Exporting .AI files for keyframes

Ok, I have the feeling that the answer to this is probably right in front of me but I've already clocked 30+ hours today working on other things and not everything upstairs is working as smoothly as I would like...
What I would like to to is create a series of .AI files directly from GH that I can then use as keyframes for an animation I'm working on. I've gotten all of the relationships between the individual elements pegged down (see Attractor Fan w Hatching.ghx; I annotated all the steps so hopefully my goals are pretty clear) and I've started playing with the .ghx that Louis Gadd posted (with elements from Marc Hoppermann's post [and Damien Alomar tweaks]). My problem is that I set up the original definition to be controlled by a slider.
What I think I need to do is create a series of evaluation points for the attractor point and then find a way to link individual eval. points to equivalent export files, i.e. file: 5-0.AI contains the geometry at point 5, 5-1.AI contains the geometry at point 5.1, etc.

My practical VB knowledge is non-existent so while I think this should be a relatively easy thing to accomplish in theory I haven't the foggiest in terms of how to actually do it myself. Is there a non-VB route I could take? Any advice would greatly appreciated (and you'll get a mention in my thesis, which has to be an exciting proposition...).

BTW, I would bake the incremental steps by hand but I need to animate between five and seven versions of the following:

Attachments:

Attractor Fan w Hatching.ghx, 847 KB
listmanagement_03.ghx, 234 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Golder on November 29, 2009 at 5:08am

I am assuming you have already figured out how to export an illustrator file. The only thing you need VB for is to output illustrator files.

Try looking at the different inputs/sliders that you want to vary, and figure out how to drive them with a single slider. With this single slider you would then right click on the slider and say "animate". Though "animate" gives you the option of exporting screenshots, you don't need to do this if you are exporting illustrator files, and you can direct the command to dump the screenshots into some random folder.

For example, if you wanted to export 25 illlustrator files, each corresponding to an evaluation point on a curve, all you would need to do is "animate" a slider that outputs the evaluation parameter, and say that you want 25 frames. As the slider moves due to the "animate" command, the definition will update and it will output a new illustrator file. You will of course need to feed a file name into your VB component that exports the illustrator files, and this name will have to change as the main slider is animated. the simplest step would be convert the output of your animated slider into some integer with enough digits to encompass the range of variation, then convert this integer to a string, and then concatenate it into the file name with a simple multivariable function component.

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