Driver Expressions for Animations in Blender - #frame

Tagged: #frame, animation loop, blender, endless animation, infinite animation, shader nodes

This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 months, 4 weeks ago by Mikhail Luzyanin.

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2023-04-24 at 5:18 pm #63247

Mariusz
Customer

Hi guys!

I need to use driver expression #frame in Blender shader node to achieve some infinite animation loops in shader effects. But it doesn’t work in Verge3D. Is there any way to walkaround this?

I mean this effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cX9GKry9ns

2023-04-24 at 6:16 pm #63249

kdv
Participant

What do you want to get exactly and where? Infinite animation loops can be easily created without #frame…

Puzzles and JS. Fast and expensive.

If you don’t see the meaning in something it primarily means that you just don’t see it but not the absence of meaning at all.

2023-04-24 at 7:04 pm #63250

Mariusz
Customer

I need to create the “connection lines” that represent the energy flow. I have a thin cylinder mesh, and thanks to the shader from the image below I can slide the glowing effect along it. In the circled value I can type #frame and it perfectly animates the flow in Blender. But unfortunately, it doesn’t work in Verge3D. I also tried to set up this value via puzzle but it requires a number input and rejects the # symbol.

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2023-04-24 at 7:08 pm #63252

kdv
Participant

So what’s the problem? Just animate that Value node using key frames and it will work in Verge3D.

Puzzles and JS. Fast and expensive.

If you don’t see the meaning in something it primarily means that you just don’t see it but not the absence of meaning at all.

2023-04-25 at 8:18 am #63259

Mariusz
Customer

I know I can do that, but this solution doesn’t create a perfect loop. Also, in other shaders, I would like to use the #frame instead of keyframes, so I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to use it in Verge.
The problem with keyframes is that they end at some point. And even if the animation is looped, when the keyframes end and the animation is played again, there is a sudden “jump” in the visual effect (when it comes back to the first frame). I try to avoid this “jump”, so the #frame solution seems to be the best. But I guess I need to find another walkaround unless someone knows the answer on how to use “#frame” in Verge.

2023-04-25 at 11:17 am #63263

kdv
Participant

Mariusz wrote:

so the #frame solution seems to be the best

In fact, it’s the worst solution. You’ll have to create a new exporter which will export the inner Blender’s python-based logic for drivers to glTF. And a new glTF importer to make it work in three.js/v3d.js.

Mariusz wrote:

but this solution doesn’t create a perfect loop.

It does

Mariusz wrote:

there is a sudden “jump” in the visual effect

With the correct end position you won’t even see this “jump”
https://v3d.net/iqo

Puzzles and JS. Fast and expensive.

If you don’t see the meaning in something it primarily means that you just don’t see it but not the absence of meaning at all.

2023-04-26 at 8:10 am #63278
Mikhail Luzyanin
Staff
Mariusz wrote:

I know I can do that, but this solution doesn’t create a perfect loop. Also, in other shaders, I would like to use the #frame instead of keyframes, so I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to use it in Verge.
The problem with keyframes is that they end at some point. And even if the animation is looped, when the keyframes end and the animation is played again, there is a sudden “jump” in the visual effect (when it comes back to the first frame). I try to avoid this “jump”, so the #frame solution seems to be the best. But I guess I need to find another walkaround unless someone knows the answer on how to use “#frame” in Verge.

Can you share the blend file? I’ll look what can be done. Unfrotunally w have no plans to support drivers, it would be too complex soluition for such basic tasks like looping animation.
- This reply was modified 11 months, 4 weeks ago by Mikhail Luzyanin.
Co-founder and lead graphics specialist at Soft8Soft.
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