EHT Scene Frame Rate and Item Adjustment

sueblue

I am curious what settings others use when creating Scenes with EHT.

Do you use small adjustments and more frames or larger adjustments and lengthen the time between frames?

(If there is a more appropriate place to discuss this please direct me).

bayushi2005

Depends. The smaller the adjustment, the smoother the animation. Server can process only 10 frames a second, THUS the smaller the adjustment, the SLOWER the animation. You have to find the sweet spot depending on the size of the furniture you animate and the scope of movement.

Have fun exploring.

If you want to take a look how a crazy animation on the smallest values looks like - try my Observatory Prior - the sphere of skyshards rotates with minimum increments. A full rotation is made of 2079 frames. No, it's not a typo.

Edit: Lenghtening the time does not make much sense as it reduces impression of smooth movement. Don't use higher values unless you want to keep the object still for a moment.
Another exception is a lift, for that use 0.4s, if lower there is a serious possibility of your character clipping through the furniture used as an elevator.

sueblue

I am totally going to check out your Observatory Prior! Thanks for the invitation.

R_K

One of the things that makes me smile when I check in on the forums...

...the community helping one another.

sueblue

@bayushi2005 - I watched the YouTube of your Observatory Prior and the rotation animations are perfect. I am going to attempt to channel your patience and accuracy. My idea is solid which makes me want it done, now!

@R_K - I am so glad I found a place to ask questions about the more complex parts of EHT and actually get answers for experienced users! Most people I talk to in game give up because it's functions are so numerous they get overwhelmed and give up.

I have no idea how it compares to the base game housing editor because once I started using EHT, (Immaculate Construction), I never used the vanilla UI again.

bayushi2005

sueblue wrote: »

@bayushi2005 - I watched the YouTube of your Observatory Prior and the rotation animations are perfect. I am going to attempt to channel your patience and accuracy. My idea is solid which makes me want it done, now!

I have no idea how it compares to the base game housing editor because once I started using EHT, (Immaculate Construction), I never used the vanilla UI again.

@sueblue Take it easy. It took me about 4 hours (and I had to take breaks in between) to record that animation. Actually managed to strain my hand as it was over 10k clicks in a very repetitive pattern.
Remember to save the scene - then you can return to it at any time to add some more frames. Make sure your client does not crash during recording as it will effectively wipe out all the progress you have done since last reload. Save the scene from time to time and reload UI if attempting a similar stunt. (EHT saves the progress on reload ui/relog/rezone).

Vanilla UI is, as someone called it, "royal pain in the a**". Lacks precision, that's sure. EHT is not the easiest to use as it's VAST. People often get lost in it and give up. IMHO best way to get to know it is to slowly increase the difficulty. Start with simple selections and simple animations, then progress further to animations on linked objects ect. Takes some time.

Some more complicated triggers may force you to solve typically logical problems (in my Observatory - how to create 3 switches to make them light up particular parts of the structure - each switch operates a specific beam - AND - at the same time, to increment the general function (meridia's orb in the middle changes its colour depending on how many switches are on) independently to the order in which they are used. I think there are like 14 separate triggers operating the whole mechanism. Definitely had fun with the whole thing.

Patience, Watson

EDIT: I heard some people consider using EHT cheating, I'm like ... LOL

R_K

1. @bayushi2005 - that Orbservatory Prior of yours is absolutely stellar from the design and the story to the animation and automation... so excellent.

2. @sueblue Bayushi is right about taking it slowly when learning EHT. I sometimes wish that I hid 80% of the features behind an "Advanced" toggle button to prevent so many people from seeing it at first and fleeing in fear. Take it as you will, but the players that I have received emails from over the past year who explain that they were scared of EHT at first but now they cannot live without it... they can't all be wrong.

3. My suggestion for getting started is as she explained on the other thread: (Step 1) Set up the Controls > Housing Editor > Essential Housing Tools > Select / Deselect keybind. (Step 2) Experiment with selecting/deselecting furniture in the F5 Editor Mode, using that keybind that you set up. That's it, really. Everything else in EHT builds off of that. If you can select items, then you can use any of the functionality that follows. I really think it's those super easy first two steps that trip people up in the beginning.

4. /reloadui often once you start working on bigger projects. As she mentioned above, the game only saves larger addon's data permanently when you (a) type /reloadui in chat; (b) relog; or (c) gracefully exit the game. Crashing, killing the game client, etc. will lose any changes that you made since you last logged in (or since your last /reloadui). I really wish more people were aware of that - it's heartbreaking to get an email from someone who is bewildered at why none of their changes saved just to find out that they always exit the game by pressing ALT+F4 or killing it with Task Manager.

And, please let us know if you have any questions...

Delphinia

@R_K , I was petrified of using EHT, but as I have said, you have made it so easy to use and the instructions are so clear, I felt immediately comfortable and like a pro the first time using it! You give all of us artists the paints and brushes to create unique masterpieces! 🎨

R_K

@Delphinia Thank you so much for sharing that, Del - I appreciate it!

sueblue

It turns out my patience is not vast. I tried for a couple of hours and my animations were always jerky and/or too slow. I am spoiled by Flash's "easing".

R_K

A fair critique, @sueblue. The animations are throttled at 10 moves (frames) per second, so that will be the case. Scenes are best for quick transitions often times - a door swinging open, etc. - for that reason. (IMO)

sueblue

I was trying to make fish move realistically and at 10 frames a second it wasn't possible for me. I am not saying that someone with an endless amount of patience couldn't pull it off. ::cough:: @bayushi2005 ::cough::

You are right that making doors open is super easy and very believable. It's so fun to make hidden passages that open if you know the right interactable. A+

mayasunrising

sueblue wrote: »

I was trying to make fish move realistically and at 10 frames a second it wasn't possible for me. I am not saying that someone with an endless amount of patience couldn't pull it off. ::cough:: @bayushi2005 ::cough::

You are right that making doors open is super easy and very believable. It's so fun to make hidden passages that open if you know the right interactable. A+

Have you tried using some of the animated fish in EHTs FX? I think there are several varieties there now, and all are smoothly animated and scale-able! The might be a good option for whatever you're building.

sueblue

@mayasunrising - no, I haven't. I didn't even realize there were fish in the FX. There are so many that I haven't scratched the surface!

Right now the fish are static furniture tems and everyone can see them. If use FX only visitors with EHT will see them. How do I make it so everyone has a fishy experience without it looking strange to EHT users? Has anyone solved this quagmire?