Creating a travelogue

There hasn't been any activity in this group for such a long time, so I 
realize that I'm probably asking this question in a vacuum, however...

I'm assembling a video of pictures I've taken of past travels, and I'd 
like to include an animation of the routes I've taken. I'd like to show 
a line extending over a bitmap image of a map, tracing the exact route. 
The line would start as a dot at the starting point and gradually extend 
along the route. The line can be anything from a freehand curve to a 
bezier curve. Is there any way I can do this in Rave? The best I can 
come up with is a blend along a curve, but that just gives me a 
traveling dot, not something that looks like a line gradually being drawn.

I have it in the back of my mind that this was discussed in the distant 
past, but I can't see any way to search the newsgroups from the Corel site.

Tim Riley wrote:
> 
> There hasn't been any activity in this group for such a long time, so I 
> realize that I'm probably asking this question in a vacuum, however...
> 
> I'm assembling a video of pictures I've taken of past travels, and I'd 
> like to include an animation of the routes I've taken. I'd like to show 
> a line extending over a bitmap image of a map, tracing the exact route. 
> The line would start as a dot at the starting point and gradually extend 
> along the route. The line can be anything from a freehand curve to a 
> bezier curve. Is there any way I can do this in Rave? The best I can 
> come up with is a blend along a curve, but that just gives me a 
> traveling dot, not something that looks like a line gradually being drawn.
> 
> I have it in the back of my mind that this was discussed in the distant 
> past, but I can't see any way to search the newsgroups from the Corel
site.

You are well on the correct path (if you pardon the pun)--there's just one
thing:

You need to extend the Lifespan of all these Objects as a Group so that they 
each (individually) live long enough before the Lifespan of the previous Object

in the chain ends.

Try this:

a) Create a square Rectangle (this step-by-step is much easier if all four 
sides are of equal length <g>)

b) Convert this Squectangle to Curves (Ctrl+Q)

c) Select all (4) Nodes and press the "+" ("Add Node(s)") in
the Property Bar 
three times . . . this gives you an additional seven Nodes for each side (more 
nodes = more Objects = smoother animation; but, too much is sometimes too much,

as you may know ;)).

d) Ctrl+A to Select All Nodes

e) Press the "Break Curve" button in the Property Bar (|. -> :)

f) Make sure all the little pieces of the original Curve are selected, then 
Group these Objects into one, single Group

g) Go "Menu > Movie > Create Sequence From Group . . . this will give
you a 
sequence of 32 Objects, each existing in only one Frame.  This is where you 
are, now (or, er, as of 1/1/07, that is <s>)

h) Look to the Timeline, and identify the "Group of 32 Objects"--you
should see 
a bb at Frame 1 connected to a bb at Frame 32 by a line.

i) Select the bb at Frame 32

j) Hold-down the Ctrl key, grab the aforementioned bb with your left mouse 
button, and drag it to Frame 64

k) Look to the Document Window, and press your Play button

l) Notice that, instead of a dot following he outline, you now have an 
ever-increasing-in-length line that forms according to the outline of the 
original Object you created

The key to getting such a progressive Object animation is the use of the Ctrl 
key to draw a Group of Objects forward in Time so that their Lifespan increase 
is proportional

Hope this helps..

