Animated Knot Tying

I am making a video that shows how to tie climbing knots. The video needs animations of knot tying. The rope and knots need to look reasonably realistic. I am trying to figure out the best tools to use.

One approach I tried was to take a photo of a loosely tied knot, then using Photoshop, removed a little of the rope, duplicated the layer, removed a little more of the rope, etc. (I pasted in a little piece of rope when I deleted a rope that crossed over another rope.) I then imported this into Adobe Premiere and played the layers as a sequence. It looked great as the rope snaked its way into a knot. However, this approach will not work if I need to MOVE the rope (i.e., this approach shows the rope appear along a preset path, but I can’t move the rope or have a loop travel a path).

I’m looking for suggestions… I haven’t used Bryce, but I’ve seen some knots (usually Celtic, which isn’t what I’m doing) made with Bryce. I am a newbie when it comes to paths in PS, but I’ve thought that I might repeatedly stroke and move a path…

Ideas?

Thanks,

Steve

Why not make a video of the process and then convert it into an Mpeg? Much easier than trying to work from still photos.

Why not make a video of the process and then convert it into an Mpeg? Much easier than trying to work from still photos.

—
Charley

"Steve" wrote in message

I am making a video that shows how to tie climbing knots. The video needs animations of knot tying. The rope and knots need to look reasonably realistic. I am trying to figure out the best tools to use.

One approach I tried was to take a photo of a loosely tied knot, then using Photoshop, removed a little of the rope, duplicated the layer, removed a little more of the rope, etc. (I pasted in a little piece of rope when I deleted a rope that crossed over another rope.) I then imported this into Adobe Premiere and played the layers as a sequence. It looked great as the rope snaked its way into a knot. However, this approach will not work if I need to MOVE the rope (i.e., this approach shows the rope appear along a preset path, but I can’t move the rope or have a loop travel a path).

I’m looking for suggestions… I haven’t used Bryce, but I’ve seen some knots (usually Celtic, which isn’t what I’m doing) made with Bryce. I am a newbie when it comes to paths in PS, but I’ve thought that I might repeatedly stroke and move a path…

Ideas?

Thanks,

Steve

"Charley" wrote in message

Why not make a video of the process and then convert it into an Mpeg? Much easier than trying to work from still photos.

Or take several pictures and create a Gif

Stephan

I can’t take several photos (i.e., claymation style), because sections of the rope that I don’t wan to move will move between pictures and appear very jurky. It isn’t like clay where i can just tweak one spot without moving other stuff.

I might be able to do an animated GIF, although the one I did with Premiere had almost 100 different pictures… I’ve never tried creating a GIF with that many frames. In any case, my bigger problem is creating the images…

Thanks for thinking…

Steve

I can’t take several photos (i.e., claymation style), because sections of the rope that I don’t wan to move will move between pictures and appear very jurky. It isn’t like clay where i can just tweak one spot without moving other stuff.

I might be able to do an animated GIF, although the one I did with Premiere had almost 100 different pictures… I’ve never tried creating a GIF with that many frames. In any case, my bigger problem is creating the images…

I don’t take a video, because I don’t want any hands in the picture. I want the knot to "tie itself."

Steve

"Charley" wrote in message

Why not make a video of the process and then convert it into an Mpeg? Much easier than trying to work from still photos.

—
Charley

"Steve" wrote in message

I am making a video that shows how to tie climbing knots. The video needs animations of knot tying. The rope and knots need to look reasonably realistic. I am trying to figure out the best tools to use.

One approach I tried was to take a photo of a loosely tied knot, then using Photoshop, removed a little of the rope, duplicated the layer, removed a little more of the rope, etc. (I pasted in a little piece of rope when I deleted a rope that crossed over another rope.) I then imported this into Adobe Premiere and played the layers as a sequence. It looked great as the rope snaked its way into a knot. However, this approach will not work if I need to MOVE the rope (i.e., this approach shows the rope appear along a preset path, but I can’t move the rope or have a loop travel a path).

I’m looking for suggestions… I haven’t used Bryce, but I’ve seen some knots (usually Celtic, which isn’t what I’m doing) made with Bryce. I am a newbie when it comes to paths in PS, but I’ve thought that I might repeatedly stroke and move a path…

Ideas?

Thanks,

Steve

at http://www.TitanNews.com <<<<

I am making a video that shows how to tie climbing knots. The video needs animations of knot tying. The rope and knots need to look reasonably realistic. I am trying to figure out the best tools to use.