Background music is Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Michael D. Walthius. All Rights Reserved.
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next manual to be discussed is the Ray Dream Animator manual. The
begins with a brief introduction to animation and advises the user
that everything in Ray Dream Studio 4.1 can be animated including
lights, cameras, objects' positions, sizes, shapes, shading
attributes, .etc. The hierarchy window also includes a timeline area
with a time axis at the bottom. Ray Dream Studio 4.1 also has the
typical VCR like time controller toolbar. Ray Dream Studio 4.1's
special features include tweeners, behaviors, rotoscoping and
animating both the free form modeler and the deformers. Tweeners can
be linear, Bezier, discrete (instant change) and oscillate. Behaviors
can be spin, bounce, point, track and inverse kinematics. Rotoscoping
can add live action or moving textures. Animating the free form
modeler means that all the stuff the free form modeler does (cross
sectional work, sweep paths, scaling, .etc.) can be animated as can
the deformer stuff (XYZ scale, stretch, bend, twist, shatter, .etc.).
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2 begins the animation tutorial. Project 1 in chapter 2 is a
bouncing ball. The scene wizard is used to create an indoor scene
with a back wall and floor with a spotlight. The workspace size is
specified that will be appropriate for the animation. Next a sphere
is dragged from the tools toolbar to the hierarchical window. Another
time line appears for the sphere and a sphere appears in the
perspective window. The ball is then dragged to the upper left area
of the scene. A key event is created at the 2 second mark on the time
axis. First the vertical red time bar is dragged to the 2 second mark
then the ball is moved to the upper right area. The causes the ball's
key event marker to appear at the 2 second mark. The first frame
button on the time controller is clicked then the play button is
clicked and the ball moves from upper left to upper right. Next the
ball is selected and the object properties dialog box is activated.
The behaviors tab is selected and a bounce with some other parameters
is added to the ball. Now the ball bounces up and down a few times as
it travels from left to right. After the ball stops at the upper
right area, a blue shader is added to make the ball blue. The return
to first frame button is clicked and the animation is played again.
Now the ball starts out red, changes smoothly to purple then to blue
as it bounces from left to right. Next the plus sign of the sphere
object in the hierarchical window is clicked to expand the various
areas below and display their associated time lines. The shading
timeline is double clicked and the transition dialog box opens. This
is where the 4 transitions/tweeners (linear, discrete, Bezier and
oscillate) may be chosen. Oscillate is selected, the default values
are not changed then the OK button is clicked. Now the ball changes
from red to purple to blue several times as it bounces from left to
right. The next step activates the production frame which is resized
to ensure the animation fills the frame. Then the render settings
dialog box is activated. The frame rate is set for 15 fps and
production z-buffer is selected to be the renderer. I also specified
a file name in the output file name area. Then the animation is
rendered using the current settings. I had specified a workspace of
600 X 800 at the beginning so this animation took almost 2 hours to
render the uncompressed animation on my 133 Micron Pentium with 64 MB
of RAM. That still seems a little slow to me especially in view of
the fact that I was not using the best renderer. Project 2 in chapter
2 addresses animating the freeform modeler. 
First
a tutorial file is opened that has a French horn in it along with a
flat rectangle object. Next the horn is double clicked which changes
the window to the freeform modeler. The horn's key event marker is
dragged on the time line to the third frame. This is accomplished by
holding down the alt key and dragging the little marker button with
the mouse. Next the red time bar is moved to the 1:02 mark. The mouth
of the horn is clicked then the geometry dialog box is activated to
scale the horn's mouth 150%. A new key event marker is added to the
horn's master timeline at the 1:02 mark. Next the last point of the
horn's sweep path is selected on the far wall and it is moved up and
to the left a few spaces. Then the horn's time track between the :03
and 1:02 markers is double clicked which opens the transition dialog
box. Oscillate is selected from the pulldown menu the sine wave
oscillation value is set to 3, damping is set to 50% and up phase is
set to 75%. The :03 key event marker is then alt-dragged to the 1:03
point which copies it there thus allowing the horn to return to its
original shape. Next the shift key is held down while all 4 event
markers are selected. 
Then
the control key is held down and the last marker is dragged to the
3:00 point thus stretching the events over 3 seconds while retaining
the proportional relationship between the key events. The red
vertical time bar is then moved to the 0:00 point, the horn is
duplicated, the duplicate is moved to the middle of the rectangular
object, it is then duplicated again and that duplicate is moved to
the right side of the rectangular object. The first duplicate shows
up as horn1 on the master's time line and the second duplicate shows
up as horn2. The also have identical key events. Next the last 3
markers of horn1's time line are selected then the last marker is
dragged from the 3:00 point to the 5:00 point. Then the done button
is clicked and the third horn (horn2) is double clicked. Its last 3
event markers are selected and the last one is dragged to the 8:00
point. This means the first horn will do its blowing then the second
horn will do its blowing then the third horn will do its blowing each
one separated by 2 seconds. 
Next
the time bar is dragged to the 1:00 point, the original horn is
selected and then rotated 90 degrees up. The horn track between the
zero point and the 1:00 point is double clicked to access the
transition dialog box. The ease-in/out slider is adjusted as
required. The original horn's second key event marker is then alt
dragged (copying it) from the 1:00 point to the 3:00 point thus
keeping the horn facing outward when it blows. Then the first horn's
first key event marker is alt dragged from the 0:00 point to the 4:00
point which makes the horn tilt back down when it finishes blowing.
