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Animation question

Printed From: CAD Forum
Category: EN
Forum Name: AutoCAD
Forum Description: Discussion about AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, viewers, DWG and DWF formats, Design Review, AutoCAD 360, add-ons
URL: https://www.cadforum.cz/forum_en/forum_posts.asp?TID=8934
Printed Date: 18.Apr.2026 at 07:17


Topic: Animation question
Posted By: pizzle
Subject: Animation question
Date Posted: 08.Feb.2013 at 10:08
Hi,

I am wondering if anyone had any info or could point me in the right direction?...

 

Basicaly, I have a 3d conceptual drawing that I have created for a client in autocad 2012 for their website. They have now asked if I can produce an assembly animation of said model.

 

It is a fairly basic model, made up of about 20 different parts and I just need to show how they all fit together (i.e. layer by layer)

 

Can I do this in autocad or will I need to use another software like Microsoft publisher etc to put it all together?

 

Any help or advice appreciated



Replies:
Posted By: philippe JOSEPH
Date Posted: 08.Feb.2013 at 12:14
Hello pizzle, if it's an animation of parts moving towards them I don't know if INVENTOR it's not going to be your choise.
If you want to turn around fixed parts in an "animation" then the command ANIPATH is going to be enough.
You can see my DWG file right here in the site in the CAD Blocks library with the name : CUBE_ANIPATH_02.dwg.
Go to the CAD Blocks library ( look on the top left corner of the site page ), launch a search with the name :
CUBE_ANIPATH and you will find an example of how to do an "animation" with AutoCAD.
Ask for more and tell us if it helped or not...

Posted By: pizzle
Date Posted: 08.Feb.2013 at 13:25

Thanks for that philippe! I’ll give it a try when I get home and will let you know how I get on.

 

I’m looking to achieve something along the lines of this…  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbSo4CIKGw4" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbSo4CIKGw4  


Nothing too fancy but simply shows parts moving into place.


Do you think I can achieve this using the ANIPATH command?

Posted By: heinsite
Date Posted: 12.Feb.2013 at 09:54
I almost hate to suggest that you do the work all over again, but this is another example of how easy a program like SketchUp can be for projects where you need to communicate simple ideas in a quick time frame. 

Recently I designed a custom router fence system for myself using SketchUp.  I was able to do it so much more quickly than with AutoCAD, *and* animate it as well.  This isn't exactly what you want to do... but it could be exploded and meet your requirements very easily.  And if you think this isn't to scale just because you don't see dimensions, think again.  It is.  I will actually build this project using this drawing.  And by doing it in SketchUp (the FREE version, by the way) it was easy to completely debug and refine the design.

As designers we can't be married to any single tool... AutoCAD or otherwise.  Use the best tool for the job, and the one that gets you the best result in the shortest period of time.

ping here:  http://youtu.be/BJytmjNNK4I

Dave


-------------
Dave Hein, P.E.
Hawaii District Engineer
Kona International Airport
AutoCAD Certified Professional
Autodesk Expert Elite

Posted By: pizzle
Date Posted: 12.Feb.2013 at 11:23
Just a quick update to let anyone bothered know what route I decided to go down with this.

 

As the drawings were fairly basic, I literally just created individual jpg images of the separate components & notes etc and used windows movie maker to put it all together with certain effects for the building up of the model and for added shazzam.

 

Obviously I was fairly limited with regards the actual animation of the model but It was perfect for what the client wanted so It worked out fine.

 

I will definitely look into using more advanced animation software in the future though as this is something I enjoy and it’s a service that I would like to offer to my clients.



P.S. Dave - I will check that vid out abit later but yes, I was thinking of giving sketchup a go as have been advised by a few people that it is a great peice of software for easy animation. And I hear what you're saying about not being stuck to one tool. Although I love AutoCAD and have been using it for 10 years, I want to try new programs and am actualy in the proccess of giving Solidworks a go


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