VaM 1.x Is Timeline pretty much just the "better" Animation Pattern?

[HaiiiHarrr]

After fiddling around a bit with Animation Pattern ingame, my conclusion here is that it feels a bit like it's very similar to "Timeline": You pretty much define a body part, give it a animation step/key frame and then add a 2nd step/key frame with a different position and then it runs on repeat.

Is there any advantage of the ingame animation pattern option over the Timeline plugin?

 

[SlimerJSpud]

I'm no expert in Timeline, but one thing I see a lot is that Timeline allows a sequence of separate animations to play in random order. Let's say you click a button in a scene for a "Doggy Style" pose. The first animation for that pose then plays the other associated animations in random order, lending a lot more realism to the scene. Timeline has a lot of other functionality I don't think you can do with AP.

 

[atani]

Is there any advantage of the ingame animation pattern option over the Timeline plugin?

This is up to you. If both tools allow you to do what you want to do, then they're both good options.
If you go about seeing people's scenes, especially older creators (in VAM, not their age) who made scenes before Timeline was a plugin, you'll find all kinds of uses for the animation patterns. Over time, even with those creators, some animation pattern use became rarer as Timeline gave the creators easier or more flexible options, especially related to person-based animation. On some uses it's still quite popular, like when doing camrides or simple light movements, as you can see the path and make adjustments more easily than with Timeline.

 

[hazmhox]

Is there any advantage of the ingame animation pattern option over the Timeline plugin?

There is litterally zero reason to use an animation pattern nowadays besides either "lack of knowledge" or eventually lazyness
Timeline is not easy to understand if you're a beginner, but you have ten times more power and ability to iterate with timeline than an animation pattern that it would be kind of a shame to use an AP over TL.

I'm not sure I could even find a "pro" vs Timeline today for an animation pattern. Everything about AP is quite old and outdated.

I could only say "it's probably good enough if your goal is just to do a basic loop without any detail or advanced intentions".

I used AP at the time, when Timeline wasn't available. When Timeline came out, it was pretty much a "never going back" sort of deal ^^

 

[atani]

I'm not sure I could even find a "pro" vs Timeline today for an animation pattern. Everything about AP is quite old and outdated.

I could only say "it's probably good enough if your goal is just to do a basic loop without any detail or advanced intentions".

An old tool that does the job is still a good tool