Cineversity

This is another one of those click-button-easy issues that I can’t get my head around. I created an animated group using a cloner, and added the Plain Effector to control the initiation, and it works fine. But when I duplicate the group (which includes its own copy of the Plain Effector) and move it down the timeline to repeat the same animation a little later, it doesn’t work. Through trial and error (mostly error) I see that I can initiate the animation if I shift the time delay in the Effector relative to its position on the timeline, but the animation is greatly accelerated and unusable.

I also tried using the same Plain Effector for both animations (which would be ideal) but while I can get it to fire the first group, the second group is unchanged. I can see the color of the clones shift indicating that it “feels” the Effector, but the animation is stuck.

NOTE: This version is in R20 and is using fields. But I will have to assemble the final version in R18, so there may be some differences in how it translates.

File attached (no MIME issues this time).

My intention is to make a forest of these groups, all firing off at different times, as the camera tracks over them - likely a mare’s nest of Plain Effectors bumping into Plain Effectors across the landscape. Cloning a cloner (I understand) can sometimes give odd results. But if I can’t even get one offset to work, then I should probably try a different approach.

Thanks.

Hi mford610,

While I copy-and-paste the result, I can move the keyframes of the new group, and all works fine.

I’m aware that sometimes things do not work correctly if a control-drag was used to duplicate groups of that kind.

However, both methods work nicely here. I’m able to rename parts of the new group, and it makes it clear that the parts are connected correctly. More in detail: if I rename something, it needs to show up in the link field of the receiving object.

Would you try the select parent, copy, and then paste method?

What you would like to have is a field of groups not firing, but as the camera comes closer, they start firing? When the camera moves away, they stop?

All the best

P.S.: I would like to suggest this set up, if I got your idea correctly. This is a simplified version.

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/QkPc251e5iq4keBLZacqseniIi2BejGWqVNZ4gBL7iI

Enjoy

Ah - that’s very cool! Yes, that’s the idea. Unfortunately I have to use R18 (no fields) to assemble. But I see how it works. Another example that Cinema’s bag of magic tools is bottomless.

BTW I posted a new file yesterday with some added info, and the post and file uploaded normally and all appeared to be well when I submitted it. But I never saw it pop up here, so I think it got derailed. Does that happen often?

File in question attached.

Two sets of conditions - Light blue layer elements created using copy/paste function (works until I move it down the timeline). Purple layer uses a cloner to duplicate. The animation works, but is not offset in sequence.

Still in the 3rd grade…

My concern with the suggestion I made above was more that the target with the camera needs perhaps a different approach.

Yes, you mentioned the R18, but you said as well, that the files are created in R20. As you specified as well: In R20 you don’t have falloffs like in R18. The Linear works just like the old linear but is not backward compatible. Any animation done with fields will be ignored, the falloff that was set in R20 is gone while opening it in R18.

The movement of the Receptors could be based on the Modify Clone options, and I suggested a way to get the neurons firing (fake particle stream) based on the same blend/modify clones options, by blending between two splines with very different length.

Please have a look at this file, as I have at the moment no idea how to get the next step done, with the way you animate it, considering the camera/trigger set up as the target.

All the best