22 replies to this topic

[Ironman]

Well I have been a busy beaver over these two months. I have a idea for a boltaction homemade idea and also a air regulator. My need for this gun is a firing mechanism and an air tank. My airtank idea is to have 2 inch PVC behind the firing mechanism. The 2 inch PVC will be about 7-10 inches long and will be pumped to high P.S.I. My tigger/ firing mechanism needs to be have a spring in it to push it back when i release it. It will also need to shut the air of when im down the trigger pull to conserve air. If my trigger doesn't have the automatic shut-off, its ok because I have the air regulator. My want is to get a program that is to make better concepts on the computer besides paint. I need a flash program that is free, so I can make a 3D model of my gun and then you can click on a part of the model and it will take you to a different screen and show you how the part works and maybe animate the way it works.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[merlinski]

While your intentions are good, there are flaws with your plan for presenting them.

First, there's no such thing as a free flash program. By flash you mean .swf files, and there are only two programs (Flash and Swish) that can make those files. Neither are free. So unless you meant you need to pirate Macromedia Flash, you're out of luck.

Second, Flash isn't 3D. If you want to make 3D models you'll need a different program like 3D max or Swift (Not Swish). Swift makes 3D models for flash animations, and is your only shot at animated 3D models. However, it's not free and believe me, it's insanely hard to make animations that look decent in three dimensions.

My advice is to keep working with paint. It's a lot easier to use than flash, and since 3D is impossible without shelling out some cash, it's got everything you need to make drawings. Just look at boltsniper's FAR diagrams - you can get a lot of detail using just colored lines.

Edited by merlinski, 29 June 2005 - 01:56 PM.

[cxwq]

Just look at boltsniper's FAR diagrams - you can get a lot of detail using just colored lines.

In Excel no less.

[Ironman]

Ok, Ill try 3D modal animations. How did boltsniper make the excel document animated?
If anyone can help me with my gun problems, that would also be great.

[cxwq]

Ok, Ill try 3D modal animations. How did boltsniper make the excel document animated?

He didn't. The plans are made up in Excel, the small animated version is an animated gif. There are freeware tools to make animated gifs though it's a tedious process.

[Ironman]

On excel, really?

[cxwq]

On excel, really?

The plans were made with Microsoft Excel, a component of Microsoft Office, and are in *.xls format.

[Ironman]

Im going to have to start fiddling with excel then if that make small animations. Thanks CXWQ.

Edited by Ironman, 29 June 2005 - 08:50 PM.

[cxwq]

Ok, Ill try 3D modal animations.  How did boltsniper make the excel document animated?

He didn't. The plans are made up in Excel, the small animated version is an animated gif. There are freeware tools to make animated gifs though it's a tedious process.

Once again, he didn't make the animations in Excel, he made the detailed plans in Excel. The animated gifs are made in some other application, of which several are freeware.

[taita cakes]

*WARNING* Slight Flame

CX: Give up, I've been helping this guy for the last few days or the last week on AIM, along with his other friend, and he's been shitting me up the wall. He's allegedly 14, but has the comprehension of a 6 year old. He gets "confused eaily"

Ironman: I'll tell you what I told you last time, just in case you didnt get it the first three times, and in case you want to create another topic to ask someone else:

What did you use to create your concepts?

Macromedia Flash MX [now MX 2004].

How did you get this program?

Communism.

Can I get it for free?

Only if you resort to Internet Communism.

Are there other free alternatives?

Not really. There are free plugins and such, but you are not likely to find any flash style programs [that output in a .swf format] and utilise many of the common fuctions like motion/shape tweening, for free. As suggested, try a gif animator.

What about 3D modelling?

Here there are a lot more free programs for you to download and have fun with. Again, google.



I'm sorry if I was harsh on you Ironman, but you PM'd me everytime I posted a concept, and I told you the exact same thing everytime. But when you and your friend constantly harrass me with the same questions, repeated several times, in 5 year old AIM speak, you give me little faith in the NIC. I want to help you, but when you dont listen, I cant stand it.

