Projected Clock Face

[DRU]

In our production of "A Christmas Carol", we are projecting a clock face and using it to show the changing of the time during scene transitions between each ghost visit. Ideally, I'd like to have the hands of the clock animated to move to the next hour. What software would I use to make an animated video?

 

[Calc]

I did it a while back (going on 10 years now) via Flash animation. It was nice because the whole thing was animated, so the clock continued to run during the scenes as well. I think it did a little brightness flash to hide the skip to the next time, rather than spinning the hands though. Sound effects were all tied in to the animation, too. We hung two projectors for the visible faces of the tower. The reviewer liked it enough to mention it, so I think it worked well.

Now? Figure out how to generate a video of the hands spinning, and let Qlab handle playing/pausing/sounds/etc. I wasted DAYS on making mine, and now I could probably slap it out in Qlab in an hour or so.

On the off chance you're interested, I may be able to find the files.

 

[Amiers]

Depends on if you want the clock to function normally in the mean time. You might have to code it. But if your just projecting the spin you can do it in AE or you can do it in Photoshop using the animation feature.

 

[themuzicman]

In our production of "A Christmas Carol", we are projecting a clock face and using it to show the changing of the time during scene transitions between each ghost visit. Ideally, I'd like to have the hands of the clock animated to move to the next hour. What software would I use to make an animated video?

It would be a pretty simple project in Adobe AfterEffects as long as the clock face and each hand was a separate original picture file.

 

[Drew Schmidt]

There are dozens of ways to do this (some listed above). For specific instructions, could you let us know what software you have at your disposal?
Do you have editing software? Adobe products? Final Cut? Motion?
What is your playback software? Qlab? Powerpoint?

The specifics in software will help determine the specifics in execution.

 

[DRU]

Using Qlab Pro Video for playback
Trying to find an editing program. Ideally something low cost/no cost.

 

[Drew Schmidt]

In that case, you never have to leave Qlab (for the most part)

Start by creating your clock

• Create your clock face background in something like photoshop. Be sure everything is centered / that your canvas is square.
• Create the hands in photoshop in a unique layer
• Export the background as a JPEG and each hand as a PNG

Next, bring everything into Qlab

• Create three video cues. Clock background. Hour hand. Minute hand.
• Be sure that they're layered similarly to the photoshop layer (bg - 997, hour, 998 - minute - 999)
• Change the Display & Geometry mode to be "Custom Geometry" on all three videos
• Now you can move the background to project on top of the actual clock on stage
• Copy those translation values and paste them into your clock hand videos
• On the hands, use the Z rotation to rotate until you're happy with the starting time (or do math .... minute / 60 * 360)
• If they're not rotating on center, adjust the anchor point. Then re-adjust the translation until you're happy with the location again

Now to animate the hands

• Create a new fade cue
• Drag and drop the clock hand video cue to apply the fade to that cue
• Change the Z rotation to animate the hands.
• Rotate the hour as 30 degrees per hour. Negative 30 degrees to make it go clockwise.
• Rotate the minute as 359 degrees per hour (again, 360 = 0)
• Put both these fades into a group cue and make the group mode "Start all children simultaneously"
• Adjust the action time to change the time over which the hands rotate

If you want to do multiple hours (i.e. 2 hours)

• Make three cues in the group
• Rotate the hour by -60
• Make two minute hand cues, each duration to be half of the hour duration
• Make the second hand animation cue to have a prewait equal to the duration
• You'll also need to adjust the curve shape to be linear instead of an S curve. Otherwise you'll get a funny hiccup in the middle.

Doing this purely in Qlab, you'll be able to adjust all animation on the fly without having to re-render from another application. The drawback is that you loose a bit of finesse in animation (i.e. Motion Blur in After Effects). But then you also don't need to use / learn After Effects.

Hope that helps!

 

[Joshualangman]

As is often the case with QLab, Mic Pool has the answer:

http://qlabcookbook.com/2010/01/06/real-time-clock/

Same as Drew Schmidt's answer, really, with the added option to make the clock show the actual current time.

 

[np18358]

You might try finding a clock video on youtube, and then you can set the speed it plays, (and when it stops/starts) and create any effect. I had to do this for a showcase last year where the theme was time passing. I know there is one video on youtube (I dont have the link handy) that is a perfect 12 hour video, so with just that, you can create any time, using any speed, to create any effect. Theres a plethora of videos, so I bet you could find one that you like. Make sure to ask the creator if it's ok to use, you don't want to run into rights issues.

 

[DRU]

In that case, you never have to leave Qlab (for the most part)

Start by creating your clock

• Create your clock face background in something like photoshop. Be sure everything is centered / that your canvas is square.
• Create the hands in photoshop in a unique layer
• Export the background as a JPEG and each hand as a PNG

Next, bring everything into Qlab

• Create three video cues. Clock background. Hour hand. Minute hand.
• Be sure that they're layered similarly to the photoshop layer (bg - 997, hour, 998 - minute - 999)
• Change the Display & Geometry mode to be "Custom Geometry" on all three videos
• Now you can move the background to project on top of the actual clock on stage
• Copy those translation values and paste them into your clock hand videos
• On the hands, use the Z rotation to rotate until you're happy with the starting time (or do math .... minute / 60 * 360)
• If they're not rotating on center, adjust the anchor point. Then re-adjust the translation until you're happy with the location again

Now to animate the hands

• Create a new fade cue
• Drag and drop the clock hand video cue to apply the fade to that cue
• Change the Z rotation to animate the hands.
• Rotate the hour as 30 degrees per hour. Negative 30 degrees to make it go clockwise.
• Rotate the minute as 359 degrees per hour (again, 360 = 0)
• Put both these fades into a group cue and make the group mode "Start all children simultaneously"
• Adjust the action time to change the time over which the hands rotate

If you want to do multiple hours (i.e. 2 hours)

• Make three cues in the group
• Rotate the hour by -60
• Make two minute hand cues, each duration to be half of the hour duration
• Make the second hand animation cue to have a prewait equal to the duration
• You'll also need to adjust the curve shape to be linear instead of an S curve. Otherwise you'll get a funny hiccup in the middle.

Doing this purely in Qlab, you'll be able to adjust all animation on the fly without having to re-render from another application. The drawback is that you loose a bit of finesse in animation (i.e. Motion Blur in After Effects). But then you also don't need to use / learn After Effects.

Hope that helps!

Tested this out this morning and it works great. Thanks for the help.

 

[chausman]

You should try and get a video of the effect if you can. I'm curious how well this turned out.