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Tutorials?

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1. 31 Posted by lastvector on 24 Jun, 2024 05:00 AM

   

   Hi Mario

   I looked at your wave animation, well done.
   If you set the "Number1" node to 2, the animation
   produces also a nice effect. :)

   I looked at a few values ​​and saw that the "Range" Node
   is actually always zero.

   Because its End Value is 12, but the Step Value is 20. The End Value
   here should be equal to or greater than 21. Or the Step Value
   should be smaller.

   I attached a modified version of your node tree where I show
   how I display values ​​in Nodebox when I want to check them.
   That might be helpful.

   greetings
   gottfried

   • Wave_Animation-Values.zip 1.85 KB
   • Edit

2. Support Staff 32 Posted by john on 24 Jun, 2024 08:52 AM

   

   Hi Mario,

   Looks like you made several minor mistakes:

   • You connected random_numbers2 to seedcolor instead of y.
   • You connected range1 to y instead of seedcolor.
   • You set the step value of range1 to 20. The instructions didn't mention step so I assume it should be left at the default of 1.
   • You forgot to render the translate1 node inside your Thing subnet.

   But there were some other problems that were due to omissions in the tutorial directions:

   • In the steps describing the nodes that eventually become part of the positioned node, one step says: "Create a mod node and connect add1 to Value1". But the directions fail to tell you what to set mod value 2 as. This value defines the maximum Y value and determines how long the things travel in the Y direction before they repeat. By leaving this at the default value of 1, you ensured that the things can never travel downward past Y=1, forcing all the things to stay on the X axis. Since the default canvas size is 1000 x 1000, my guess is that you should set this to 1000 instead of 1. You are not the first person to be tripped up by this omission.
   • In the next set of steps describing what to publish inside the positioned subnet, the final step says "Publish Value2 of multiply1 and call it Speed." But there is no multiply1 node inside the positioned subnet! You did the best you could by instead publishing the multiply1 node inside the Thing subnet, adding a 4th speed port after wavespeed, but this makes no sense. What I think happened is that whoever made this tutorial forgot to tell you to add another multiply1 node inside the positioned subnet. It is a common practice to multiply the overall speed of an animation by simply multiplying the frame node. So my guess is that the speed port of the positioned node was supposed to control how fast the frame count increased, and setting this speed to the number of things ensures that each thing falls at a different rate. So to fix this you need to:
     • unpublish the speed port on Thing inside positioned
     • unpublish value 2 of multiply1 inside Thing
     • create a multiply1 node inside positioned
     • hook frame to value 1 of multiply1
     • publish value 2 of multiply1 as speed
     • hook multiply1 to value1 of add1
     • go back to the root level
     • reattach randomnumbers3 to the speed port of positioned
   • I also notice that, inside the Thing subnet, the instructions said to add a scale node near the bottom without telling you what to set the scale values to. There is no reason to add a scale node if your aren't going to scale anything. Based on the screenshots, my guess is that Scale port of scale1 should be set to 50,50 instead of 100,100.

   If you make all these changes, the things start to look more like the final screenshot. But the way this is written, the things stay within the lower right quadrant (to the right and below the origin). This would not look very good if you save this as a movie.

   So to improve the final output I would suggest two more changes:

   • Change the Start of randomnumbers1 from 50 to -500 so that the x values range across the canvas.
   • Feed the positioned subnet into a translate node set to 0,-500 to make the things fall from the top of the canvas. Then render that translate node.

   Screenshot, Movie, and Fixed Demo attached. (Oops - see next note for attachments.)

   If you look at the demo, you will notice that in addition to making the above fixes, I also tidied up the nodes. I strongly recommend that you get in the habit of keeping your nodes tidy as you work so you can clearly see what attaches to what. This makes it much easier to catch mistakes. The screenshots in all the tutoirials do a poor job of this by the way, which makes the tutorials harder to follow.

   Bottom line: you did a great job getting this far. The animation tutorial has many problems and really should be scrapped or completely redone. It's unnecessarily complex, bug-ridden, and hard to follow. To learn more about animation you would probably have more luck studying the animation examples under the Files / Open Examples... in the Nodebox app.

   Thanks to Gottfried for once again pitching in and offering his own help. That's the Nodebox spirit!

