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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.)

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

For that I use a program called Paint Shop Pro (coincidentally PSP  :5- )

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



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-RpLQ9ollE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-RpLQ9ollE)

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


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

That's fantastic stuff, Andres.   :3-  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.)

SAT thats pretty cool.... but we have a rule against flaming on this site....  :72-

Still doing work with Oz ?

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? :129-
That's pretty cool stuff...! :89-

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 ;)



 :72- :72- :72-  no flaming...... nooooooo flaming mate (my anim is flamling hot huh  :96- )

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 :89-

Currently I'm in Venezuela (surely to be known as Chavezland in a near future  :8- :8- :8- )   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

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?

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).

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)

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

Hey Tacman,

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

Tom

They are PGI/Mikohn Elite Series displays.

 Dan (tacman)

How cool looking are those? Nice Tacman!  :131-
Thanks for showing us!
I wonder if anybody's playing with the CON3's?

Do you have pictures of the inside?

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

 :172- with suggestions where to look for the proper version...  Cheers  :88-

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   :79- ...   look what I found:

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


.
.
.
.


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 (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.
.
.
.
.

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 !!!!    :234-

Good research Sat! :89-  :3-

Thanks Staoutb    have a great christmas too !!!    :131-

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! :89-

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


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!!!!  :89- :96- :88- :200- :208- :208-

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

Hey brichter you forgot the "cueros" that are also "running around there"   :97- :97-  ..........  

It's remarkable too what is the word of the day for me: "imbibing"      Man ...  :131-   that's a good one...  I'll add it to my "always expanding" vocabulary  :31-  (seriously)


 :208- :208-    I bet you do  :97-



Thanks Jay for serving your testimonial to this great community called  :nlg-

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

Here's a new question, has anyone used Autodesk Animator or any other program to change the parameters of an existing animation? So if you have a n animation sequence that is set for a 2X3 display, have you changed the parameters so it could be used in a 1X2 or a single unit?

 Dan (tacman)

I gave up on Autodesk Animator, as I couldn't figure it out and didn't have any documentation for it.  It's DOS-based and not very user friendly.  If I had a full manual and a lot of time I'm sure I could figure it out, but since I can create animations without it, I doubt I'll try and learn it.

I've been successful (thanks to SAT's help) in creating animations using Paint Shop Pro's "Animation Shop".  I tried importing an already created Mikohn animation to try what you were talking about, but the way that Animation Shop saves .flc files is different than Autodesk Animator (a speed bit is set differently in the file and I haven't found any way to change it), so even if you manipulated the existing animation it won't play at the right speed.

While I can't create animations as good as the ones that Mikohn created, I can do some pretty neat stuff for the 1x1 (or whatever size).

Tacman,
I didn't get a chance to get into the Autodesk stuff yet....
From what I'm hearing it's probably only a couple steps up from the IBM Storyboard...
very ancient graphic programs. PITA to use.
With the upcoming and rapidly approaching golf season arriving around the corner -
I don't know if I'll ever have a chance to get into it until next winter!...lol
If you want, I can send you my copies of these different graphic programs and
you can see what you can do with them?

I did some thinking this morning on this question you put up...
I'm afraid it may not work because one would be trying to squeeze 20lbs. of sausage into a 10lb bag?
The animations just wouldn't fit I would think...too small of a drawing board?

Even though I said this, I will try it...! :72- (I like trying to contradict myself...lol)

I'm contemplating getting a program called Animator Professional that supposedly supports FLI/FLC format and will do conversions between many other formats. Take a look at it and tell me what you think?

http://www.c-point.com/animatorpro.php (http://www.c-point.com/animatorpro.php)

 Dan (tacman)

Have some already, but I am also looking for ANY casino animations in RGY or RGB in AVI or FLC formats! Thankx!

