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Author Topic: Animated text outline in GAP with help from Inkscape.  (Read 526 times)

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Offline ClayOgre

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Animated text outline in GAP with help from Inkscape.
« on: July 26, 2008, 04:36:09 PM »
I have this idea for a rather complex animation hopefully involving a laser cutting letters out of a piece of steel, done entirely in GAP.  I needed a way to make a layer mask of the letters being cut.  This is sort of an initial experimental proof of concept.

I made the "W" using Inkscape's text function and converted it to a path.  I then went in, selected all the nodes and had Inkscape subdivide the path.  The original path had only a few nodes, the new path had 297.

I imported this path into Gimp and then fired up GAP and duplicated the initial .xcf for a total of 297.  Then I just animated a dot moving along the path with Move Path.  For the animation below, I combined the frames to a single image and added one blank frame.

To make an animated layer mask, I will have to take the original frames and then do frames to image a total of 297 times, each of these frames will use "one frame less" from the original 297.  Each image will be flattened and then added as a frame into another animation.  Kinda tedious, but I can't think of another way to do this.  The animation below is just a gif in combine mode with a single dot on each frame.  What I need is one frame with two dots, the next with three, then four, and so on.  The above method is what comes to mind to achieve this.


Offline fencepost

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Re: Animated text outline in GAP with help from Inkscape.
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2008, 06:29:52 PM »
That's cool, CO!  Actually, that sounds like the technique I described here: http://www.gimpdome.com/index.php?topic=4865.0

Are you wanting assistance with creating the mask or is this the way you're going about it?  If you're requesting assistance, what will be white in the mask?  A thinner outline of the "W" or will that be the black part?  I think I have an idea to create the mask using GAP, but I'll need a little more information.  At least I think my idea will work.
I'd rate you as an upper-middle-lower-mod with pro-novice-inter tendencies.....and a twist of lime!  Of course, my rating scale is completely objectively subjective, but ALWAYS consistently inconsistent.

Offline ClayOgre

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Re: Animated text outline in GAP with help from Inkscape.
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2008, 06:46:08 PM »
Yup, looks like exactly the same method.

I am not sure yet what I want to do.  Basically, I would have something like the above, but on a white background, and several layers, each slighly "shorter".

My intention is to create a bump map source, which would then be masked off with the animated layer mask.  The bump map would slowly appear in the sheet of metal as the laser moves.

Yup...I looked over your tutorial.  I didn't think of doing the move path with the different frames, that might work.  Creating the paths in Inkscape will give me a lot more control, tho.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2008, 06:48:16 PM by ClayOgre »

Offline fencepost

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Re: Animated text outline in GAP with help from Inkscape.
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2008, 07:05:33 PM »
Here's what you might try....

Create a black layer and then cut out the area you want as the final shape.  The cut out area should be transparent.  Keep this until the last step as described below.
Add a solid black layer to all the frames in GAP.
Then, add a transparent layer above each black frame.
Then, with a white "brush", create your animation as shown above.
Finally, add the black layer with the cut out to each frame.
Convert all frames to a layered image merging all layers together.  Hopefully, if I've my method is correct, you'll have the masks you're after....I hope.

Art
I'd rate you as an upper-middle-lower-mod with pro-novice-inter tendencies.....and a twist of lime!  Of course, my rating scale is completely objectively subjective, but ALWAYS consistently inconsistent.

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