This is an example, of using a MobileCamera, which is provided as a ready-made Actor, within the AnimationLab plug-in.

View the animation here:

https://youtu.be/nH-27T1zCNk

Regards Tim

Thanks Tim this is gunna help so much with finishing my animation projects. Just been real busy with other stuff and design mods.

    I thought I would add a few pointers, on how I achieved the above example
    Animation, before I forget!

    1. Inserted a Dot, on the workplane, snapped to the centre of the column.

    2. Exploded the Dot once.
    It now becomes a zero length 3D Polyline.
    I did this, so that it's location shows up under Selection Info Palette.
    The X, Y coordinates are copied into the X,Y parameter boxes, for the
    command CameraLookAt, within AnimationLab.

    3. Draw a circle to any desired size.
    You can always scale the completed path later.

    4. Draw a line from your desired start point, to the desired finish point.
    The midpoint of the line was snapped to the circle, so that it lies at a
    tangent to the same.

    5. Draw a 3D Spline By Fit Points, starting at the start point of the line
    and snapping at suitable intervals until the midpoint of the line.
    Continue snapping around the circle at suitable spaces, say 15°, until a
    rough circle has been completed.
    Complete the spline, by clicking until the end-point of the line.
    You can now delete/hide the circle and line.

    6. Make an actor of the spline, then use the commands, as illustrated in
    MobileCamera.tcw, attached above.

    7. That should be enough, to get you started . . . there are other ways.


Regards Tim

Thanks Tim so much, fwiw Ive got a number of designs done that I need to use this information, for me this just fills in the blanks on my knowledge of using AniLab. Im sure I will get enormous value out of the what & why info.

Tim these samples would they be backward compatible to TurboCAD V21PP?

As Im running the xp notebook with tcwV21 to render the animations.

Hi Daz,

    yes, the principles are just the same, for v21PP and, versions further back.
    Have fun!

Regards Tim

Hi all,

as I had nothing better to do, I thought I would post a small variation on the above, which may be useful.

This uses the CameraLookByPath command.

As you can see in the attached file, 3 small circles are placed at different heights, along the axis of the column, giving a different perspective when animated.
This method is far more flexible and very easy to manipulate for any required scenario.

Regards Tim

Tim thank you for your generous contributions here and there always welcome.

    You're welcome.   

Regards Tim