It is a pretty nice program...only $49.99 though...yikes.
The good thing about it is that it converts files and can also re-size them too.
You're inspiring me to start looking into this more....
It's going to be a real head scratcher though...these programs are NOT user friendly
at all unless you're into designing animations all day long.
There's going to be a LOT of trial and error until you get the display you desire.

knagl mentioned that the Windoze Download program can do these file conversions but
for some reason my copy of program has that optional tool grayed out and I cannot get to it.
This is what they say about converting the files to .mik files in the Download manual.
The second picture is the part in the manual about re-sizing the graphics to fit your panel display.
Click on it to enlarge it!
I hope it helps ya a bit Tacman!>>>

Not sure if that can be done in your displays/animations.... In supreme i doubt it since each pixel in the animation is represented by a LED in the display.

Reducing the display in four panels would take a good bunch of LEDs/Pixels out of sight....  I would rather make a new animation.

Regards

Bunker are you referring to the option for converting FLI/FLC to MIK in download 2.0 for win??

You have grayed because you're surely running the program in Win XP...  Install it in Win 98 and you'll have the option available ;)

For that little detail I had to partition my extremely small sized HDD (20GB)....  Had Win 98 installed in the smaller partition and voila  :89- ...  Full options available!!

lol! Thanks SAT! I saw that little inscription somewhere about using Winblows 98...
I was thinking " Nah! I can run this puppy with my XP?" NO!!!!" .... :96-

Than you so much for the advice...
now I gotta go find my old junky computer in the garage somewhere...lol

ok cool.....  you're welcome

 i've got some 8mb (yes: eight MB)  DRAM sims in case you want to boost speed in your oldie friend LOL... 

Actually, guys, you can do it in XP, but you just run it from the DOS command line (that's how I'm doing mine on an XP computer).

Search your computer for fli2mik.exe and, for simplicity sake, create a new folder on the root of the C drive called "convert".  Copy the fli2mik.exe file to the "Convert" folder.

Put the flc file that you want to convert into that folder.

Go to a DOS prompt via [START] > [Run] > cmd   [enter]

Change to the directory with the files -- type CD\convert

Run the conversion program from the command line by typing the following:

fli2mik sample.flc sample.mik

(Program name, existing FLC file, name of MIK file to be created)

The conversion program will start and display the animation (very quickly) in an endless loop.  Press [ESC].  You'll be back at the DOS prompt, but will be unable to see the cursor.  Type the word "exit" (no quotes) and press [ENTER].  Look in your "convert" directory -- your converted MIK file will be there!

That part is talking about creating progressive definition files for the "graphics" displays (what most of us are using), or the "overhead" displays (displays that would typically be found in the huge gaudy toppers that would sit over a bank of machines, which use larger LED pixels to display graphics).  That will not re-size existing animations or assist at all in that endeavor.

Thanks for explaining that knagl,  :131- :3- :89-
I was searching around for something to try to help Tacman and I didn't really read it or totally understand it.
I have a question though...
When you say: create a new folder on the root of the C drive,
Where exactly should this "convert" folder be located? :129-
Like>>> "C:\convert" ?
Also, Does it matter which way the slash goes? for ex.>>> / or \ ?

Yep, exactly, c:\convert

It doesn't have to be there -- it can be anywhere, but if you put it in the root (c:\) directory, it's easier to get to when you're having to type DOS commands.

Yes, the slash matters.  DOS uses a backslash (  \  ).  You can create the folder via Windows (open "My Computer", double click on the C: drive, then make a new folder called "convert"), but when you're navigating in DOS (as I outlined above), you'll have to use the backslash.

It works knagl! Thank you so much! :3- :3-
Now I have the graphic in a .mik form.
I should be able to upload it via Download to the Supreme
flash chip and drive it to the display!
There may be other steps but to get this far is great!
Kudos ++++++ to ya!!!

I have to remember to grab my laptop and bring it into work so I can e-mail you the animations I've created.  I'd love to see what you've made, too.

Excellent!!!   Thanks a lot for the tip Kevin.....  With that now I'll be able to get those 5GB back in my hard drive because it was the only reason I had to partition and install Win 98 in the little computer I use for these things

K+ for the good find

Glad I could give back a little bit after all the help you gave me with Paint Shop Pro/Animation Shop.  :89-

:)   anytime mate.