How create a film

Hallo,
I am using autoCAD 2000.
Is there a function that can make a film?
For example, in my drawing is a church and some houses around (all 3D
objects).
Now I want to create a film, which shows a look around from the church
tower.
Or which lets me walk around the church and look at it from all sides.

I think to remember, there is something like that in autocad, but i dont
remember anymore.

Daniela

 

Do you have ADT? If so, try this:

1. Draw a polyline for the path you want your animation to follow. I'll keep
this simple and assume you just want to drive around your 3D model. Change
the elevation of the polyline from 0 to 5' or so.

2. Change your background color to white and if possible all your objects
line color defaults to black.

3. Load the ADT menu.

4. Select View and then camera. Insert a camera; it doesn't matter where,
because you won't be using it!

5. Select the camera, then right click it and select "Create Video."

6. Click the "Pick Path" button under Camera Path and select your polyline.
Give it a name.

7. Click the "Pick Point" button under Target Path and select a point in the
middle of your model.

8. Edit the Target Path info so that the Z elevation of the point your
created is the same as the elevation of the polyline; i.e, if the target
path is 35',25',0', change it to 35',25',5'. Otherwise you will have 3-point
perspective in your animation.

9. Increase the number of frames (default: 25) based on the length of your
walkthrough polyline. In other words, if your path is 600' long, changing
the number of frames to 300 will create a new perspective image every two
feet. I find that a frame every five feet or so is good enough, but you can
play around with this. If you don't use enough frames, the animation will be
choppy.

10. Change the rate from 5 to at least 15. Otherwise you will have a very
slow animation.

11. Change Regen to "Hide."

12. Click OK.

You will now be prompted to name your AVI animation file. Hit cancel-- you
don't want to create it just yet. AutoCAD will create an animation the same
size as the window you're running your CAD session in. That's going to give
you an enormous file, so resize the window to something much smaller. After
you've done this, right click the camera again. All the defaults you set up
for the animation should still be there. Now click OK and give your
animation a name. You'll be prompted to pick a codec -- Cinepak is good
(uncompressed, the default, will again give you an oversized file).

Depending on the speed of your computer and the complexity of your model,
you should have a wireframe animation in AVI format ready in a few minutes..
You can then tweak frame rates, number of frames, camera and target paths,
etc. to your heart's content.

Good luck!

Marc

 

Alternately, to create a simple slide show...

I'm assuming you have Powerpoint and Photoshop or a similar program.

1. Open your drawing.
2. Open Photoshop.
3. Set up the view you want in AutoCAD. Hide or shade it if you want. When
you're ready, hit the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard.
4. Switch to Photoshop. Type Ctrl N to create a new file. Hit Enter to
select the defaults. Type Ctrl V. A "snapshot" of your CAD image should be
pasted into the window.
5. Return to AutoCAD. Set up your next view and repeat step 3. Don't bother
to create a new file when you switch to Photoshop, just paste the new image
directly on top of the old one. Repeat as necessary to create all your
slides.
6. In Photoshop, if you want, crop the image to get rid of menu bars,
buttons, etc. This will erase them from all your images simultaneously.
7. All the images you pasted should be on separate layers. Turn off all but
the first layer and save as a JPG file with a unique name.
8. Turn on the next layer and repeat Step 7. Do this for all your image
layers. You should now have umpteen screen images from your CAD file.
9. Run Powerpoint and insert the images as you normally would.

Good luck!

Marc