I use SU to design interior spaces and custom furniture/cabinetry and find using the Component Attributes window to animate objects and components frustrating and a bit time consuming at times.
Here is my suggestion:
As a way to quickly animate objects for simple movements like sliding or rotating, I propose a “Record Animation” tool which would work like this:
- Select an object to animate
- Click on a “Record Animation” icon in the menu bar
- Any movement/s of the selected object is recorded until you click a “Stop Record” icon
- Object is now ready to be animated using the Interact tool
Say I wanted to animate a pivot door slide on a cabinet door; I would select the door, click the Record Animation icon, then using the Rotate tool I’d rotate the door to the open position followed by using the Move tool to slide the door into the cabinet, then click Stop Recording. Using the Interact tool I could click on the door and it would rotate open then slide back all in one animation. Quick. Simple to use.
It would also be great to have the ability to group, or tag, selected animated objects together so that when you are using the Interact tool you only have to click on one of the animated objects and they all move at the same time. For example, when showing clients how cabinetry doors open it would be great if I only had to click on one door/drawer and all the grouped/tagged doors/drawers would animate at the same time. Or if on a double barn track door clicking just one door would animate both doors to slide away from each other. Maybe there’s already a way to group animated objects?
If someone has already created an extension for this, please let me know!
Thanks for reading,
Josh