We’re launched!
VIRTUAnimator is here, and it’s ready for you!It's nearly here!
I’d like to take a moment to discuss the immediate development goals planned.
Firstly, some (hopefully) simple things to add:
- Screenshot tool (to take easy shots of your scene without having to render)
- Timeline Scaler (to get a better view of clumped keyframes)
- World Timeline (controls things like Time Scale (for slow motion), and any Scene events)
Then, probably less simple, is Frame Blending. At the moment, motion between keyframes is linear (or ramped up/down via Easing). This works fine for quick or direct motion, but for sweeping or curved motions, not so much. Frame Blending should allow for those smoother curves and transitions, but requires figuring out some crazy math, on top of the already crazy math of Easing.
Possibly even more difficult is the Automatic Keyframe tool; this will allow you to move an object/grab point, and after crossing a certain threshold, will automatically keyframe it. Most of the backend is there, but tying it together for use by everyone has been surprisingly difficult.
Lastly, an option to turn the rendered Image Sequence into an MP4 is something that’ll probably happen soon. Still working out the best way to go about doing that, but it’ll probably involve FFMPEG. In the meantime, if you want to edit your sequence, or turn it into a video, most decent video editors/compositors will have an ‘Import Image Sequence’ option. I prefer Adobe Premiere/After Effects (http://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html), but a free (yet still powerful) alternative I’d recommend checking out is Hitfilm Express (https://hitfilm.com/express/).
There are also numerous little things to make usage easier.
With that out of the way, let me just say thanks for checking out VIRTUAnimator; if you have any comments, feedback, or ideas, let me know!