Autodesk Animator Manual or Help?

[knagl]

It's a long shot, but does anyone know anything about Autodesk Animator or have a manual for it?  I just got it installed on my computer, but I really have no clue what I'm doing.  I'm able to open files and see the frames of animation in them, but I don't have hte slightest idea how to create my own stuff or animate text or whatnot.

The program is really from before the days of Adobe .pdf and I'd be shocked if someone actually had documentation for it, but I figured I'd throw my request out here just in case.

(Autodesk Animator is used to create .fli and .flc files which can be converted to be used with Mikohn Supreme displays.)

[stayouttadabunker]

I have a manual in my hands right at the moment that might help you...
I PM'd ya.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

how to create my own stuff or animate text ............

For that I use a program called Paint Shop Pro (coincidentally PSP  )

I remember somebody provided a good explanation about this topic on the old NLG site....  Don't really remember his username, but I actually did what he posted and it worked pretty good for me.  I posted a sample animation I built couple years ago in this link



<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/h-RpLQ9ollE&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/h-RpLQ9ollE&rel=0</a>

Embedded with PSP version 7 (if I remember well) there is a little program called Animator Shop that is used for:

create .fli and .flc files which can be converted to be used with Mikohn Supreme displays

I'd be happy to remember those good days animating stuff for SUPREME displays... let me know if you want a hand and I'll sync with you knagl...

Best regards

[knagl]

That's fantastic stuff, Andres.     I sent you a PM -- I would love to learn how you did that.

(...and the notion of using Paint Shop Pro instead of an ancient DOS-based program to make the animations is very appealing.)

[jay]

SAT thats pretty cool.... but we have a rule against flaming on this site.... 

Still doing work with Oz ?

[stayouttadabunker]

I think that using Paint Shop Pro would be somewhat easier to design and
send animation "batch.exe" files to the Mark2 logic board as well as to the Supremes?
That's pretty cool stuff...!

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

That's fantastic stuff, Andres.    I sent you a PM -- I would love to learn how you did that.

(...and the notion of using Paint Shop Pro instead of an ancient DOS-based program to make the animations is very appealing.)

Thanks Kevin...  It's pretty easy btw...  Also, check your PM, i posted some tips about websites where to look for the specific version of PSP that comes with Animation Shop embedded

SAT thats pretty cool.... but we have a rule against flaming on this site....  

Still doing work with Oz ?

   no flaming...... nooooooo flaming mate (my anim is flamling hot huh   )

Sadly I'm not working with Oz at the moment... I miss his sense of humor for sure, but you know:  gaming world is a small place, so I know someday I'll meet that man on the floor again

Currently I'm in Venezuela (surely to be known as Chavezland in a near future   )   Ozzy is still in DR, India, Europe,.........  everywhere as usual, you know him...

My best wishes to you Jay, catch you later!

Greetings to all

[Tomba]

Hey Andres,

Very nice work. I used to work many years ago with story-board to do this. I also had animator with the book but borrowed it to a friend (who is not a friend anymore). My question is how do you convert them to .mik files? Does this also work with the RGB rainbow displays from Mikohn?

[knagl]

My question is how do you convert them to .mik files?

If you have the Windows Download 2.0 program, there is a program included with it called "fli2mik.exe" -- it will convert .fli or .flc images to .mik format.

From the DOS command prompt, with your .flc in the same directory, type:

fli2mik filename.flc filename.mik

(the first one is the name of the existing .fli file, and the second one is what you want to call it once it's converted)

It will display the animation as it does the conversion.  Press [ESC] to exit (and type "exit" and press enter if necessary to return to Windows).

[tacman]

To take this a bit off course, does anyone have an AVI to FLI/FLC convertor? I have many AVI RGB animations, but need to convert to FLI/FLC. My Mikohn/PGI displays unfortunately don't use .mik format or PSP to load, but animations need tto be in the FLI/FLC format for conversion. Thanks!

 Dan (tacman)

[Tomba]

This windows download program, never heard of it. Where can I find it?

[Tomba]

Hey Tacman,

What type of displays you have? They are not supreme displays?

Tom

[tacman]

They are PGI/Mikohn Elite Series displays.

 Dan (tacman)

[stayouttadabunker]

How cool looking are those? Nice Tacman! 
Thanks for showing us!
I wonder if anybody's playing with the CON3's?

[Tomba]

Do you have pictures of the inside?

[Tomba]

This windows download program is this the windows version of the old download55.exe program in dos?

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

  with suggestions where to look for the proper version...  Cheers 

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

To take this a bit off course, does anyone have an AVI to FLI/FLC convertor? I have many AVI RGB animations, but need to convert to FLI/FLC. My Mikohn/PGI displays unfortunately don't use .mik format or PSP to load, but animations need tto be in the FLI/FLC format for conversion. Thanks!

