Graphics

I have been handed a scene to build in which the only elements are user-editable text in 4 fields, a sponsor logo, and a full frame plate which will run a video of a plinko-style game with a baseball falling from the top, bouncing around and landing on a number from 0-9, and another video of the ball falling through a trap door at the bottom before the next video rolls with the ball falling to a new location.

As of now, the only way I can see this working is to:

- First combine the ball dropping and ball falling through the trap door videos into a single video (so that i have 10 videos ultimately instead of 20).
- Set up a separate scene for each number, with a pause point in play before the trap door part plays.
- Use transition logic* to then allow the operator to place the sequence of numbers in the order needed, and have the last part of the animation trigger as the 'out move' before the next one plays**

The one issue is the aforementioned user-editable text, which are basically a,b,c,d multiple choice answers, which for any given event will not change.. so if the operator makes a sequence with say 5 of these ball drops, the text in all 5 of the called upon scenes needs to stay the same, and it seems burdensome to task the operator with entering the same text values in 4 fields 5 separate times. Is there a way to tie these values across scenes?

* I really, really, reaaaaaaally dislike working with TL. I find it cumbersome and unwieldy. Would something like this work without using TL?

** Given that I want a separate part of the video to play as the TL Out move, maybe it actually IS better to leave them as separate elements?

Thanks in advance
- Willie

If you don't want to use TL and you want to build this into 1 scene you'll need to script. If you want to build this as sperate scenes and you want to tie the data across separate scenes you'll need to script or use datalinq. I would personally use TL for what I think you are describing but it's hard for me to fully understand from the description alone I'd need to see a sample scene.
#XPression

Willie I eat this stuff up. Let me know if you want a hand. I'm currently working on a "Spin the Bottle" game with a ton of scene directors and animation controllers.
#XPression

Ok.. so here's where things get interesting. The attached image is a frame from this scene I am building which is basically a plinko style game for guessing the attendance at a game..

As mentioned before, I have 10 scenes each with 2 videos

- The first video in each scene shows the ball falling from the top in to one of the number slots at bottom.
- The second video depicts the ball falling through the trapdoor at the bottom.
- Using TL, the second video will be in the out director and will play before the next video with the next number
- The only objects in the scene are the quads on which the videos play, quad with the sponsor logo, and the multiple choice answers on the side.

Here is where things get tricky and have me essentially stumped.

- When the ball lands in a number slot, all instances of that number in the answer choices meed to highlight with a yellow color.
- When advancing to the next scene, all previously highlighted numbers need to retain that state with the next number highlighting when the ball lands in its slot
- Ideally the number choices on the side need to be able to be entered once by the operator and populate across all the scenes.

Given the way XPression handles fonts, I am quite concerned about how to pull off this single digit within a 5 digit number highlight trick. It certainly will involve scripting, making this my first foray into scripting of any kind. The deadline for this is this week, so without any idea of how to even start on this highlight logic, I am lets just say... concerned.

So, any guidance or assistance that can be offered would be me with extreme gratitude.

Thanks in advance
- Willie

#XPression

Anyone? Please?
#XPression

Hello Willie,
with scripting , you can use TextWithTags property to do the highlighting trick :

for each characters in the answers, check if it match the numbers that have been played and change font tag accordingly.

For example : if 2 9 and 1 have been played , for answer "25,138" you will set :
textObj.TextWithTags = "{Font_Yellow}2{Font_White}5{Font_White},{Font_Yellow}1{Font_White}3{Font_White}8

See project sample in attachement : script Numbers.OnSetText .

You can change values in sequencer mode to test it dynamically.

Hope it helps,
Antoine.

#XPression

Thank you so much Antoine, I will check this out right now, it sounds like exactly the thing.
#XPression

This is great. Couple of questions, I see that in your setup, the numbers for the answer are entered manually. Is there a way for the script to to pull the highlight state from the scenes which have been played?

Each scene (0-9) corresponds to a number, and the order in which they are placed into the sequencer and played back will vary. As is, the operator would need to be on top of updating that number manually, which could work, but I find the less we throw at operators to do, the better.

Finally, I need the number to highlight at a specific point in time (when the ball in the video reaches its number slot). I am certain there is a way to set a script event to occur at a certain time, but again being a complete novice to scripting, I do not know it.

Again thank you so much. This already gets me much, much closer.
#XPression

So, I have tested Antoine's scene, and it works there perfectly.. however, when I attempt to implement this on my own scene, it is as if the script is ONLY evaluating the first character in the number string and subsequently highlighting the entire 5-digit number. I have literally copy/pasted his script into my scene, and named everything involved exactly the same in order to eliminate as many variables as possible. Screen shots below show the whole-number highlighting behavior, nothing highlighting when a number is chosen which is in a string but not at the beginning and my Object Manager and script window. the ONLY difference between the sample scene and mine is that my TexAnswer objects are published...

#XPression

Update - I unpublished the AnswerText objects and the script does indeed work... so, this begs the question, how do I let the operator enter values for the AnswerText Objects if they need to remain unpublished?
#XPression

yes it's odd : there is a strange behavior when text are published ...

Here is an update of the test project [ATTACH]n15476[/ATTACH] :
- Answers are duplicated in 2 text objects (one is published, the other is not) : data are copied with script event on main scene : Onprepare(...) : so now the operator can enter the values
- added 10 scenes (one for each number , to be in the same configuration that you have done )
- following Redmile advices in recent topic : add a script event in scenedirector 's timeline to trigger the main scene.

Maybe it could be possible to have only one scene for all the numbers (and use a datalink with video material ?) : it would be easier if you want to change something.


Regards,
Antoine




#XPression

Thanks again, Antoine... so far the only part of this whole thing I have been able to make work is the highlight function, and only then because I could copy/paste the script. I know that everything I need this collection of scenes to do is possible with script - probably quite simple actually, but starting from zero as I am it's all completely over my head. I seek to remedy that.. but right now I am honestly quite worried about disappointing my clients ....
#XPression