Hello.
Well, one of the reasons I chose to not post it online was because I took the time to share the info with a few friends/colleagues who, after I continued to discuss it in detail, decided it was too much work and not really worth the effort. And to be honest, I don't blame them. I approached this with a particular goal in mind, as I have with many other
little projects, but not everything works or comes out the way I'd like it to.
It really is more work than it needs to be, but as I have said many times before, I enjoy the journey so long as there's a pot o' gold waiting at the end.
It's just a funny "treat" in some ways when I received emails over the past couple years from Pyware users asking what software I was using to write drill and animate it that way.
Just a little warning before I post all of this. I'm not very good at instructions at all. Step-by-step isn't really my thing. I have thought many times about doing a full-blown instruction manual for this but since I knew Pyware was working on the "Real View" some time ago, I sorta gave up on that and was just going to wait it out.
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(from an email I sent to another person a few days ago.)
Okay, this is somewhat of a complicated matter because I'm not exactly sure how much of this email and information will be obsolete by this time next month. This mostly pertains to the new "Real View" that Pyware will be releasing for v6 next month.
That being said, here are the instructions on how to get the animation to be "smooth" in the way I have done it with the current version of Pyware (v6.0.9).
First of all, it is very important to note that I do not do this until
after the writing process is completed and I always save the file I'm going to edit to a video as a separate file. usually if it's something like "mhs09_mvt4.3dz" I'll just save that file as "mhs09_mvt4_video.3dz" so I can preserve the original drill file. You don't have to name it "video". I only do that because I only do this for the purpose of making a video and nothing else. I don't use it for printing or anything of the sort. If I did, then it'd be a bit of a mess, which will make sense later on.
Secondly, I am obviously using a different field layout than the default perspective window grid. I have ALL of the markings removed, including lines, hashes, etc. And the field you see is just a JPEG image I created in Photoshop that is 702 x 369. It wasn't easy to get what I wanted at first but my more recent versions are looking much better. I started with just a grass field as they are in 90% of my current video samples, and now I'm working on more realistic looking grids, including field logos, cones & markers and pit percussion. Still working on additional tweaks but that's my primary focus for this off-season.
One of the reasons I wanted to have people contact me individually about this was because all of this is a bit easier when you have something in front of you to use for reference. I've *attached a couple files in this email and they are both drill files for the same drill/movement. One is as it was originally written and the other is the one I edited for the video. After reading through the steps, use those files for reference to get a better idea on how I did what I did to create the effect.
*
Original file
*
Video-edited file
Okay, onto the steps.
First, you have to look at the tempo of the tune. If it's a slow ballad, then we'd quadruple the counts between page tabs, but since the sample I sent is a fast movement, we're only doubling the counts.
Start with the first move/transition... I would assume pages 1 and 2 are the first two pages. Set the anchors as you normally would. Then go to "Count Editor" and you will be inserting counts. Inset the counts after whatever the starting count is of those page tabs and you will be inserting an extra ' X ' number of counts. So, if the move from page 1 to page 2 was originally 16 counts, you are inserting 16 counts and inserting the counts after count 0. After applying it, it'll now show a move that is 32 counts instead of 16 and page 1-2 will span between counts 0 and 32. Next you select page 3, go to "Count Editor", insert the number of counts that was originally there (to double it), insert the counts after count 32 and hit Apply.
Continue those steps all the way through the tune. Yes, it's a pain!
But after a few times through it, you'll get the hang of it. Something I did to make the process less painful, I modified a shortcut for Count Editor and programmed it to my mouse temporarily just to have that tool a thumb-click away.
That decision was priceless.
Once you have gone through the entire file and essentially doubling the counts of all the pages, you have 2 very large tasks yet to complete. You need to connect the pages correctly so it'll animate and you have to re-sync the audio file. I say these are large tasks because they can be either quite tedious or leave tons of room for major errors.
When fixing the animation, the way to do it is to go page by page, select all, select Morph Tool and hit Accept. Do this for *every page to the end of the file. (You do not actually do anything when you select Morph. Just select the tool and hit Accept. You do not need to check or uncheck any boxes.
* Now, there
is an exception. If you wrote any forms/positions that either did a follow the leader, rotation or tracking, then you will have to simply rewrite the move all together. This takes a bit of extra work on your part but the end result is worth it. Although there's a lot of extra effort to do something so simple, when doing it this way it's necessary. If you do not have any follow the leaders or rotations (using the Rotate Tool) then you'll be fine just selecting Morph and then "Accept".
After that is done, we're about halfway home. Now it's time to test your rhythmic skills. Re-sync the audio to the drill by tapping the double-time beat instead of the single. This can be tough for some people, as I have recently learned, so don't be too frustrated if it isn't as good as you want after the first go. I've had plenty of missed presses and do-overs. It happens. 2 1/2-straight minutes of tapping steady eighth note beats on the keyboard - ain't all that fun, especially with mixed meter and tempo changes.
Some files are easy but some can be a huge pain. When I do it, I use the right arrow key with my right finger and the space bar with my left. And I don't lift the fingers off the keys too high - just maintaining contact so it's not more stress than needed to do it accurately.
Okay, so you've finished the sync. Now we have to add the "smoothness" to the drill. This is done by going back to page tab 1, dragging the RED handle all the way to the end of the file, selecting all of the performers, select Pace Tool, select 2-setps per beat/double time and hit Accept. Now, when the drill animates, it should be smooth as butta'.
That's all that's to it.
Although there are other aspects involved with many of my videos and the way they are presented. For instance, equipment changes for the color guard. Those are done with multiple captured videos. If there are only two pieces of equipment being used in the tune I'll capture one segment of the video with one piece of equipment and another segment with the figurines set to have the other equipment at the time they start with it. Then I carefully splice them together (in "post production" at the time the change happens. For turns and things like that (bass drums, for example) that's just going in count-by-count at the time I want them to turn and using the Facing Editing Tool. They are always facing forward by default, so you have to adjust it the way you want.
The figurines can be a chore if you've never done it before. It takes a bit of time, like everything else, but it's worth it in the end. You have to go to Cast List Editor (under Utilities), sort the position by Label/Symbol/Name (to make it easiest) and go through and assign the proper figurine.
So, there you go!
I know this is a bit long-winded and not at all your typical step-by-step numbered instructions, but this is just the way it all came out tonight.
And like I said earlier -
this is all going to pretty much be unnecessary (from what I can see) in the next v6 update that includes the "Real View". I don't know how that works yet exactly and have not seen it up close and personal outside the demo video posted on the home page. It'll pretty much do everything I mentioned here though. Smooth animation, equipment changes, etc. I just can't wait for this update to be released. I'm holding off making any more videos until that is released.
Hope this helps.
George