[JDHill]

Thanks will -- matgreg, this build still being prerelease it does not have updated docs yet. If I've done anything right though, it should be pretty self-explanatory. Well, it should be, anyway...

[RobMitchell]

I've come across a project that may need to be animated, and using the motion study with Maxwell would be perfect. I've set up a basic animation to run a few tests beforehand but it doesn't seem to be working.

The simple set up is an assembly consisting of 3 parts. A box with a door that hinges and swings open, then a box on the inside that glides forward. I've created the animation in the motion study and it plays just as it should, but if I hit the export buttons, nothing seems to happen. Any ideas what am I doing wrong?

My setup is...
Windows XP 64-bit
SolidWorks2008
Maxwell Render v2.0

These are the controls I should be looking at, right?


Thanks for any help!

[JDHill]

The three animation buttons on the right are for creating animations manually, frame by frame, or via VBA scripting, and the two on the left are for generating turntable and zoom animations, using a wizard. What you are looking for is the new Motion Study Animation function, which is similar to the latter two, and which you will find if you download the 2.0.6 release preview -- you can find links for downloading that in a sticky thread above this one. The new 2.1.0 plugin, which is basically the same as 2.0.6, may also be released at any time.

[RobMitchell]

The three animation buttons on the right are for creating animations manually, frame by frame, or via VBA scripting, and the two on the left are for generating turntable and zoom animations, using a wizard. What you are looking for is the new Motion Study Animation function, which is similar to the latter two, and which you will find if you download the 2.0.6 release preview -- you can find links for downloading that in a sticky thread above this one. The new 2.1.0 plugin, which is basically the same as 2.0.6, may also be released at any time.

D'oh! Thanks JD. I've only just got Maxwell 2 and just sort of got on with it as if everything was up-to-date, without actually checking properly. :| I'll get that one and see how it goes. Will the button just appear right there with the others?

[RobMitchell]

Got the update and it works perfectly! Thanks again.

Edit: Maybe not perfectly after all... Updated post here!

[RobMitchell]

Just a quick question on animations... Is it possible to export a motion study animation from SolidWorks in Render Blow-Up format, or must it take on the whole thing?

Edit: Found a little soloution if Render Blow-Up isn't available for motion study exports. I proceeded with exporting all of the frames with the full camera angle and when the rendering started on frame0001, I hit stop. I then changed the Selection option to "Blow Up" and drew a marquee box around the part I needed. I started the renders again and the following frames seems to be coming out in that same blown up region.

[JDHill]

Thanks for posting the tip, because it's not possible from the plugin.

[martgreg]

Thanks JD for all the great work !

When doing the turntable animation via maxwell drop down menu.....

Howe come the animation isn't centered on the axis ?

Is there a way to do/control this part of the feature.

I would really love it STUDIO had an basic turntable animation feature !!

Thanks

[JDHill]

The rotation is centered on the the camera's focal point. So to control it, you just set your camera's focal point to the point in space around which you wish it to spin. It may become clearer if switch to 4-view mode, set one of the views to use the camera in question, right click > Camera Properties, and then Preview the animation; then you will see very visually, by observing the movement of the camera in the other three viewports, how the turntable animation works.

[martgreg]

Thanks JD

I just aimed the target to the origin.This worked well so far

I will test it out and see how it looks and further experiment

I will keep you posted.......

Thanks Again for your prompt reply