Plugins Timeline

[Acid Bubbles]

@TheKenshi Did you set a value in "Play next in"? https://github.com/acidbubbles/vam-timeline/wiki/Sequence-screen#play-next-in-seconds

Also, the "Play all" will run sequences, the second, "Play (clip)" will not run sequencing.

 

[TheKenshi]

@TheKenshi Did you set a value in "Play next in"? https://github.com/acidbubbles/vam-timeline/wiki/Sequence-screen#play-next-in-seconds

Also, the "Play all" will run sequences, the second, "Play (clip)" will not run sequencing.

It's set to zero. I'm gonna check and come back here, brb , thanks/

 

[ZRSX]

Hey, it's me again. I have a question regarding Timeline usage in subscenes.
First of all, I wanted to try if Timeline could work properly within a subscene: it does. That opens lots of possibilities

The only thing is: when you add a subscene twice or more within a scene, all the subscene animations are in sync. It's totally normal, since the animations from the 2 subscenes have exactly the same name. This "if the animations on different atoms have the same name, play them all" feature is great, it so easy and convenient; I'm certainly not asking to get rid of this. I don't think that excluding animations within subscenes from this rule would be a good idea.

Since the rise of subscenes is coming (yes, yes, this is a thing now), would there be a way to declare a subscene as "independent" in Timeline?
Maybe a "[ ] Make this animation subscene independent" option, that would be available only if the atom is parented to a subscene? Or if we add Timeline to the subscene itself?
I have no idea if such a thing could be trivial, complex or unreal, sorry if it's a silly request!

Oh, just fyi: interestingly, speed triggering remains totally independent between subscenes, which is nice. Maybe specifically because of the behavior I described in my previous post ^^'

 

[TheKenshi]

@TheKenshi Did you set a value in "Play next in"? https://github.com/acidbubbles/vam-timeline/wiki/Sequence-screen#play-next-in-seconds

Also, the "Play all" will run sequences, the second, "Play (clip)" will not run sequencing.

I found bug, so my next sequences didn't play because I need to reload scene/save everytime I add new sequence. Hmmm seems like bug. So saving and loading scene fixed the problem but I need to do this every time. I'm using latest VAM patch.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

I found bug, so my next sequences didn't play because I need to reload scene/save everytime I add new sequence. Hmmm seems like bug. So saving and loading scene fixed the problem but I need to do this every time. I'm using latest VAM patch.

The best l way for me to do something about it is if you can send me a scene and steps to reproduce.

 

[bassref]

Hi Acid Bubbles, first off, thank you for making such a terrific plugin!

(using: AcidBubbles.Timeline.214.var)

Not sure if this is supported or if I should change my approach, but it almost seems to work just fine:
I'm using multiple instances of the plugin on the same person object because I want to switch from playing one group of random animations to a different group of animations (based on a trigger).
I can not pinpoint exactly what is going on, but what seems to happen is that when I copy/paste keyframes around in say plugin #4, it will sometimes make new keyframes appear on the timeline(s) in plugin #1.
It doesn't seem to move in a linear fashion.. I think.. so when pasting a keyframe at time 2:00 it looks like new keyframes could show up in another plugin but not necessarily at 2:00 .
Now that I write this, i'm fairly certain btw that these "random" keyframes only show up in the FIRST timeline plugin listed on the plugins tab when copying/pasting keyframes in a "higher" plugin.

Maybe I shouldn't be using multiple instances of the timeline plugin, but I don't think I can group animations inside of a single instance and loop within those groups, correct?

Anyways, I hope this makes sense and hopefully points you in the direction of what might be going on.

Thanks!

 

[bassref]

Oh darn, I just realized you *can* actually group using groupname/name so i'll try that approach because that probably does what I need
That said, maybe you can use the feedback regarding the random keyframes showing up when copy/pasting using multiple timeline plugins (but if that isn't actually a supported workflow please ignore ) (though other than the random keyframes, it seems to work great ! )

Thanks!

 

[Acid Bubbles]

@bassref you found the right answer quick! Indeed you can group and randomize within those groups, and create layers if you need independent animations on different controls.

The reason other animations are affected is because every instance will watch for changes on the controls they animate, and record a keyframe when it happens. You can have multiple instances, but they either must be disabled and one run at a time, OR they target different controls.

 

[bassref]

Ah yes, that makes total sense, from the plugin's perspective it wouldn't know the change was not targeted for it (when enabled)... hah, ok, not even a bug then, cool
That said, the grouping by naming is spot on what I was looking for and it is a true joy using it now @Acid Bubbles, thank you for the tremendous effort you must have put into this and then just sharing it with us, bravo!

(I went from 7 to 1 timeline controller, in like 5 minutes, simply by exporting importing the animations - commercial grade quality code and workflow mr Acid, well done!! IMHO)

 

[bassref]

I also just realized, talk is cheap, i'll just become a Patreon and thank you that way!

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Talk is cheap, but it's worth something to me @bassref Thanks for the nice words!

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Maybe a "[ ] Make this animation subscene independent" option, that would be available only if the atom is parented to a subscene? Or if we add Timeline to the subscene itself?

Hey I've been postponing this for a while, are you able to make a scene that shows the "incorrect" behavior, and tell me what should be the "correct" behavior? I didn't play a lot with subscene and I would like to avoid guesswork if I can!

 

[ZRSX]

Hey I've been postponing this for a while, are you able to make a scene that shows the "incorrect" behavior, and tell me what should be the "correct" behavior? I didn't play a lot with subscene and I would like to avoid guesswork if I can!

Sure thing, thanks for considering this!