Next the original horn's object area is expanded by clicking on the
plus sign to reveal the orientation track. All of the key event
markers are selected then copied. Then horn1 is selected and the
paste command is invoked. This pastes all the rotation movements to
horn1 that the original horn has. The process is repeated for horn2.
Next the last 3 event markers are selected on horn1's object time line.
They are then dragged so the last marker is at the 6:00 point. Horn2
receives the same treatment but its last marker is dragged to the
8:00 point. The animation is the previewed. The first horn rotates up
90 degrees, the horn's opening enlarges a few times and it then
rotates back down. Each of the other 2 horns do the same but the
second horn is just behind the first and the third horn is just
behind the second horn.
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next step in the second animation tutorial involves rotoscoping. The
time bar is moved to the 0:00 point. The paint shape selection icon
is clicked then the rectangular object is double clicked. This
activates the shader editor and an .avi file that has animated
letters that spell jazz is then selected from the tutorial directory
and applied to the rectangular object. Next the time bar is moved to
the 8:00 point, the .avi control bar is dragged to its end and the
apply button of the shader editor is clicked once more. 
This
sets the video clip to finish at the 8 second point. Next the camera
is animated. The time bar is set to the 4:00 point, the middle horn
is selected and the camera (which has been to the left of the horns)
is moved to the front of the horns. Next the time bar is moved to the
8:00 point and the camera is dollied to the right side of the horns.
The animation is previewed and now the horns move up and down and the
camera moves from left to right. I rendered the tutorial and the
output .avi file took about an hour to render using the best quality
renderer. The size was only 320 X 240 since that was the size of the
initial file. The uncompressed .avi file was 27 MB in size.
roject
3 in chapter 2 addresses linking and inverse kinematics. A tutorial
file is opened that has a ball resting on a plank and the plank is
resting on a base pivot point. 
First
the ball is linked to the plank by selecting the ball in the
hierarchical window then dragging and dropping it onto the plank. A
locked symbol appears beside the plank and a line goes from it to the
ball which is below the plank and slightly indented showing that it
is now linked to the plank. Next the ball is selected and the object
properties dialog box activated. The link tab is clicked and slider
is selected from the dropdown menu. The X and Z axis are locked and
the Y axis is set to limited. The Y axis is set to plus and minus 45
inches. Returning to the object we know observe that the ball's
movement is limited to sliding from one end of the plank to the other
end. The ball can't be moved off either side of the plank and it
can't be made to go off either end. Next the plank is linked to the
base then the object properties dialog box is opened. The link tab is
clicked and axis is selected from the drop down menu. The X axis is
set to the limited rotation of plus or minus 25 degrees. The 2D
rotation tool is selected and now the plank can be rotated plus or
minus 25 degrees about the pivot point. The ball can be dragged back
and forth but nothing you do to the ball has any effect on the plank.
Next the ball is selected and the object properties dialog box is
activated. This time the behaviors tab is clicked and inverse
kinematics is added. Now the ball can be moved up and down and the
plank will move up and down with it.
ext
a mannequin tutorial image is opened. No modifications are done on
this image. It is just studied. The hierarchical linkages are
examined. The mannequin is bent from side to side. The legs and arms
are bent, raised and lowered. The object properties dialog box is
explored for a better understanding of these various characteristics.
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3 deals with the animation of key events on the time line. The
hierarchy concept and how it pertains to the time line window is
discussed in detail. The objects, masters and effects tabs of the
hierarchy area are described. Expanding, collapsing, scrolling and
resizing the hierarchy area is discussed. The time line window, key
events markers, the time axis, the time bar, the time scale button,
the render range and the time edit controller are all described as is
their usage. The time controller toolbar is discussed as is how to
preview an animation plus how to change the time and frame rate. Time
line editing is discussed as is how to select key events, add key
events, remove key events, change the timing of key events,
duplicating key events, stretching a series of key events and copying
and pasting key events.
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4 addresses tweeners. How to apply tweeners is discussed. The
linear, discrete, Bezier and oscillate tweeners are discussed. The
ease in/ease out settings are described as are the various other
tweener settings.
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5 addresses behaviors. Behavior application is discussed. The point
at behavior, the bounce behavior, the spin behavior, the tracking
behavior and inverse kinematic behavior are all discussed. Their
settings, constraints, values, start time, end time, rotational
control, .etc are all described.
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6 addresses the animation of shapes with the free-form modeler. The
animation of extrusion paths and cross sections is described. Chapter
7 deals with rotoscoping. How to apply a movie as an object, as a
background/backdrop and as a gel are all described. Chapter 8
discusses rendering an animation. The 3 types of renderers Ray Dream
Studio 4.1 has are discussed. The steps for rendering and animation
are described. Choosing a movie file format and what compression
settings (if any) and quality settings should be used. Creating a
fast animation preview, how to speed up rendering and system
optimization are also discussed.
hapter
9 is the final chapter in the animation book and it has a lot of
tips and techniques. Story boarding, scene simplification and
rendering without compression is discussed. Animating with deformers
and shaders is described. Squash, stretch, lag, overlap, arc,
straight line, secondary motion, anticipation, follow through,
exaggeration and timing are all discussed. The one big thing that Ray
Dream Studio 4.1 lacks for animation is the ability to add sound.
January 1997
Roger A. Moncrief e-mail
All pages copyright © Roger A. Moncrief, Indepth Reviews, 1997
Thanks to Judy Gefter, !LuM! and Charles Blaquiere for their advice and counsel, some I heeded and some I didn't.