Andrew Hurt wrote:
> You are well on the correct path (if you pardon the pun)--there's just 
> one thing:
> 
> You need to extend the Lifespan of all these Objects as a Group so that 
> they each (individually) live long enough before the Lifespan of the 
> previous Object in the chain ends.
> 
> Try this:
> 
> a) Create a square Rectangle (this step-by-step is much easier if all 
> four sides are of equal length <g>)
> 
> b) Convert this Squectangle to Curves (Ctrl+Q)
> 
> c) Select all (4) Nodes and press the "+" ("Add
Node(s)") in the 
> Property Bar three times . . . this gives you an additional seven Nodes 
> for each side (more nodes = more Objects = smoother animation; but, too 
> much is sometimes too much, as you may know ;)).
> 
> d) Ctrl+A to Select All Nodes
> 
> e) Press the "Break Curve" button in the Property Bar (|. ->
:)
> 
> f) Make sure all the little pieces of the original Curve are selected, 
> then Group these Objects into one, single Group
> 
> g) Go "Menu > Movie > Create Sequence From Group . . . this will
give 
> you a sequence of 32 Objects, each existing in only one Frame.  This is 
> where you are, now (or, er, as of 1/1/07, that is <s>)
> 
> h) Look to the Timeline, and identify the "Group of 32
Objects"--you 
> should see a bb at Frame 1 connected to a bb at Frame 32 by a line.
> 
> i) Select the bb at Frame 32
> 
> j) Hold-down the Ctrl key, grab the aforementioned bb with your left 
> mouse button, and drag it to Frame 64
> 
> k) Look to the Document Window, and press your Play button
> 
> l) Notice that, instead of a dot following he outline, you now have an 
> ever-increasing-in-length line that forms according to the outline of 
> the original Object you created
> 
> The key to getting such a progressive Object animation is the use of the 
> Ctrl key to draw a Group of Objects forward in Time so that their 
> Lifespan increase is proportional
> 
> Hope this helps..
> 

Absolutely. I didn't have much hope in getting a reply, much less one 
that gave me exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for your 
help. It appears there is more to Rave than I was aware.

One addendum: between steps e) and f) you need to do "Arrange > Break 
Apart" (Ctrl+K).

Again, thanks a lot.

Tim Riley wrote:
> Andrew Hurt wrote:
>> You are well on the correct path (if you pardon the pun)--there's just

>> one thing:
>> 
>> You need to extend the Lifespan of all these Objects as a Group so that

>> they each (individually) live long enough before the Lifespan of the 
>> previous Object in the chain ends.
>> 
>> Try this:
>> 
>> a) Create a square Rectangle (this step-by-step is much easier if all 
>> four sides are of equal length <g>)
>> 
>> b) Convert this Squectangle to Curves (Ctrl+Q)
>> 
>> c) Select all (4) Nodes and press the "+" ("Add
Node(s)") in the 
>> Property Bar three times . . . this gives you an additional seven Nodes

>> for each side (more nodes = more Objects = smoother animation; but, too

>> much is sometimes too much, as you may know ;)).
>> 
>> d) Ctrl+A to Select All Nodes
>> 
>> e) Press the "Break Curve" button in the Property Bar (|.
-> :)
>> 
>> f) Make sure all the little pieces of the original Curve are selected,

>> then Group these Objects into one, single Group
>> 
>> g) Go "Menu > Movie > Create Sequence From Group . . . this
will give 
>> you a sequence of 32 Objects, each existing in only one Frame.  This is

>> where you are, now (or, er, as of 1/1/07, that is <s>)
>> 
>> h) Look to the Timeline, and identify the "Group of 32
Objects"--you 
>> should see a bb at Frame 1 connected to a bb at Frame 32 by a line.
>> 
>> i) Select the bb at Frame 32
>> 
>> j) Hold-down the Ctrl key, grab the aforementioned bb with your left 
>> mouse button, and drag it to Frame 64
>> 
>> k) Look to the Document Window, and press your Play button
>> 
>> l) Notice that, instead of a dot following he outline, you now have an

>> ever-increasing-in-length line that forms according to the outline of 
>> the original Object you created
>> 
>> The key to getting such a progressive Object animation is the use of
the 
>> Ctrl key to draw a Group of Objects forward in Time so that their 
>> Lifespan increase is proportional
>> 
>> Hope this helps..
>> 
> 
> Absolutely. I didn't have much hope in getting a reply, much less one 
> that gave me exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for your 
> help. It appears there is more to Rave than I was aware.

You are most welcome.

> 
> One addendum: between steps e) and f) you need to do "Arrange >
Break 
> Apart" (Ctrl+K).

L!  I quadripple checked my steps to not that much avail, I now see ;/

I'm very happy it is you that was on the ball, rather than I--rolling things
are kinda scary, imo <g>

> 
> Again, thanks a lot.

It was the least I could do.
-- 
ah