PaavoP]

Oh my God, You upgrade it every day. : )By the way, I got my animation to run as it should. I just simplified the animation a bit.

[arno 1]

That why it's called a beta version isn't it? As long as you guys keep sending bugs I will upgrade it. If all (or most) bugs are gone I will release a version 1.0 :).

[arno 1]

And yet another update :D. This time to fix a compile error when the object name starts with a number.http://home.wanadoo.nl/arno.gerretsen/cat.html

[spotlope 0]

Excellent, Arno! I'll d/l it and give it a shot straight away.-Bill

[spotlope 0]

So far so good! That fixed the animation reversing issue, so I've just got to try it on my real animations now.thanks,

[spotlope 0]

Hi again, Arno,I've got an interesting scenerio for you. In my hangar door animation, I'm working with a 400-frame timeline to make it open more realistically slowly. I can export the animated bgl into FS2004 (or 2002) and it plays as expected. However, when I use any sort of conditional animation (either done by hand or using CAT), it animates properly to frame 100, then jumps to the end. It's almost as if in a conditional scenerio 100 frames is the max. I can give you some test projects if you like, but I thought you might have some insight into this.thanks,

[Guest PaavoP]

Wierd. I had the same problem with my animation. Another CAT bug?

[Guest Ideas]

I think your Link {Download} on your page is Bad, I cannot Download.

[arno 1]

Interesting. I have found that for most animations it works fine. At the moment there is one other animation that jumps strange at return. Can you both send me the source files? I think I should be able to solve it then (while I write this I get an idea about what can be wrong).