Quote
Originally posted by Mantaray:
**You'll need a 3d app, which unfourtunately don't come cheap. Machanisto (sp?) is the only user-friendly free one. Once you find that, make your ship, and set your camera at 45ş angle angled towards the ship.
Set the light to be facing the ship at a 30ş angle towards the ship.
make your ship at 100 degrees along the y axis per second. Make it stop after 350 degrees.
you only need about 5 keyframes... do a search for "keyframes." I posted some tips about 'em.
Render it out as a quicktime movie, then follow the instructions found here.
**
Just some minor corrections and/or clarifications:
The camera should be placed 45° ABOVE the plane of the ship (usually the xy plane).
The light is placed about 30° TO THE LEFT of the centerline of the ship (while it's in its initial position), shining on the opposite side of the ship from the camera.
Make your ship rotate 10 degrees PER FRAME around the y axis, stopping after 350 degrees. This is only a general rule. If you have a big ship (say a freighter) and want it to turn smoothly, but slowly as well, decrease the number of degrees per frame it turns. You need to make sure that the number of degrees per frame divides evenly into 360°.
Oh, and POV-Ray is a very good free program as well. It's not quite as user friendly, but it makes animated sprites very quickly when the initial modeling is done.
Good luck!
Matrix
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"Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."