[Bf-committers] NLA negative clipping bug

[Fabrizio]

Hi Ton,

Yes, it seems to be an issue with when the Nkey panel is present. If it's
not there you can physically move the Strip to negative values and it stays
that way but bringing up the Nkey panel clips the strips to 1 as soon as
they are selected... Sorry about the confusion didn't notice this earlier.
Not exactly a removed feature then but a misunderstood (and abused) bug!

Rgds
Fabrizio


>Hi,
>
>I doubt anyone would have removed this? When?
>Where is this feature exactly? The Nkey panel? That gives as minimum
>frame 1.0 since 2.25...
>
>-Ton-


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fabrizio"
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 5:59 PM
Subject: NLA negative clipping bug


> NLA 'strip start' and 'action start' clip at frame 1
>
>  The problem is that we are no longer able to set 'Action start' or Strip
> start' to a negative value which was possible pre 2.36. Removed feature
but
> also also offically a bug because it's not backward compatable with files
> created pre 2.36 that had negative starting points.
>
> Importance of negative Strip start:
> This is important as one sometimes need to sart the Strip from a negative
> value. As it is, it simply clips your strip to one (even when opening old
> files). This doesn't make sense as Action length is mapped to Strip
> ength  - therefore shortening the strip shortens the 'period' over which
the
> action happens (faster). One has to clip the action for them to happen at
> the same time but this is not easy when the ratio is not 1:1 - which is
part
> of the point having NLA strips to begin with. Moving the whole timeline is
> also not always an option or (even an easy) as little data is available in
> the NLA  and so there are several time-related issues such as movie
> textures, particles, RVKS. time remappping etc which make this a VERY
> complex task.
>
> Importance of negative Action start:
> 'Hold' works forward not backwards so to 'hold' a position backwards we
have
> to set action to start much earlier than the first keyframe (Not a problem
> as IPO's values work indefinetly back and forward) but if the action
starts
> from 1 you can no longer put the 'hold' space before the action. And
moving
> the whole action is tediuos if it is used by other armatures too.
>
> So please could we have the ability to use 'negative values' back in the
NLA
> in with the imminent  2.37 bug fix release?
>
> The NLA is limited enough as it is. I know the NLA is up for a re-vamp
> together with the animation features  but that's a whole release away -
and
> proably a long one due to the animation refactor ( Speaking of which -
look
> to the adobe Aftereffects timeline for NLA inspiration - it truly is a
> marvelous example of a what a timeline should be when it comes to features
> and control! Hope to have some time for a proposal over coming weeks!)
>
> versions affected:
> bf 2.36
> bf 2.37
>
> OS: Winxp home ed
>
> Thanks
>
> Rgds,
> fabrizio
>
> ps. Try as I might, I still can't log in to bug tracker (Yes, I've changed
> my password as instructed) so sending bug report to bf mail-list. Excuse
the
> intrusion. Thanks
>
>