METHODOLOGY TO CREATE

ANIMATIONS USING

OPEN SOURCE REPOSITORY

By:

Sneha Deorukhkar

Pooja Bhawar

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PROCESS FLOW1. Appending

1.1 Downloading

1.2 Appending

Objects

2. Modification

of the scene

2.1 Arrangement

of the apparatus

2.2 Lighting

2.3 Preview render 3. Animation

3.1 Object

animation

3.2 Rigging

3.3 Shape keys

3.4 Camera

animation4. Advance

Animations

4.1 Particles

4.2 Fluid

simulation

5. Rendering

5.1 Rendering

settings

5.2 Rendering

output6. Uploading

6.1 Packing External

data

6.2 Upload the

experiment with blend file on OSCAR website

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1.1. Downloading

1. Make a new folder and rename it as your experiment’s

name

2. In this folder, download the default file for Lab setup

which has a base(table), light setup & Camera named

Lab_basic_setup_cycles.blend from the OSCAR

website (after the file gets uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do

3. In the same folder, download blend files for the apparatus

required for your experiments from the link mentioned

above as per the category.

1. APPENDING

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1.1. Folder Organization (For example: Ohm’s Law)

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1.2. Appending Objects

In this file, append all the required apparatus with the following

steps(Fig 1.2 – 1.6):

1. Open the Lab_basic_setup_cycles.blend file with double click

2. Go to File and then Append

3. Browse for the folder you just created

4. Select the file from which model has to be appended

5. Select Object-Select Model(s)

6. Click on the Link/Append from library button

7. The object you append in the scene gets appended in the center

of the 3D view by default. You can move the object as per your

convenience. You can refer Slide 10 on How to move the object.

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1.2. Append 1.3. Select folder

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1.4. Select Blend file 1.5. Select object folder

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1.6. Click on Append 1.7. Required apparatus

for Ohm’s law experiment

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2. MODIFICATION OF THE SCENE

2.1. Arrangement of the apparatus

Now arrange these as per the Circuit diagram

For example: Ohm’s law

A+

–

–+

+ –V

Rh

R

KBattery

2.1. Circuit Diagram(Ohm’s Law)

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You can move your object using following steps:

1. Select the object which you want to move.

2. Three colored arrows, represent the 3D Transform manipulator.

This manipulator helps to move the object in a particular axis.

3. Red color represents X axis, green represents Y axis, and blue

represents Z axis.

4. To move, rotate or scale the object

in a particular direction, use

shortcuts press G, R or S,

respectively with X, Y or Z, as a

specific axis.

2.2. Select an Object10

2.3. Arrangement of the apparatus (Ohm’s law)

To Know more about how to move and rotate the object you can

refer Basic description of Blender interface tutorial from the

OSCAR website (after the file gets uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do

Ammeter

Battery

Resistance Box

One Way Key Rheostat

Voltmeter

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2.2. Lighting

1. Rearrange if the lights are not proper according to your setup

2. Change the position of the (plane) emission according to your

object direction.

3. You can also duplicate emission by pressing Shift+D (duplication

of an object fig. 2.5)and place it as per your requirements.

4. Resize the appended apparatus as per a specific proportion.

2.4. Basic Setup 2.5. Shift D (duplication)

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5. To Know more about how to move and rotate the object you can

refer Basic description of Blender interface tutorial from the

OSCAR website (after the file gets uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do

6. You can increase or decrease emission strength(Fig 2.6) according

to your requirement.

7. To make changes in environment light, you can change Ambient

Occlusion(Fig 2.7) factor value in World properties.

2.6. Emission Strength 2.7. Ambient Occlusion

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2.3. Preview render

1. Set the Camera for the animation

2. Take preview of this setup to check the light setup with 50

samples

3. Rearrange if the lights are not proper with some more

previews

4. Take a render for the setup of the Apparatus (as the preview

output and render output is not same always)

5. Save the file as Exp_name_Apparatus_setup.blend

2.8. Preview of

Light Setup Setup

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2.9. Preview render 15

3.1. Object animation

1. You can animate your object adding key frames on timeline.

2. Select your object which you want to animate.

3. Red color represents X axis, green represents Y axis, and blue

represents Z axis.

4. Press G to move, R to rotate and S to scale the object.

5. To move, rotate or scale the object in a particular direction by

using following shortcut press G, R or S and after that press X, Y

or Z.

6. To Know more about how to move and rotate the object you can

refer Basic description of Blender interface tutorial from the

OSCAR website (after the file gets uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do and you can also refer

to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

3. ANIMATION

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7. First decide the time limit of your animation.

8. To add key frames select your object which you want animate

press I and add key frame (fig 3.1) on first frame in location,

rotation or in scale.

9. Then move the timeline (fig 3.2) and move, rotate or scale your

object and again press I and again add key frame.

10. Repeat the steps and add key frames according to your time

duration.

11. You can move your key frames using DopeSheet (fig 3.3).

3.1. I- add Key frame

3.2. Timeline

3.3. DopeSheet

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3.2. Rigging

Rigging is use to control objects mesh.

