Recording cross section slider

[Adam_Gibson]

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel here. Anyone know the best way to record the cross-section slider without it being jerky? From a single vantage point I want to show a house being rendered from the ground up in 10 seconds, but using the slider manually it looks jerky, even when spreading the slider over the entire screen. I seem to recall a method that will automate this, but I can't find it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[robdyck]

I remember this being discussed, but my only solution was manual. Like you mentioned, stretch the slider window, and I make sure my mouse is on a very smooth surface, and butted up against a straight edge for a bit of extra control.

Then I use my amazing core strength to hold my entire body perfectly still while my kids pull on the rope and pulley system attached to my office chair. Can't be beat, at least until i get the electric winch operating!

[Adam_Gibson]

That sounds like a perfect solution. May I borrow your offspring?

[robdyck]

Honestly, it did cross my mind to see if we had some sort of toy kicking around that would work to pull the mouse at a steady rate.

[Chopsaw]

I think Lumion's  Clip Plane Tool is what you are after.

[glennw]

You can use the left or right arrow keys (or up and down) to move the slider in set steps.

I am trying to remember how to, or if it is possible to change the interval - I will have a play (was it Distance Moved By Arrow Key?).

I know you can change the height of the cutting plane on an interval by interval basis, but that may get tedious.

Hi-lite the distance input box on the right and enter a distance.

Press Tab (not Enter).

The cutting plane will move.

You have to go back and hi-lite the input box again and enter the next height..... 

[robdyck]

30 minutes ago, glennw said:

You can use the left or right arrow key to move the slider in set steps.

But can you set that increment? It makes for a pretty neat effect to use this while the building is spinning.

[glennw]

10 minutes ago, robdyck said:

But can you set that increment?

 

I thought there was a way to set the increment, but I can't remember!

[MarkMc]

Changing snap units in plan defaults changes how far an object moves with the arrow key but has no effect on the slider in the DBX. Might be possible to alter with a programmable keyboard?

I had a quick play at this with a trackball lowering the DPI setting and making the slider DBX length equal to a little less than the distance a single rotation of my thumb worked fairly well. If I had to do this much I'd pull out my Elecom Huge with a bigger ball.

Tested with a mouse but can't alter the DPI on the one I grabbed. Found smoothest for me was pulling the mouse with my forearm flat on the surface.

Fun game

[Adam_Gibson]

Thanks for the replies. I guess the short answer is no to automation. Too bad. It would make for incredible marketing videos.

[Alaskan_Son]

19 hours ago, robdyck said:

Then I use my amazing core strength to hold my entire body perfectly still while my kids pull on the rope and pulley system attached to my office chair.

Love it!!!!

[Alaskan_Son]

2 hours ago, Adam_Gibson said:

Thanks for the replies. I guess the short answer is no to automation. Too bad. It would make for incredible marketing videos.

There's no built in automation I can think of off-the top, but you can use a simple macro recorder to either move the mouse incrementally or to enter numbers into the Cross Section Slider dialog.  The latter would probably be the easiest.  You would just need to do something like manually place the cursor in front of the cross section slider value, and run a macro with the following sequence...

1. Type ----> "+3"
2. Type ----> Tab key
3. Type ----> Up Arrow
4. Type ----> Right Arrow
5. Type ----> "+3"
6. Type ----> Tab key
7. Type ----> Up Arrow
8. Type ----> Right Arrow
9. ......and keep repeating the sequence

With the appropriate pauses between keystrokes assigned, it should result in a perfectly smooth and controlled movement (in this case using 3" intervals), all completely automated.