Animate a wireframe/solid surface scene building itself

Support Animation and Rigging
1

Hi everybody,

What would be the most efficient way for a newbie like me to animate a wireframe scene building itself up?

I’m looking to build a simple environment using mostly cubes to represent walls, doors, etc… Then I would like to animate this scene constructing or drawing itself.
I’d like to first show the wireframes getting drawn, then the surfaces filling themselves in.

Any suggestions or direction I could be pointed in?

Thanks,
Zef

2

I would create 2 geometries for what you want to build. One will be textured with ‘wire’ enabled in the material, the other will be solid. Then use the build modifier to make them build in whatever direction you want. You can re-calculate the build order with ‘ctrl+f’. In a nutshell that is how I would approach it :yes:

3

Thanks feelgoodcomics, the build modifier is pretty cool.

As far as I can tell, the faces appear suddenly. Is there any way to wipe on the elements in a more gradual maner. For example, to have the wireframe look like they are lines being drawn?

I think I may just animate the scale properties my objects. Or simply animating them on using a mask reveal in post, but I was wondering if there was a way of doing more of a reveal in 3d space as apposed to the 2d render in post.

Thanks for the build modifier tip though, that one will definitely come in handy in the future.
Zef

4

If you want a smooth wipe then textures and alpha maps would probably be the way to go. Though you can make for smoother results with the build modifier by upping the resolution of the mesh (just subdivide the shape, and recalculate the build). I’ve created a really crude example of using the build modifier with upped resolution and separated meshes and attached it below.

But yeah, for smooth seamless results I would go with textures. Though I usually find that combining techniques is usually the best way to go, since you’ll find some parts look better ‘built’ and some look better ‘blended’.

Cheers!

Attachments

zef_build.blend (341 KB)

5

Thanks so much Feelgoodcomics for your sample .blend. It was super handy in seeing the build modifier in action.
I’m for sure going to use the build modifier and will also look into using textures and alpha maps to see what’s possible.

Thanks,
Zef