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Transition Morphing - In Motion

To perform a motion morph, WinImages Morph requires that you...

  1. Completely specify the two streams of images which are to be contained in that morph...
  2. Set up the points for two (or more) key frames, and ...
  3. Specify how the points will be applied to the sequence of frames.

When you begin, there are two options;

  1. Load a project file, created from a previous session with the motion morph operations, or...
  2. Select the "motion morph" option in the Generate menu.

If this is a new project, specify the number of frames in the project; then choose the Motion start frames, and the Motion end frames using the option provided for that in the Generate menu. Once you've done this, set the current frame value in the sequence controls dialog to 1, and select Done. Now, you'll be setting up the control points for the first frame. When you have these points set up to your satisfaction, select the Save Objects option from the Objects menu. Now, set the current frame value to the last frame in the sequence, and press the Done button. This will load the final images. Modify the existing points to the new positions, and save the objects under another name. Do NOT add any new objects or points to the motion morph. You must adjust the existing point set.

Now, this may be enough to completely run your motion morph, if the images are moving in a very straight line. If not, you'll also need to set up one or more intermediate frames to account for non-linear motion. If you need to do one or more frames, do so now.

This process can now be carried out for any or all of the intermediate frames (remember more point sets = more control). You must have at least the first and last frame point set before you can generate the morph.

Now that you have the point sets for the frames, you need to tell WinImages Morph how to use the points. This is done by selecting the Generate menu's Specify Motion Point Files option. This will present you with a dialog that is similar to the start image dialog. The only difference is that you will be specifying object files instead of images, and you have the option to tween or skip a frame. On the right hand side of the dialog you will see a text line that reads: At 1 have 0 need 30. This status line tells you the current position of the frame value, how frames you have specified, and how many frames need to be specified. In the example above the highlight bar is at the frame one position, no object files have been specified, and there are a total of 30 frames to specify. You should also notice that there are buttons to specify a new entry, remove an entry, skip a frame value or tween a frame value.

You would notice that there only a total of four object files, and all other frames are a tween or skip frame. If a frame contains a object file, then that frame will use the specified points. If a frame contains a tween listing, then the software will tween the last set of points to a new position based on the next set of points and how many frames are between them. For example, in the bounce project the first frame is specified by an object file, and then frame 2, 3, and 4 are tweened to frame five which contains a pint set. This sequence of instructions tells morph to use the first set of points for frame one, and then interpolate for frames 2,3, and 4 from the original position in frame on to the new object position in frame 5. In this manner you can get a wide range of motion with a few sets of points. A Skip frame tells the software to use the last set of objects regardless of their status. This means that a Skip frame will use the last frames point information regardless if it is an object file or a tween frame. This can be used to show a slight pause in animation, or at the end of an animation to add an extra frame that uses the previous points (like the bounce example). After you have completed this, select the Ok button, and save the project from the file menu.

How motion morphs work:

Motion morphs are controlled by a special project file. This file contains the names of all the images that are involved in the morph; as well as the names of any sets of points or lines that are defined (by you) for any of the frames. The minimum information in one of these files would be the names of all the frames, and the point file names for the starting and ending frames. Using this information, Morph can determine the likely positions for all frames for which you did not specify the control points in an exact manner. Note that the guesses which Morph makes for this are based upon the assumption that the motion is linear - that is, the morphing objects are moving in straight lines between the two nearest specified frames. You always need to determine if this is so; after a few tries, you should be able to tell quite easily if it is, or not.

One thing to be aware of is you need to be careful about changing any point file that is involved in a motion morph outside of the motion control panel; that can get things quite out of sync, and cause you problems later. This includes adding new control objects to a single point set. If you are going to add a new control object, it will have to be added to every point set that is specified.

Motion Controls - Details

In order to work with a motion morph, you must switch on the Motion Morph option in the Generate menu. Until you do, the program will treat the morph like any other warp or transition morph.

Once on, the first thing to do is to tell Morph how many frames you are going to be working with by entering a value in the "frames" text entry field in the Sequence Controls dialog. Then, select the set of "motion start" frames, and the set of "motion end" frames. This is done by using the Motion Start and Motion End Frames options in the Generate menu.

Now, you'll need to begin working with the start of frame. So, select the Sequence Controls option, and set the current frame value to 1. This will automatically set you to frame 1 and load the starting images. Exit the sequence controls panel, and set up the control information (points and lines) just as you would for a non-moving warp morph. Then, when the first frame has been prepared, save the point set with a distinct name that describes the project and the frame number. Now, enter the sequence controls dialog, and set the current frame value to the last frame in the sequence. This will automatically set you to the last frame in your sequence, and it will leave up the points for frame 1. Using the existing points, manipulate their position to the new locations and save the point set as described above.

You will now need to enter the Specify Motion Object Files option in the Generate menu. This dialog allows you to specify how each frame of the Motion Morph will receive its point information. In this case you would specify the first frame's object file in position one, a tween frame for all other frames, and the end frame object file for the last frame in the motion morph. After you have completed this, you can select the Sequence Generate option from the Generate menu. This is all you have to do for the most basic type of motion morph. All the intermediate frames will have sets of points that are created from the two sets you have currently defined. The process of creating the intermediate points is called tweening.

If the motion morph is not controlled accurately enough, then you'll want to go into a frame near the middle of your series and specifically place the points for that frame as well. Morph can now tween the frames from the start to the middle and then the middle to the end, which will be considerably more accurate.

You simply continue this process until the resulting morph is controlled well enough to suit you. You can have motion morphs with anything from just the start and end frames defined, to every frame defined - it's up to you.


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WinImages F/x Manual Version 7, Revision 0

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