So I have a minigun that I modeled. I have the barrel set up to where the gun will fire about 60 rounds per second. I have everything set up except for the muzzle flash. I have absolutely no idea how I am going to animate the muzzle flash. I need to be able to place keyframes in between frames which I am very sure is impossible. What do I do?
Depends on the FPS of the final video.
If its 60 FPS or more, you should be ok, two or more different flash meshes could be used, for example.
Heres an example which uses restrict view and render: http://www.pasteall.org/blend/28588
If you really want to sync the flash though, with an odd FPS, im not sure.
You should be able to sync the flash, but you may get many missing flash frames.
One way to get round this, could be to make a series of degrading flashes, for the out of sync frames, selected based on a sync timer/property.
I am running the animation at 30 fps. And I want to keep it at that. So I would need to make a series of degrading flashes. But I still don’t know how to animate it.
If you are filming at 30FPS and your action is a repeated action at 60 FPS, you are just getting a 30 fps action are you not?
I really don’t know. To make the animation more realistic, I won’t have the gun fire at a perfect 60 round per second. But more like 83.33 rounds per second. The only problem with that is that I need to insert a keyframe in between two consecutive frames.
I’d say to make a single mesh for the shape of the muzzle flash. But have various shape keys applied to distort it.
Then use cyclic modifier on the F-curve for visibility. Keyframe the duration of a single flash, and then apply cyclic to that. You should be able to get it to sync with your frames by adjusting the modifier settings. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to use such modifiers than make heaps and heaps of keyframes.
The randomization of the shapekeys can then be controlled by other F-curve modifiers. Doing it that way should make it a heck of a lot easier than trying to time visibility of multiple flash objects.
I think there’s also an Andrew Price tutorial video on this kind of thing, I remember seeing it on YouTube somewhere.
I still think that you can’t do what you are thinking of.
The motion in animation is simulated by in between frames that are interpolated by the program between keyframes that you set. If your action is some cyclic frequency GREATER than the overall frame rate of the animation, then the finished animation is going to be either choppy or even look like it’s going backwards, or appear slower, if the action frequency is an exact multiple of the frame rate.
So if you want to simulate a flashing light for example, in a 30 FPS animation you have to have at least one frame of darkness in between the light frames or the light just stays ON. Gun flashes might be pulsed and have a frame of a small flash alternated with a large flash - this is how I would do it…
Have you ever looked at a fan in a strobe light? Have you ever timed a car engine with a flashing light? Those are exactly analogous situations.