   John

   • Edit

3. Support Staff 33 Posted by john on 24 Jun, 2024 08:57 AM

   

   The forum software somehow failed to attach these files to my original note. So here they are again:

   • Screenshot of fixed demo
   • Movie of falling things
   • Zipped NDBX file of fixed demo

   • falling_things_screenshot.png 1.02 MB
   • falling_things.mp4 9.45 MB
   • Wave_Animation_Fixed.ndbx.zip 2.09 KB
   • Edit

4. 34 Posted by mario on 24 Jun, 2024 04:28 PM

   

   Hi John,
   Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply and guide me! I really appreciate your support and encouragement.
   Definitely, the tutorial has some glitches, but thanks to your guidance, I am starting to enjoy the process. Kudos to you, John!

   Is it possible to assign different colors for each of the 'things' or galaxy-like figures over a black background?

   Best,
   Mario

   • Edit

5. Support Staff 35 Posted by john on 25 Jun, 2024 12:04 AM

   

   Mario,

   The black background is easy enough. Just create a rect the same size as the canvas (1000 x 1000 is the default), plug it into a combine node, and hook the rest of your animation next to it in that same combine node. The animation will then play on top of the black rectangle.

   Making your Things different colors can be done in the same way I described above for the towers of your skyline. In the tutorial's design, the Things coloring scheme is hard-coded inside the Thing subnet by a fixed palette of 3 colors. To color them differently you will need to surface a new color parameter for the Thing subnet, and then, for maximum top-down control, pipe it up to appear in the Positioned subnet as well. You can pass in the colors as a list, or as a seed value that can trigger a different set of 3 random colors for each Thing. Reread my earlier note for more details.

   Have fun!

   John

   • Edit

6. 36 Posted by mario on 26 Jun, 2024 02:43 AM

   

   John,
   Honestly, I can't thank you enough! for all the tips! I managed to get exactly what I was aiming for with your help. I set up the background with a darker color.
   Then I replaced the combine plus the 3 fixed original colors I had used inside thing with a random color network. Then, I published the first input to the positioned network and secondly to the root (thing) and BINGO!!!
   By the way, do you know if there's a part in the tutorial that shows how to sync music with the images? I haven't seen it yet. I'd like to add that next. I assume it must be too complex, so, am I going too fast or skipping some other basic stuff I should learn before messing with audio?
   Once again, really appreciate your guidance john!
   Mario

   • Edit

7. Support Staff 37 Posted by john on 26 Jun, 2024 03:29 AM

   

   Mario,

   I don't believe there is any tutorial on syncing with music, and even if there was it would be out of date. Some of the syncing functionality Nodebox originally had no longer works. It may still be possible to use an MP3 file to drive animations, but if so you will have to figure that out on your own.

   If you really want to try, you can read this old forum thread on the basics:

   http://support.nodebox.net/discussions/nodebox-2-3/6073-audio-input...

   John

   • Edit

8. 38 Posted by Mario Aveni on 26 Jun, 2024 03:04 PM

   

   Hey John,

   Thanks for your help! I've already checked the old link. Since some of the
   syncing functionality in NodeBox no longer works, do you think it's a good
   idea to supplement NodeBox results with another program like TouchDesigner
   (although I heard it has a steep learning curve) or any other node-based
   software?

   On a different note, I follow Seohyo on Instagram and really admire her
   work. Do you know if she’s in the Forum under a different name? Is it too
   forward to ask about tracking other users's inquiries and publications?

   Thanks again!,

   Mario

   On Tue, Jun 25, 2024 at 11:29 PM john <[email blocked]>
   wrote:

   • Edit

9. Support Staff 39 Posted by john on 26 Jun, 2024 07:50 PM

   

   Mario,

   I don't have much experience using audio with Nodebox or any other tool. I think you could use an MP3 file as a data source to drive NodeBox animations and then add that audio later using some kind of video processing software. I do not think you can use Nodebox for live audio generated performances, though. I don't know what other tools to recommend.

   I know Seohyo sometimes monitors the forum and uses nodes from my library, but I don't believe she ever posts here. I'm not sure what you mean by tracking other users. This is a public forum; everyone can see the posts and search by user name. If you want to look for other NodeBox artists you can do a search for Nodebox on Instagram or wherever.

   • Edit

10. 40 Posted by Mario Aveni on 26 Jun, 2024 08:17 PM

    

    Hi,

    Thanks for the info!

    I meant tracking Seohyo or any other artist who syncs NodeBox art with
    music. I thought I might find some of their experience or questions handy
    for the music issue I’m trying to solve in NodeBox.

    Thanks

    On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 3:50 PM john <[email blocked]>
    wrote:

    • Edit