This technique is used by creating or using a series of

"bones".

Each bone in the skeleton is responsible for deforming

and animating a part of the object.

3.4. Bones 3.5. Use of Bones 18

Steps continued:

Reference link:

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/onsiteDocumentsDirectory/ICEngineTer

minology/ICEngineTerminology/shell.html

3.6. Example: A Four Stroke Internal Combustion Engine

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Steps continued:

In this animation each part is connected with each other

so you can use rigging for this kind of animations.

For example: Ropes, chains, wire, other gear used to

support or for equipment you can use rigging.

Armature objects used for rigging.

The Armature Object Armatures are like articulated

skeletons, that allow you to pose and deform the

geometry that surrounds it. An armature is made of a

series of bones connected to each other via parenting or

constraints.

Editing Armatures Armatures are comprised of Bones.

Editing an Armature in Edit Mode allows you to

manipulate the bones in their default rest position. 20

Steps continued:

Posing Armatures Contrary to Edit Mode, Pose mode isn't

a obligatory mode where you can't do anything else. You

can be in Pose mode and still select another object. When

you are done building your armature, you can go into

Pose Mode to add constraints and start creating actions.

Animation After rigging is done you can move bones in

pose mode and add key frames on timeline.

To learn more about rigging please refer tutorials on

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Ad

vanced_Tutorials/Advanced_Animation/Guided_tour/Arm

ature/index

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3.3. Shape keys

Shape keys store different shapes of a same object (mesh,

curve, surface or lattice). In other 3D applications they

are called “morph targets”, “blend shapes”, or even

“vertex keys” in older versions of Blender. They are the

only way to directly animate the shape of your object.

Relative shape keys have (by default) one key (the first

one) as basis, and all others can be used to blend this

basis with their own shapes (optionally limiting their

effects to a given vertex group). Each of these “relative”

shapes’ influence can be animated with its own Ipo curve,

exactly as you would animate the influence of

constraints.

For more information on this, refer to

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/A

dvanced_Tutorials/Advanced_Animation/Guided_tour/Me

sh/Shape

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How to use Shape Keys:

1. Select your object in Object mode. Go to F9 Editing window.

Find and select the "Shapes" panel. Press the "Add Shape

key" button. This adds a key called "Basis" and this stores the

"basic" mesh in its undeformed state. Make sure the

"Relative" button is pressed (should be default).

2. Press the "Add Shape key" button again. It now says "Key 1"

and you have a slider and some other settings. Go into Edit

Mode, grab a vertex and move it (fig 3.7). Exit Edit Mode. The

mesh returns to normal but you've just added a real Shape

key and Blender has stored it.

3.7. Deforming using Shape Keys

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3. Repeat step 2 for as many different shapes as you like. You

can rename the keys to whatever you want. Normally you

create each new shape by first selecting the "Basis" key but

if you select an existing key from the list and immediately

press "Add Shape Key" then enter Edit Mode, the mesh will

already be deformed. This is useful for making similar but

unique keys.

3.8. Settings for Shape Keys

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4. After adding shape keys, Open “DopeSheet” window, select the

“ShapeKey Editor” in mode. Right click on the key value and

“Insert Keyframe” then move the time line and change the

value of shape key at the current frame and add the keys for

animation.

To learn more about Animation with shape keys please refer

tutorial on

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Advanced_T

utorials/Advanced_Animation/Guided_tour/Mesh/Shape

3.9. DopeSheet

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http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/availableProposalsAction1.do?type=av&i

d=540%20&language=english

3.10. Example: Electrophonic Aromatic Substitution

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3.4. Camera Animation:

1. First decide the time limit of your experiment.

2. In basic setup camera is already attached with the locater. (Fig

3.11)

3. Locater is used for the object,

4. Because of the locater you can rotate the camera around the

object.

5. You can place the locater on the object which you want to focus.

6. In general, you can follow these steps:

a) Select empty press S or select the Translate manipulator from the

3D view

b) Using the 3D transform manipulator, move the cube in X Y and Z

directions

c) Move the empty and place it in the center of the object

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Steps continued:

d. Select the Camera press S to grab R to rotate Then you press

X,Y or Z to move or rotate the object in particular direction

7. To Know more about how to move and rotate the object

you can refer Basic description of Blender interface

tutorial from the OSCAR website (after the file gets

uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do

3.11. Camera

with locater

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Steps continued:

8. Move the camera using shortcut go to the time line

9. Press I to insert key frame on the time line.

10. You can add key frame in a location rotation and

11. According to the timing add the key frames and animate

the camera(example in fig. 3.12).

For more Knowledge you can refer Types of Windows -

Time line tutorial from the OSCAR website (after the file

gets uploaded there)

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do29

3.12. Example: Camera Animation(key framing)

Full view of the BurnerZoomed view of burner with

book-shelf moving in the left

Zoomed view of burnerZoomed view of burner with

book-shelf moving in the right

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4. ADVANCE ANIMATION

4.1. Particles:

Particles are lots of items emitted from mesh objects,

typically in the thousands. Each particle can be a point of

light or a mesh, and be joined or dynamic. They may react to

many different influences and forces, and have the notion of

a lifespan.

