Texture Pattern Animation

This page uses sample data to describe basic settings for texture pattern animations.

What is texture pattern animation?

A texture pattern animation is an animation that changes the texture displayed in any given frame.

When using CreativeStudio, numbers are assigned to loaded textures, and the playback method (pattern) is set on the CurveEditor panel.

For details on the Material Animation Data panel, click here.

For details on the CurveEditor panel, click here.

Figure 1. CurveEditor Panel

Description of Curve Editor Panel Axes

The table below gives the settings for the horizontal and vertical axes on the CurveEditor panel used to create texture pattern animations.

Table 1 Horizontal and vertical axes shown on the ColorEditor panel when creating texture pattern animations

Animation Vertical axis and horizontal axis of CurveEditor Description of Setting
Texture Pattern Animation Vertical axis The texture number to be used.
The texture number is set automatically when a texture is added to the Texture list on the Material Animation Data panel.
Horizontal axis Number of frames (number of frames to animate the texture)

Sample Configuration

This page uses the ToyButterfly sample data to describe texture pattern animation settings.
This page also describes how to export data when creating a texture pattern animation using a 3D CG tool.

  1. Loading sample data
  2. Creating and Editing Texture Pattern Animations
  3. Exporting Texture Pattern Animations from a 3D CG Tool

Loading sample data

On the CreativeStudio menu, select File > Open > Intermediate file and open toy_mt.cres.

" %NW4C_ROOT%/SampleData/Graphics/Intermediate/ManualResource/TutorialToyButterfly/ToyButterfly.cres "

Figure 2 ToyButterfly

Butterfly in wooden frame

In the ToyButterfly sample, a butterfly is seen to flutter around inside a wooden frame.
Wing flapping of the butterfly texture is set using a texture pattern animation.

Confirm that the butterfly is animated to flutter around by pressing the Play button at the bottom right of the CreativeStudio main window.

Creating and Editing Texture Pattern Animations

The following six textures are used by the ToyButterfly sample data. The flapping wings of the butterfly are created using a texture pattern animation.

Texture Pattern Animation

Starting from the left, the file names for these textures are ButterflyBtfry.00 through 05.

Material Animation Data Panel Settings

Check the textures registered on the Material Animation Data panel.

Selecting Toy_Butterfly.MaterialAnimation displayed on the CreativeStudio Contents panel will display the Material Animation Data panel shown in Figure 3. in the Properties panel.
Double-clicking on the material animation icon opens the Material Animation Data panel in a separate window.

For details on the Material Animation Data panel, click here.

Figure 3. Material Animation Data Panel

Material Data Panel Image

The six textures used in the texture pattern animation are configured on the Material Animation Data panel.

Delete/add texture

Textures used in the texture pattern animation can be added or deleted as described below.

When a texture intermediate file is loaded into CreativeStudio, the loaded texture is displayed in a pull-down menu.

Material Data Panel Image 01

Press the Add button to add the texture file selected in the texture list on the pull-down menu.
To delete the texture from the texture list, press the Delete button while the texture to be deleted is selected.

Checking a Texture Pattern Animation

Use the CurveEditor to check texture pattern animations.

Selecting TextureMappers[0].Texture in the graph tree view on the CurveEditor panel will display the texture pattern animation curve shown in Figure 4 in the graph view.
Select the graph view and press the A key. The graph view will be arranged to show all keys.

Figure 4. Texture Pattern Animation Curve

Flapping wings of butterfly

The texture pattern animation is set using the above curve.

Frame Description of Setting
0 ~ 55 Expresses an animation of the butterfly slowly flapping its wings using Texture Numbers 1, 2 and 5.
57 ~ 169 Expresses an animation of the butterfly intensely flapping its wings using Texture Numbers 3 and 4 at a quick frame rate.
171 ~ 195 Expresses an animation of the fluttering butterfly returning to its original position and its wings slowly stopping using Texture Numbers 1, 2 and 5.

Various pattern animations can be created by editing loaded textures using CurveEditor.

Exporting Texture Pattern Animations from a 3D CG Tool

Use a special plug-in for output from a 3DCG tool.

Note: For details about exporting texture animations, see the plug-in manual located in the following folder: " %NW4C_ROOT%/documents/DccPlugin "

Maya sample data for ToyButterfly is located in the following folder.

" %NW4C_ROOT%/SampleData/Graphics/DccPlugin/Maya/ToyButterfly/scenes/Toy_Butterfly.ma "

Loading the Model into CreativeStudio

Load a model that uses texture pattern animation into CreativeStudio.

Outputting the sample model Toy_Butterfly from the 3DCG tool will create the intermediate files shown in Table 2. We will try actually loading these file into CreativeStudio.

There are two methods of loading intermediate files output from a 3D CG tool. These are given below.

Table 2 ToyButterfly Intermediate Files

Filename Content
Toy_Butterfly.cmata This intermediate file contains material data for Toy_Butterfly.
Toy_Butterfly.cmdl This intermediate file contains model data for Toy_Butterfly.
ButterflyBG.ctex This texture intermediate file is for the front of the Toy_Butterfly wooden frame.
ButterflyBG2.ctex This texture intermediate file is for the back of the Toy_Butterfly wooden frame.
ButterflyBtfly.00.ctex This texture intermediate file is for the Toy_Butterfly butterfly. (It is used by the texture pattern animation.)
ButterflyBtfly.01.ctex
ButterflyBtfly.02.ctex
ButterflyBtfly.03.ctex
ButterflyBtfly.04.ctex
ButterflyBtfly.05.ctex

Loading by selecting File > Open > Intermediate file on the CreativeStudio menu

In CreativeStudio, click FileOpenIntermediate file... to simultaneously load Toy_Butterfly.cmata and Toy_Butterfly.cmdl.
When opening intermediate files from the CreativeStudio menu as described above, associated texture data is loaded automatically.

Loading intermediate files by dragging & dropping

These intermediate files can also be loaded into CreativeStudio by dragging & dropping them.


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