Sorry for clogging this up C.

[Ironman]

I knew that they were not flash animations. Tait, you never answered my question if there was a free alternitives. Thats not AOL 5 year old speck, everyone does it. Look at the size of the keyboard that I had to type on...

And for anyone who doesn't know what that is its this.

[taita cakes]

No words, can explain, my laughter.

That thing is terrible!

BA HA HA HA HA HA

[Ironman]

Thought you should no my little problem with it.
Can anyone help me with my gun problem?

Edited by Ironman, 09 July 2005 - 01:55 PM.

[boltsniper]

Specifically, I used Animation Shop 3 which is a component of Paint Shop Pro to make the animation. I set up an Excel workbook with a separate worksheet for each frame. I copied the schematic onto each worksheet and used copy and paste to move the right parts. Once the frames were ready I screenshotted all of them and saved them in order. Then, with Animation Shop you can build the gif with all the saved frames. Once the gif is built you can then go and crop off the rest of the screen from the screenshots. And that's it. A very primitive but effective way to make an animation. There are some simpler tools that will build a gif animation out of multiple images. One that comes to mind is the "gif construction set". These work the same way but don`t offer as many editing features as the higher end ones, notably the crop function which means you will have to crop each image of the animation manually before building the gif.

Anyway, good luck

[taita cakes]

Ha, man, you really need Flash or something else. But I suppose it's whatever works best for you. Your call.

[boltsniper]

I have Studio MX and use it quite often. Since I had the plans already done in Excel it wasnt much work to throw the animation together.

[taita cakes]

Ha, much work? Doesn't really sound like it.

Once you begin to understand Flash, and work with it's components, maybe read some tutorials if you have to, you can really begin to enjoy the work it produces, and the capabilities of programs like this. I would recommend you investigate it [more than you have] to save even a bit more time, and make your future sex-in-a-gun posts user friendly.

[boltsniper]

Well, I`m glad you know more about my capabilities then I do. Exactly how would it have been easier to convert the entire schematic to Flash just for the animation when I was already half way there with the Excel drawings?

I specifically chose Excel because spreadsheet format lends itself nicely to designing this type of mechanism. Also, I chose Excel because most people have it and I could distribute the plans in a single uncompressed file. If I wasn`t going to distribute it I would have just modeled it in SolidWorks.

You may want to tone down the arrogance a little, because you won`t get very far judging people with such little information to base it on.....

[Ironman]

Can anyone help me with the gun problems, instead of the flash shit. I understand it now.

Edited by Ironman, 14 July 2005 - 09:12 PM.

[taita cakes]

Boltsniper, it was just from what I read, a long process in terms of making frame by frame gifs. I merely suggested you look into flash, not just the program but the capabilities and the things you can do with it. I wasn't being arrogant at all, I was only saying that it could save you time in the future, and is a fun medium to work with. I do enjoy the user friendly nature of your concepts, I am happy that your plans created such a buzz with people recreating it left, right and centre, I just think that the method you used could have been rather time consuming.

Ironman, we have coached you to our limit, we have told you what programs you should have a look at, but now its your turn. You have to investigate the programs, you have to consider what suits the design you're trying to conceptualise, and you are the one who creates the concept. Not Us

[Ironman]

Dude, I understand the program shit, I just wanted to know how to make a trigger for my concept or a concept to work off of. Bolt is right about you being arrogant.

[taita cakes]

Wow, I'm cut. I'm sorry if helping you the numerous times you PM'd and AIM'd me was arrogant, and I'm sorry if telling your friend the exact same things was arrogant, but I guess I'm just one big American.

Geez, I'm sorry if I misread that you "understand" the programs now, but its time that you started investigating yourself. Have a couple of searches, there has been some discussio of trigger mechanisms before. People like Boltsniper arn't going to make this concept for you.

[Ironman]

Hey, boltsniper is just helping me with the hard part. If you don't want to help, then don't post. The homemades section is for this type of stuff. Enough with this gay flame war and lets just nerf, ok?