 Dan (tacman)

Hi Dan

I'm quoting you because I was researching about video formats, conversions, etc...  In my quest I stumbled upon a software that is able to perform the task you were asking above.

I researched a little bit about the format itself (FLI/FLC) and the ways it can be manipulated    ...   look what I found:

QUOTE FROM:
http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/ecohab/flc.html

Making FLI/FLC movies:

FLI/FLC makers generally take a bunch of image files that each contain a single movie frame and combine them into a FLI/FLC movie. Since FLI/FLC movies are 8-bit, there are usually some options for picking the optimal colormap from images that have more than 8-bits of color information or have separate 8-bit palettes for each image.

Here are the FLI/FLC makers I use:      (the author of the article)

For Windows 95/98/NT, OS/2:

VideoMach (formerly Fast Movie Processor) is a simple to use convertor that will convert frames into .flc or formats like AVI, MPEG and others.

MainActor makes FLI/FLC, AVI, MPEG and converts between different types with lots of supported CODECS.


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Then I went to the homepage of the first software mentioned in that website (VideoMach) ....  Look what they say:

QUOTE FROM:
http://www.gromada.com/videomach.html

VideoMach is the fastest way to convert images to video. Also used for disassembling video to pictures, adding audio to animations, extracting audio from movies, speeding up video, slowing it down, resizing, cropping and rotating.
.
.
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Watch carefully to the part that reads:  "..........Also used for disassembling video to pictures......."

Wrapping up, this is what I concluded based on the readings and my experience messing with video tracks:

Videos are just lots of frames (pictures) being sequentially played at high speeds  ....  AVI videos are usually composed of 30 Frames Per Second (FPS)... Then, you can use the program called VideoMach to "disassemble" your AVI track, so at the end you will have lots of "pictures" that could eventually be converted in FLC/FLI animation using the same program (VideoMach).  It's like a manual process to convert the darn thing.... 

You will have to adjust the color palettes to get the arrange of colors that better fits your original track.  I'm not sure what's the color depth of the AVI tracks you want to convert, but they are likely to be composed by more than 8-bits of color, which is the standard for FLI/FLC according to the first website.

There are three versions of VideoMach available in their website, and there is even a free version that puts a short banner at the beginning of your animation, so if you have no problem with that I think it's worth a try.

Hope it helps!

Ohhh BTW:   Merry Christmas !!!!   

[stayouttadabunker]

Good research Sat!  

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Good research Sat!  

Thanks Staoutb    have a great christmas too !!!   

[stayouttadabunker]

Thanks ! You guys celebrate Christmas down there in the South Americas?
I didn't know that as I've never been further south than Key West...LOL

I hope you're having a nice Xmas too!

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

You guys celebrate Christmas down there in the South Americas?

well... yes, but remember that the country where im living now is getting more and more isolated from the rest of the world as days pass... so I wouldn't be surprised if "Christmas" is one day a forbiden celebration according to a funny monkey called chavez  :s

I didn't know that as I've never been further south than Key West...LOL

you should come south some day.. but instead Venezuela, I reccomend Bavaro-Punta_Cana  .  You will find a place there called Steve's Bar that is in fact the Caribean's Headquarter of all  NLG folks !

Let me know when you're coming down to give you gps coordinates

best wishes to you mate!

[brichter]

You guys celebrate Christmas down there in the South Americas?

well... yes, but remember that the country where im living now is getting more and more isolated from the rest of the world as days pass... so I wouldn't be surprised if "Christmas" is one day a forbiden celebration according to a funny monkey called chavez  :s

I didn't know that as I've never been further south than Key West...LOL

you should come south some day.. but instead Venezuela, I reccomend Bavaro-Punta_Cana  .  You will find a place there called Steve's Bar that is in fact the Caribean's Headquarter of all  NLG folks !

Let me know when you're coming down to give you gps coordinates

best wishes to you mate!

Uuuummmmm, I've heard about that place, nothing but a bunch of alcohol-imbibing no-account types running around there...






Sounds like I'd fit right in!!!! 

[jay]

Been there, done that.... great place.....

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Uuuummmmm, I've heard about that place, nothing but a bunch of alcohol-imbibing no-account types running around there...

Hey brichter you forgot the "cueros" that are also "running around there"    ..........  

It's remarkable too what is the word of the day for me: "imbibing"      Man ...     that's a good one...  I'll add it to my "always expanding" vocabulary    (seriously)


     I bet you do  

Sounds like I'd fit right in!!!!  

Thanks Jay for serving your testimonial to this great community called  

Best regards and tons of good things to all of you in the coming new year!!!