Frame Animation based on Time

HI,

How do I make a basic custom load animation based on time using frames?

I can change a frame once on some trigger, but I want a series of frames to change over say every quarter of a second to create a simple motion for an action such as Load.
I can change frames based on position:
http://www.flexsim.com/community/for...ghlight=frames
But thats not what I want.

I have a
1) BasicTE, and custom image frames to cycle through during load, or even offset triggers.
2) loading from a queue
3) pivoting to unload at a source
I dont want to use crane or robot arm standard libraries.

Currently, I can send a message in BeginOffset from BasicTE to itself, then OnMessage

/**Custom Code*/
treenode current = ownerobject(c);
double loadtime = getlabelnum(current,"loadtime");
double starttime = time();
int state = msgparam(1);
double i = starttime;
while( i <= (starttime + loadtime) )
{
    if (i >= (starttime + loadtime))                      // End Frame
        setframe(current,5);
    else if (i >= (starttime + (3.0 * loadtime / 4.0)))    // 3/4 time Frame
        setframe(current,4);
    else if (i >= (starttime + (loadtime / 2.0)))        // 1/2 time Frame
        setframe(current,3);
    else if (i >= (starttime + (loadtime / 4.0)))        // 1/4 time Frame
        setframe(current,2);
    i = time();
}

All the above is supposed to do is to divide the frames amongst the available time during loadtime. But this crashes Flexsim. Probably because of the use of time() and dividing double floating types, but I dont know why - is it too complex?

Is there an example/thread on how to do this?

Just a few hints...

- "i" is a command in flexsim. You can overload a command with a new command (like your i) but it could be a source of failure.
- "else if" isn't a command in c++ or flexsim. Your code looks normally like this:

if(...)
{
       ...
}
else
{
       if(...)
       {
             ...
       }
       else
       {
             if(...)
             {
                   ...
             }
             else
             {
                   if(...)
                  {
                         ...
                  }
            }
       }
}

- it looks like your while loop is running endless because "i" will not grow. time() gives back only the simulation time of this event.


Maybe this is a little help

Hi Shanon,

I see why your code crashes Flexsim. The code which you are executing takes place at one instance in time. So i will always be smaller than (starttime + loadtime) and you get caught in a neverending loop. I think you can simply solve this problem by using delayed messages for each phase of the loading proces. So ,

senddelayedmessage(current, 1/4 * loadtime, current, 1, 0, 0);

You can just use a different parameter for each phase and for each framenumber.

I hope this helps you. Good luck !!

Rachid

Carsten,

You can use if() else if() chains in Flexscript and C++ just fine.

This code is just fine:
int fred = 3;

if(fred == 1)
{
pt("fred is 1\n");
}
else if(fred == 2)
{
pt("fred is 2\n");
}
else if(fred == 3)
{
pt("fred is 3\n");
}

For a refresher on basic C++ syntax: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/geog/gessler/borland/cpp.htm
Everything on that page except the goto/exit works in Flexscript the same way.



As for why Shanon's code crashes, Rachid explained it pretty well.

Rather than create your own chain of events using the OnMessage trigger, you should consider using the Custom Draw Code trigger. It's a naturally reoccurring event that only fires when there is a 3D view window open. Use a variables (e.g. labels) in your code to reference the start time, and duration of the animation phase.