Ventuz Forum

Ventuz newbie here so please be gentle......

I've been thrown in at the deep end, and am working on my first Ventuz project! So far, I'm fairly happy – using the excellent online tutorials and F1 help, I'm getting my head around the Ventuz world.

Anyway, this project calls for a 'page curl' transition effect, and I'm hoping you knowledgeable folks can help me out. I have already come up with a solution using an image with transparency for the curl. A timeline animation then moves (and scales) both this curl image and a separate mask on the canvas to reveal (and hide) content as appropriate. It works well, but I can't help but think there's probably a more appropriate way to do this using some form of mesh animation and leveraging realtime 3D capabilities of the Ventuz system.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction!

Hi, and welcome to our forum

Mabye this inspires you

http://forum.ventuz.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2892

Oliver wrote:Hi, and welcome to our forum

Mabye this inspires you - http://forum.ventuz.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2892

Thanks Oliver – I presumed there would be a way to do this using 3D modelling software and creating the mesh (and rolling/unrolling animation) externally, but this is beyond where I am right now... I come to Ventuz from the 2D world so have not (yet) invested in a particular 3D package, although I suspect the way things are going, I will need to make that leap soon too!

Is there a way to script such an effect directly within Ventuz?

Without an external modelling tool the only way to get such an effect in 3D in Ventuz would be by programming a Shader that bends geometry. But that would be a hundred times more complicated than using an external 3D program.

Christian Krix Schmidt wrote:Without an external modelling tool the only way to get such an effect in 3D in Ventuz would be by programming a Shader that bends geometry. But that would be a hundred times more complicated than using an external 3D program.

Thanks Christian... at least I know it is possible, and maybe at some point in the future I will be comfortable programming shaders. One step at a time though

I figured that at some point I might have to get into "proper" 3D modelling – is one application (or suite) better than another, or more highly recommended when creating specifically for mesh (and animation) import into Ventuz...? I am highly experienced creating 2D artwork (Illustrator/Photoshop), 2.5D animation (Apple Motion), and video editing (Final Cut). Whilst I use SketchUp pretty much daily for visualisation purposes (rendered with Renditioner), I wouldn't class that as "proper" modelling, though I have dabbled very briefly in Blender for a specific project a few years back when I needed to create an animated flag.

I frequently get supplied .dxf and .dwg venue plans, so perhaps it makes sense that I investigate an AutoCAD package or suite, using 3DS Max for modelling (?) as I guess this might have other benefits for the business when liaising with venues on project planning...? Our studio is Mac based just now, and when learning Ventuz I was virtualising Windows using Parallels – we now have a VBOX for events, and I anticipate a second production workstation PC for 3D is going to have to be on the cards too.

If you use a lot of Macs then I can easily recommend Cinema4D as it works on both platforms and is a very easy to learn and powerful 3D package. The export/import of elements with Ventuz is easy and very good.

Whatever you do, do NOT use 3D Studio MAX. Of course this is my personal opinion but I think it is a exceptionally shitty program. The user interface is ancient, crap and unusable. Plus the export/import with Ventuz is the worst of all of them.

I use Maya a lot. Exporting to Ventuz works very well. Maya is availbale for Macs as well by the way but the learning curve is much steeper than say Cinema4D.

But whatever you do, do not take 3D Studio Max. All the users that do have problems with Export and Import into Ventuz on this forum are all MAX users.

Christian Krix Schmidt wrote:If you use a lot of Macs then I can easily recommend Cinema4D as it works on both platforms and is a very easy to learn and powerful 3D package. The export/import of elements with Ventuz is easy and very good.

Whatever you do, do NOT use 3D Studio MAX. Of course this is my personal opinion but I think it is a exceptionally shitty program. The user interface is ancient, crap and unusable. Plus the export/import with Ventuz is the worst of all of them.

I use Maya a lot. Exporting to Ventuz works very well. Maya is availbale for Macs as well by the way but the learning curve is much steeper than say Cinema4D.

But whatever you do, do not take 3D Studio Max. All the users that do have problems with Export and Import into Ventuz on this forum are all MAX users.

Thanks Christian – I will look into both C4D and Maya.