i know this is a newbie question about animation/rendering (although I know modelling pretty well).
I am assuming you can create an animation with a dummy model, and then replace it with a higher-resolution one before rendering?
I just can’t see how you do that.
thanks…
You can apply a subsurf modifier to your mesh during modeling, setting ‘Levels’ to 2 or 3. Set the ‘Render Levels’ to 4 or 5. During modeling, posing and animation, the subsurf will be lower-res, hence faster, and it will automatically bump up the resolution during rendering.
Select your model in object mode, switch to edit mode (TAB) then click the ‘Add Modifier’ button and select subsurf from the menu. The subsurf control will appear in the modifiers panel where you can adjust the Levels and Render Levels settings.
Really appreciate the response, but that is not exactly what i am talking about. I am creating an animation, and I want to get the timing of everything down first and then build the models…so for example I want to create and finalize some animation of a monitor flying in and spinning around…so first I want to just use some rectangles to get the animation perfect, then replace with a higher resolution model later.
I have done this in the past with other animation systems…but I cannot think of how to do it with Blender…
Well, you can use a cube, or whatever stand-in you want, and animate using IPO curves for position, rotation, etc.
Once you’re happy with the animation, delete or hide the stand-in and create your hi-res final model. Then take the IPO’s you created for the stand in and assign them to your new model. To do this, assign one of your window panes to be the IPO Curve Editor. Select your new, hi-res model in object mode. Look for a button in the IPO Curve Editor just to the left of the two black/yellow up/down arrow buttons. When you hover your mouse over this button, it should say “Browses existing choices or adds NEW”. Click it. You will probably see one item called Obipo and another called ADD NEW. Click the Obipo. Your new object will now use the IPO curves you created when animating the stand-in.
Hope this helps…
I think that is exactly what I am looking for. Thanks for your help
you may want to look up tuts on Proxys
You could set your display mode to Bounding Boxes for Timeline playback OR render a “playblast” using the OpenGL Render button in the 3D window. The OGL Render is pretty fast even when dealing with fairly complex geometry so, you can likely use it with your display set to Solid for a more detailed preview.