Running flypaths from object triggers

Hello all - Looking to understand a good method of running flypaths from object triggers within my model. The method I have tried so far is to create multiple single flypoint flypaths. I am only looking to change view angle, position and zoom when key events occur within my model. So for instance "On Exit" from a queue will cause flypath 1 to run and change to that view and then farther in the run another "On Entry" will cause flypath 2 to run and so forth.

I have tried understanding the flypath commands, but cant quite seem to understand it all enough to bring it together and am forced to use the keyboard commands to manually accomplish. Appreciate any assistance helping me to better understand the process or an example that could better show the process to me would be great.


Thx so much,
Ryan

Hi,

If you only want to change view settings why not change the variables of the active view.
For instance:


treenode persp = node("VIEW:/active/persp");
if ( persp != NULL)
{
set( spatialy(persp), 12);
set( viewpointrx(persp), 102);
set( viewpointradius(persp), 10 );
}

Note: above variables are not complete to uniquely define your viewpoint.

Rgds,
Dirk-Jan Moens

Dirk,

Thanks for the response - it will be something to try if using flypaths in the manner I am hoping is not possible. That said let me give a little more insight into why I am so interested in doing so and a few questions your response raises for me.

I use Flexsim for a lot of business proposal work and the conceptual presentation is more important at times than content - so being able to trigger flypaths with smooth transitions and give that "wow" factor while seeing the key items of the process would make the presentations easier to run and the camera motion work very well to engage the viewer.

1). Is what I am hoping to do with my flypaths even possible?

2). Could the view capture GUI be used to save and object trigger used to recall the viewpoint to help streamline the type of coding Dirk-Jan proposes?

3). Without using a flypath - can the transition be swept with a time factor like flypath does or would the transition between viewpoints be instant?

4). (This should maybe be a different thread) - I have also started working to record the screen while running my simulation and flypaths manually and then used Camtasia to edit a video to show as my presentation. I am not getting the results out of the Camtasia video capture that I would like - frames per second are poor - video is grainy - color looks faded and motion is sluggish. Who is having success out there making great video captures of Flexsim for use on projector size showings and what are you using?

Thanks again Dirk-Jan for your response!

Ryan

Just on your last question about video capture - Fraps now has lossless RGB capture for better quality. Plus you can investigate improving the quality through anti-aliasing on nVidia cards - overriding the default settings.

I tend to record at half or quarter the speed I want to show and then increase the speed in the movie editor to 2 or 4x. Just for a benchmark I recorded 1 minute of lossless fullHD which generated 775MB at 7fps - that's around 100Mbps.

@ Ryan
Even to your last question:
We are using Camtasia too and don´t got any problems with it at all.

Sebastian,

Would really appreciate it you could point me in the direction to using Camtasia effectively.

Any process details you can share on how you are getting good results. I have to date been capturing the full screen (24" monitor) and importing it into a project. I've found that even at this point the video capture is jumpy and not smooth just viewing it in Camtasia in the project window. It only gets worse as I attempt to output anything after editing.

Thx,
Ryan

Just had a small look in what you explained and you are right, if the flypath is going to fast, there are some problems with smooth movie. What we normaly do, and why we didn´t got any problems is to make some movies from different viewpoints and cut this to one big film with different scenes.
Or we use very slow flypaths and very slow simulation (half speed ) and double speed of movie in Camtasia Studio.

Looks like the common theme here for recording is to record slow and speed up in the video editor - I will give this a try. Thank you for the tips!

I am still interested in running flypaths from object triggers however if anyone finds themself inclined to tackle the subject with me Thanks all!

Ryan

Dear Ryan,

I hope this example that I've put together, helps you out with the task you are set to solve.

I've just used flexsim commands, and running at a speed of 4.0 units the model and the flypaths are more or less synchronized.

As a precaution, I'm using a Global Table reference, to see if a flypath is already being executed.

Juan.

@Juan,

I was not able to open the model you attached - I get a version error. However thank you for taking the time to reply and post it. What it did do was let me know that running flypaths from triggers was possible. Which drove me to dig into it again and find where my errors were. Not knowing the "sv()" command was my biggest oversight. Once I did enough investigating to realize I needed to set the selected view as stated in the commands documentation the rest is easily accomplished by using the "flyto" command on whatever trigger I need. I also like the idea of checking for active flypaths. Only last tidbit is that I find the x,y,z,rx,ry,rz needed by working with the presentation builder to quickly navigate to the view orientation I want - add a point and then use the listed values to populate the "flyto" command. I'm thinking these values can be found in the tree as well (?), however I couldn't find them.

Oh one last thing - setting a flyto path in the OnReset of the model will bring you to your favored starting view very nicely also.

Hope this helps anyone else attempting this.

Thx much,
Ryan