Here's a scene using a subscene (animated with Timeline) loaded twice. Each subscene contains a cube with Timeline plugin and 2 buttons that interact with it. I've included the subscene in the VAR if you want to add more instances of it.
When clicking on either button to animate a subscene, it animates all the subscenes. Once again, this is totally logical: a subscene is a perfect copy of a set of atoms, including the plugins (you define the set of atoms by parenting them to the subscene, when creating it).

The "correct" behavior would be:
- if the "[ ] Make this animation subscene independent" option is on for the Timeline linked to the cube within a subscene, clicking on the green "Animate subscene" button will only trigger the animations with the same name within this subscene, not in all the other subscenes. I.e. in my demo scene, it will only animate 1 cube.
- if the "[ ] Make this animation subscene independent" option is off (which should be by default) for the Timeline linked to the cube within a subscene, the current behavior is unchanged: clicking on the green "Animate subscene" button will trigger all the animations with the same name, even if they are in other subscenes. I.e. it will animate all the cubes.

And the behavior without any subscene should be:
- if the Timeline plugin is linked to an atom which is not within a subscene, the "[ ] Make this animation subscene independent" option is disabled.

I hope this is clear. I'm available to help with more info or testing if needed

If it's of any interest to you, I've made a quick tutorial on how to add subscenes in a scene: https://www.xvideos.com/video61731019/vam_how_to_add_subscenes
Steps:
1) Add atom: "Misc" / "SubScene" (click directly on the UI flag icon to have this pre-selected).
2) Select the added Subscene and go to its "SubScene" tab.
3) Click on "Load existing" and navigate to the subscene you want to import.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Thanks @ZRSX this was a very useful repro scene, and I added the feature! However it's not exactly as you asked, because of the way things were built. You'll be able (in more, options) to disable _sending_ sync messages outside of the current subscene, but you won't be able to opt out of _receiving_ sync messages. You will however be able to turn off receiving sync messages completely. So it's not exactly what you asked but it should give you the flexibility you need, hopefully!

The reason I didn't add exactly the request is because when I receive sync messages, I don't know where the came from. Adding it would be possible but either as a breaking change or as a ugly hack so I went with the simple and clean option.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Acid Bubbles updated Timeline with a new update entry:

Timeline v4.4.0

- Keybinding open UI should do nothing if the UI is already open
- Keybindings: Switch to Edit mode when opening the UI
- Keybindings: StopAllSceneAnimations command
- Smooth (Local) curves now weighted against duration (less overshooting)
- Sync subscene only feature (more, options)
- Disable sync with peers in options (more, options)

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[ZRSX]

So it's not exactly what you asked but it should give you the flexibility you need, hopefully!

That's perfect, thanks! Always go with the clean & simple solution

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Acid Bubbles updated Timeline with a new update entry:

Timeline v4.4.1

- Sync with peers should be one by default for new Timeline instances

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[telobarsik]

Greetings.
A question about the timeline plugin.
Tell me step by step how to animate: atom -> control -> position/rotation grid -> on/off.
At a certain point in time, I need to turn off the sphere's position and rotation so that it falls to the floor using physics.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

@telobarsik I cannot give you step by step instructions (I don't have near enough time to help everyone at that level) but I can give you pointers, hopefully you can figure out the rest or ask the appropriate questions where other people can also help

The first thing you need to do is create a trigger in Timeline. Triggers let you change another object's properties, such as whether the control is on or off, or if physics is on or off. Check out the section on triggers. in short, you have to create a triggers row in the "add targets" UI. Then you can change what you need when that animation is reached, either by sequences or by another trigger.

There are a lot of storables, but usually they are fairly well named. Good luck and have fun, once you put the pieces together, you're pretty much able to do whatever you can think of

 

[telobarsik]

thank you so much

 

[AngelCutebXtch]

Hi, how do I embed animations and audio into a scene. So when a scene loads and start the animations and audio automatically play? I have watch the tutorial videos which have been really helpful. But, I cannot get my animations and audio to auto play when I start the scene. I set everything up in the plugin Timeline including the trigger setting which all works but when I reload the scene. It does not work.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

@AngelCutebXtch there is an auto play toggle in the Edit tab, but if it's all working except the trigger, you might have a situation I'm currently investigating. If you have a sample scene I could check, I'll be able to tell if that's the same problem. Otherwise to embed audio, this can be done in the Scene Audio tab in the main menu!

 

[AngelCutebXtch]

@AngelCutebXtch there is an auto play toggle in the Edit tab, but if it's all working except the trigger, you might have a situation I'm currently investigating. If you have a sample scene I could check, I'll be able to tell if that's the same problem. Otherwise to embed audio, this can be done in the Scene Audio tab in the main menu!

Thanks I will try that and come back to you.

 

[Acid Bubbles]

Acid Bubbles updated Timeline with a new update entry:

Timeline v4.4.2

- When loading and the security panel is open, wait for a selection to be made before refreshing triggers (fixes triggers)
- Correctly handle looping and non-looping clamping on reverse speed (loops in reverse)
- Reverse speed still blends in (fixed reverse speed preventing playback)
- When launching an animation with a zero-sum speed (including due to blending), use the last playing animation's speed
- Backport time mode (realtime v.s. gametime) from Timeline 5 (not selectable)

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[AngelCutebXtch]

@AngelCutebXtch there is an auto play toggle in the Edit tab, but if it's all working except the trigger, you might have a situation I'm currently investigating. If you have a sample scene I could check, I'll be able to tell if that's the same problem. Otherwise to embed audio, this can be done in the Scene Audio tab in the main menu!

Hi, do I put the Timeline Plugin in a Trigger in the scene i.e. Collision Trigger or do I put the plugin the Person i.e., Person Plugin Tab. In order for it to auto play the animations and audio?