Dynamic particles can represent fire, smoke, mist, and other

things such as dust or magic spells. Static particles form

strands and can represent hair, grass and bristles.

To learn more about rigging please refer tutorials on

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Partic

le_Systems

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In general, you can follow these steps:

1. Create the base mesh which will emit the particles. This

mesh is not rendered by default, but the base material for the

mesh is used to color the particles. Since a mesh can carry

multiple materials, each particle system may have its own

material.

2. Create one or more Particle Systems to emit from the mesh.

Many times, multiple particle systems interact or merge with

each other to achieve the overall desired effect.

3. Tailor each Particle System’s settings to achieve the desired

effect.

4. Animate the base mesh and other particle meshes involved in

the scene.

5. Define and shape the path and flow of the particles.

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For example: Distillation Column (Bubbles)

Reference link:

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/onsiteDocumentsDirectory/Distillation%20

Column/Distillation%20Column/Distillation%20Column.html

4.1. Particles

(Bubbles)

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4.2. Fluid Simulation :

The bounding box of another object will be used to define a

box-shaped region to simulate the fluid in (the so called

“simulation domain”). The global simulation parameters

(such as viscosity and gravity) can be set for this domain

object.

Using the BAKE button, the geometry and settings are

exported to the simulator and the fluid simulation is

performed, generating a surface mesh together with a

preview for each animation frame, and saving them to hard

disk. Then the appropriate fluid surface for the current

frame is loaded from disk and displayed or rendered.

For more information refer to

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Unde

rstanding_the_Fluid_Simulator

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In general, you can follow these steps:

1. Set the simulation domain (the portion of the scene where the

fluid will flow),

2. Set the fluid source(s), and specify its material, viscosity, and

initial velocity,

3. Eventually, set other objects to control the volume of the fluid

(inlets and outlets),

4. Eventually, set other objects related to the fluid, like:

obstacles,

particles floating on the fluid,

fluid control, to shape part of the fluid in the desired form,

5. Eventually, animate the fluid properties,

6. Bake the simulation (eventually, revise as necessary and bake

repeatedly). 35

To learn more about Fluid Simulation please refer tutorial on

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

For example: Distillation Column (Fluid)

Reference link:

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/onsiteDocumentsDirectory/Distillation%20

Column/Distillation%20Column/Distillation%20Column.html

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5.1. Rendering settings

Once Camera angles are set, stress on minute details

between these steps and continue with the Animation

Save this final file as Exp_name_Animation.blend

Render the whole Animation to obtain a video file for that

In general, you can follow these steps:

1. Go into render setup

2. Go into Dimension -> Resolution (fig 5.1)

3. You change the resolution percentage according to your

requirements.

4. Go into Integrator -> Samples. Change the Render

and Preview samples according to your requirements

(Basic Render Settings – Render: 200 and Preview: 50)

5. RENDERING

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Steps Continued:

5. You can Increase the value of Transparency, Bounce

and Light Paths for better output.

6. Image is used to render a single frame of the active

camera view.

7. Press F12. The active camera view is rendered as a single

frame image.

8. Left click Create new directory. Type OUTPUT and press

enter.

9. Left click Output to open the folder.

10. Left click Accept. Now all our Render files will be saved in

the Output Folder in My Documents.

11. Below the Output Folder bar is the Image format menu.

Here we can choose our Output format for our Render

images and movie files.

12. Below PNG are the three color modes used in Blender.

You can chose according to your requirements.

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5.1. Rendering

settings

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5.2. Rendering output

1. Animation is used to render an entire range of frames or

an image sequence and create a movie file. Esc to stop the

render progress.

2. Left click Animation. The entire frame range will getting

rendered.

3. For more Information you can refer Properties part-1

tutorial from the OSCAR website (after the file gets

uploaded there) http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/blenderrepository.do

and you can also refer to

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Re

nder_Settings

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5.2. Rendered Output

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6.1 Packing External data

Each .blend file contains a database. This database

contains all scenes, objects, meshes, textures, etc. that are

in the file. A file can contain multiple scenes and each

scene can contain multiple objects. Objects can contain

multiple materials which can contain many textures. It is

also possible to create links between different objects.

Pack into .blend file:

1. Blender has the ability to encapsulate (incorporate)

various kinds of data within the .blend file that is

normally saved outside of the .blend file.

2. For example, an image texture that is an external .jpg file

can be put “inside” the .blend file via File → External

Data → Pack into .blend file. (fig 6.1)

6. UPLOADING

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3. When the .blend file is saved, a copy of that .jpg file is put

inside the .blend file. The .blend file can then be copied or

emailed anywhere, and the image texture moves with it.

6.1. Pack into .blend file

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6.2 Upload the experiment with blend file on

OSCAR website

http://oscar.iitb.ac.in/checkauthentication.do?%20&

link=submit

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