making a bucket roll on logs!

[clare stead]

How would you go about making it look like you had a bucket and it was rolling on sticks? I have created the buckets and the sticks, but getting the sticks to look like they are rolling and the bucket to move at the same time is beating me! I did see something in the blogs once, but can't find it now about something similar that was a conveyer belt that moved something along, I think, but I am stumped, would really welcome an help. thanks Clare

[DavidAnderson]

Hi Clare - thanks for posting this to the forums!

Here's a quick attempt at rolling a bucket over some logs. Timing needs to be tweaked but I wanted to get something out there for you to look at.

I'm using motion paths and the "spin" emphasis effect. I spread the animation out over 3 slides to better control the timing but it's possible to do on a single slide.

What perspective are you viewing your bucket and logs (top? side? front?)

Can you share your start screen? That might help a bit with the effect.

David

[DavidAnderson]

OK - I think I found a better way using the Exit animation "Crawl" for the bucket. You can keep all the elements on one slide this way.

I modified the timing of the bucket to 4 seconds and set the spinning logs to "slow".

How far across the slide do you want this to travel?

One thing you could also do is use a blank audio file combined with "Sync Animations" to control the fade in of the other logs. This way only 2-3 logs are under the bucket at any one time.

David

[clare stead]

Do you know you are a total HERO!!! I have been trying to do this with only motion paths for about a week! THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time and the effort to help me. I have learnt three things today, how to make the bucket look like it is moving, how to post properly to this forum and how to use twitter! THANK YOU once again. I am really thrilled. By the way, you were looking at the bucket in the same way as I was!
Many thanks
Clare

Originally Posted by David Anderson

OK - I think I found a better way using the Exit animation "Crawl" for the bucket. You can keep all the elements on one slide this way.

I modified the timing of the bucket to 4 seconds and set the spinning logs to "slow".

How far across the slide do you want this to travel?

One thing you could also do is use a blank audio file combined with "Sync Animations" to control the fade in of the other logs. This way only 2-3 logs are under the bucket at any one time.

David

[DavidAnderson]

Woot! So glad that worked for you! The "crawl" entrace/exit effect is pretty cool.

Another cool example of the "crawl" is from Jason who showed how to use it for scrolling credits: Screenr - @JasonFane: @tomkuhlmann A quicker/easier way of doing screen credits in PowerPoint

Again, thanks for posting such a fun challenge and welcome to the community!

David

[DavidAnderson]

Just wanted to update this thread with a screencast I put together on both techniques. If anyone has ideas for improving upon this effect, please share your ideas!

Screenr - @elearning: How to animate a bucket over spinning logs in #PowerPoint using Spin and Crawl

David

[MSellers]

Great info on the "crawl"effect....way better than motion paths. I can think of a couple uses for this type of animation.

So, I was playing around and added a teeter emphasis (medium-repeat). However, teeter animation changes to red when published. (even if you color it white)

Is there an effect that will replicate the teeter effect that will publish without altering the photo?

[clare stead]

Ok what i was trying to do with the buckets and logs was teach African grade 1 kids about the forces of pushing and pulling. They were being asked to do an experiment (in the main e-learning content that I am making) that in the first world we would have the resources to physically do in the classroom ie we would have a bucket with something in, and some big pieces of dowling, some that were round and some that were square and we would test how we could move the bucket, and perhaps at the end how we could move a big bucket with a person in!!!! Well here in Africa in the compounds you can find buckets, but finding round and square pieces of wood are hard to come by, so I have come up with this pick, choose, discuss and see scenario as an alternative.... obvioulsy this is only a small part of the whole content that I am making, but thought you might like to see how it has panned out in the end. Thanks so much to David for getting me going again, as I was so stuck, but this is where I have got to. Let me know your thoughts. Help yourself to the files if they are any use to you.
Clare

[clare stead]

Originally Posted by MSellers

Great info on the "crawl"effect....way better than motion paths. I can think of a couple uses for this type of animation.

So, I was playing around and added a teeter emphasis (medium-repeat). However, teeter animation changes to red when published. (even if you color it white)

Is there an effect that will replicate the teeter effect that will publish without altering the photo?

I had the same problem, and my solution was to take the teeter out!!! (that worked!!!!)

[DavidAnderson]

OKAY this is so cool Clare! I love the animated hand/finger that set the bucket roll in motion. I wasn't exactly clear where you were going with this but this example is really cool.

For the course player, you could turn off the scrubber or use a 3 second, blank audio file for each slide to reduce the total duration for the slide.

What other types of training are you creating?