Pre-viz/3D Storyboard

[Gabio]

yes I had also a lot of problem with save.
Originally, registery key was saved in the .blend.
I supose you'll haveto save the dict in a txt file using pickle. (google it. it's a python module to save disct struct as is in file).
Will read your code.
Keep up the work mate.

[tin2tin]

Nice work Crouch & Gabio.

I like how the description is following the clip even if the clip is moved.

It would be cool if the 'I' frames could automatic follow the first frame of the clip - maybe with a delay option - to be used if the first frame of a clip doesn't do the clip justice. So if a clips in-point is changed the I frame will follow and stay with the clip. (If one needs more renderings (I-frames) of the same shot, one can just cut to the same camera.)

The width and height of the rendering - maybe it would be more logic just to adopt the aspect ratio of the camera - and scale it to be able to fit the area of the rendering on the html page?

I think its only if the area of renderings on the html page is known/fixed/locked(always the same) it is possible to know where to use the pagebreak html command:

<p style="page-break-before:always">

Otherwise it will be quite difficult to know where to break the html-page.
I think this means that sizers must be used in the tabel and all renderings must have a max width and height. My Max storyboarder had a locked aspect ratio and render size - which is quite limiting...

I had the exported html page opened automatically in explorer, where I could make a print-preview to trial-and-error the correct size to the renderings -> page length.

But the html layout could be greatly improved - so don't feel limited by the template I used for my Max-storyboard-export.

By the way - it could be very usefull to have to possibility to add a scene number and a shot number pr. 'I' frame.

(In my max version I saved with the .max file, but this made it quite unstable

(I survived the shooting of my film - now there is halv a year of post(editing and sound) ahead of me.)

Top notch work here!!!

Tin2tin

[Crouch]

Sorry for the late reply. I've been quite busy with my university work lately.

Since the integration of python will be changed quite much with blender 2.40 (we're even going to change from python 2.3 to 2.4) I've decided to wait for that to continue work on this script. Blender 2.40 is probably going to be out soon though, so then I can get up to speed with the new python api and once I've done that this script is one of the first things on my to-do list.

Bart

[sumomofan]

Now,The blender 2.42 is going to be out soon. Really eager to see your new python script.

[Crouch]

I'm working with a cvs version of blender, so the script will be compatible with 2.42
I'll probably have it finished in two weeks from now, but i'm stating one month from now, 7th of June, as a hard deadline. Mainly because I've got some other things that might interrupt.

Main improvement should be a better output layout in html (perhaps using php), but I'm always interested in what users would like to see. So if you've got any suggestions please say so.

Bart.

[tin2tin]

Good to hear.

Yet another link on previz:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr..._id=1001263805

[SHABA1]

The link is bad for that zip file

[Crouch]

Just a quick report on how stuff is going:



So far I've been trying to find a bug for 5 hours now. At 4 hours into it, I thought I'd found it, but unfortunately I hadn't. Bit of a disappointment.

I'll keep you posted on the matter.
Bart.

[SHABA1]

Nice code RobertT. I printed it out to study but have not run it yet. Are you still around for questions?

[Crouch]

We're 1 week further now, and I finally found the bug a few minutes ago. It was an error in the blender.sys function (so nothing I could do about). I finally found it by remembering this and this post on the blender committers mailing list. So I checked out a CVS build that included the fixes from May 17th (the first one was May 28th) and the issue was indeed solved. Big thank you to the blender dev-team.

Funny thing: I already posted about this problem in January, but didn't truly realize what the problem was back then.

So the bad news is that I have a delay of approximately 1.5 weeks and probably won't make June 7th. The good news is of course that as of now the code is bug-free as far as I can tell. I'll keep you all posted.

PS: SHABA1, to what thread are you replying? As far as I can tell it isn't this one.

[ShiftingClouds]

Hey !

Nice to hear that you're still working on this script. Previz is quite complementary to Blender's mission of choice (animation/video) and your script should meet a great success.

Thanks.

[Crouch]

After working some more on the new version of the Previz Storyboard script, I've encountered a new bug. I'm not really sure though whether it's just my computer, or if it's a real bug. It would be very nice if anybody could help me out by testing two versions of the script. You can find them on this page.
Please note that those are just debug versions straight out of my development area and not meant for release. They do already contain some of the new features, but I can't guarantee anything about their functionality.

Bart.

[SHABA1]

Originally Posted by Crouch PS: SHABA1, to what thread are you replying? As far as I can tell it isn't this one.

It was a post by RobertT on the first page of this thread about the seventh post down.

[SHABA1]

Originally Posted by Crouch After working some more on the new version of the Previz Storyboard script, I've encountered a new bug. I'm not really sure though whether it's just my computer, or if it's a real bug. It would be very nice if anybody could help me out by testing two versions of the script. You can find them on this page. Please note that those are just debug versions straight out of my development area and not meant for release. They do already contain some of the new features, but I can't guarantee anything about their functionality. Bart.

I downloaded the original and the two debug versions. Contact me if you want help writing the documentation.

[Crouch]

Originally Posted by SHABA1 It was a post by RobertT on the first page of this thread about the seventh post down.

