timeline rough (very rough)
This is my first try at making a timeline with visualization.
You move the points in the vertical direction to change the value at a specific time.
I would like:
- Longer timeline
- zoom and scroll
- arbitrary keyframe times
- quad curve or some other easing function to accelerate or decelerate changes
-
NDBX_timelinediagram.png
311 KB
NDBX_timelinediagram.png
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
| ? | Show this help |
|---|---|
| ESC | Blurs the current field |
Comment Form
| r | Focus the comment reply box |
|---|---|
| ^ + ↩ | Submit the comment |
You can use Command ⌘ instead of Control ^ on Mac
Support Staff 1 Posted by john on 15 Jul, 2023 01:43 AM
Hi Gabriel,
This looks really interesting, but I can't quite follow what you are trying to do.
First, I gather you ran into trouble trying to attach your NDBX file. This is probably because this ancient forum software doesn't like raw ndbx files and insists that you zip them first. So could you reply, zip your ndbx file, and try attaching that?
Then please take a step back and give me a little more context about what you are trying to do with this timeline and how it would work.
For example, what exactly are you animating? It looks like your timeline subnetwork takes in a whole bunch of something and spits out some points. What do these points represent?
And what is your timeline_viz subnetwork actually visualizing? I'm guessing maybe that line graph at the bottom is the visualization and probably the x axis is time. What is the y axis?
Are you trying to create custom ramps like I do with my easing node? Or do some kind of multi-element choreography like a DAW? I'm confused.
And finally, how would this timeline thing fit into your larger workflow? Is it tool for helping you find a series of values that you would then plug into something else? Or would the timeline directly control something within a larger Nodebox network, like animation sprites or sound patches?
As I said, this looks quite promising and I'd like to help you make progress on it if I can.
John
2 Posted by Gabriel on 20 Jul, 2023 03:55 AM
- For example, what exactly are you animating?
In this example I am animating a red square. The black square and lines are just for visual reference.
- It looks like your timeline subnetwork takes in a whole bunch of something and spits out some points. What do these points represent?
I was just trying to get something that I could change a value at a specific time, in one tenth steps of what I don't really know. I wanted to linear interpolate between any two steps. This works using a set of points published inside the timeline network that are connected into a line. This line is the geometry for a point_on_path. The only reason I think this makes sense is that you automatically see the effect of changing values on the line.
And what is your timeline_viz subnetwork actually visualizing? I'm guessing maybe that line graph at the bottom is the visualization and probably the x axis is time. What is the y axis?
The timeline viz takes the path and reflects across the x axis so that when the value goes up it goes up on the viz. It also recreates the point along path and draws an ellipse to show what step the frame has brought you to. The y-axis is just a number to change the size of the red square.
- Are you trying to create custom ramps like I do with my easing node? Or do some kind of multi-element choreography like a DAW? I'm confused.
Yes, It should be like a DAW. Yes, I would like to create custom ramps, but I want to be able to place many of them back to and hold the value like a graph editor in a video editor or Blender.
I think there might be some playing with the easing nodes I could do, but I do think it gets complicated if you can't see what you have changed. I would probably want a grid and some indication of the actual value which I think is somewhat included in the examples with text nodes and such.
I think it's time for me to try a different approach entirely.
Support Staff 3 Posted by john on 23 Jul, 2023 07:04 AM
Gabriel,
Your struggles inspired me to create two new nodes that do something similar to what you are trying to do here. Please try them out when you get a chance:
http://support.nodebox.net/discussions/show-your-work/615-ramp-nodes
These nodes do not create a DAW-style controller with multiple elements, but take us a little closer to that. Thanks for bravely sharing your initial sketches and please feel free to continue this conversation.
John