Now I see what you're talking about. Silly me.

About the 2 debug versions: could you please run them and once they're started immediately try to exit by pressing the Q-key? If everything is ok they should simply quit. But the 2nd debug version will probably crash blender on exiting the script.

Before I forget to say: when you start the script you will get a message that the script is made for blender 2.42 and you're not running the correct version. You can safely ignore this.

[Crouch]

A new version is finished. It's written for blender 2.42 and as far as I can see it is stable.
Main new features:
- Dynamic keyframes; they follow the camera strips when the strips are moved
- All settings are saved with the .blend file, so no more loss of data
- Move through the keyframes with Shift+arrowkeys
- A full python installation isn't needed anymore
- Lots of bugfixes and small things

Gabio: in the end I chose not to use the pickle module. It is a very handy module, but by coding a work around users won't need a full python install.

The next version will focus on the new html output. But in the meantime I would love to hear some feedback on this version.


Instructions and information on what has changed (can also be found in the .py file)

This script let you sequence camera changes in a graphic editor.
Usage:
a) When you start, all your cameras are registered. You can then add strips where you want in the timeline. It get added where the cursor is.
b) You can update the cameras available in the main menu.
c) A strip is an area where a camera have priority(where it's active). The only real point is the begining, the length of it is calculated by finding the next strip's start.
d) You can select a strip with LMB, move the viewport with MMB and enter the main menu with RMB.
e) You can Zoom the viewport with the mouse wheel.
f) You can move a selection with GKEY, move at a given frame with JKEY, delete a selection with XKEY, select/deselect with AKEY, Move the viewport to the cursor with CKEY.
g) You can use Arrow to change frame while working. Based on the same idea as in Blender: left/right is 1 frame, up/down is 10 frames.
h) You can Enable the switching using "enable" from the Main Menu. It's important because otherwise no effect will be appearent. You can also disable it via Main Menu.
i) You can Reset data in Main Menu. This mean ereasing all cameras's strips and restarting to blank page.

Storyboard part:
a) The storyboard-menu can be accessed by pressing W-key.
b) Insert a static keyframe with IKEY and a dynamic keyframe with Shift-I.
c) Change keyframe types with OKEY.
d) Move between keyframes by Shift-arrowkey. Up/down moves 10 keyframes, left/right moves 1.
e) Delete a keyframe with Shift-X.
f) Insert a comment to a strip by selecting the strip and entering the text in the 'Description' box.

Known bugs:
a) Your camera names may not have both ' and " in their names.
   Having two cameras with one of them only using ', and one of them only using " is no problem though.


History:
0.26:
-Data are now stored in a textfile instead of in the registry,
 so everything is saved with the .blend
-When changing scene, the data belonging to that scene are
 automatically imported
-Added possibility to update cameras. Note: when you delete a camera,
 but don't restart Blender, the camera data block won't be destroyes.
 This results in the script picking it up as an existing camera, while
 you can't actually use it anymore. Be aware of this.
-Fixed some ShiftKey issues

0.25:
-Dynamic keyframes added
-Keyboard support for removing keyframes
-Possibility to move between keyframes (shift+arrows)
-Adding or removing keyframes saves this to the registry

0.24:
-Removed all code for adding comments to camera strips
-Added possibility to add comments to keyframes
-Rewrote the code to get the camera name for in the storyboard
-Added an error if no camera-strips exist when creating the storyboard

0.23:
-Rewritten the time module, which displays the time of each specific frame
 in the storyboard.
 The math module isn't required anymore, so neither is a full python install.
 The time displayed now should be completely correct. In previous versions
 there sometimes was an error of 1 digit.

0.22:
-The bug is squashed! Turns out it wasn't a mistake in my coding
 but in blender itself. Good thing I read the blender committers
 mailing list, or I would have totally missed it.
-References: 
 http://projects.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2006-May/014617.html
 http://projects.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2006-May/014619.html

0.21:
-Finally sorted out the tabs versus spaces mess.
 everything has now been converted to tabs
-Next on the list: squashing the bug which crashes the
 script when you first enter the settings screen.

0.20:
-Start of the second version
-Keyframes visible by default
-'Showing/hiding keyframe-numbers' made available to users
-Live updating descriptions in the storyboard menu
-Figured out how to process 'Shift+key'-input

Alpha 1:
-Integrated the storyboard creator with Gabio's camera sequencer
-Unstable version

[tin2tin]

Just a new link on previz:
http://www.rzanerutledge.com/2.5/fil...E607E7581.html

[SHABA1]

Crouch. It still needs a comphrehensize documentation and usage paper. WITH screen shots.

[Crouch]

The new version, with the long-awaited update of the html-output is now finished. To read more about version 0.30 and to download, go here.

Another goodie that has been added is the support of adding a range of keyframes all at once. Press RKEY and enter at every how many frames you want a keyframe to be added. Shift-RKEY will remove a range of keyframes.

Next up on the todo-list is creating documentation (will take some time).
As always: feedback is highly appreciated.

[SHABA1]

Nice script Crouch. I have followed this thread for almost two years. Yeah though you do not need some docs the comment lines in the script really do not say that much if you do nto have screen shots and explanations to back them up.