Products
Sculptor Animation Toolkit is available as an add-on for 3ds Max, a software package commonly used to animate movies, games and, more increasingly, live events and theatre productions. The growing demands of our industry require an increasingly flexible plotting tool that retains awareness of the restrictions of physical equipment. Sculptor Toolkit allows automated elements to be integrated into pre-visualisations, all the way from initial concepts to the final production. This creates the opportunity for close collaboration between the creative team and technical staff, maximising valuable stage time.
Combined with the power of eChameleon, the toolkit incorporates the safety and robustness of Stage Technologies systems with the creative freedom enjoyed in a modern 3D animation environment. Sculptor Toolkit maintains knowledge of real world capabilities within the stage environemtn and can also capture live motion as a basis for animation. The toolkit interface allows users to skim the surface of a highly sophisticated software, picking out the relevant elements, or to delve deeper into more powerful functionality. This spectrum of accessibility means time is maximised before opening night and costly external specialists are not required.
Sculptor Toolkit is equally at home plotting single point hoists or bridles as it is with a completely bespoke production with many hundreds of automated axes including scenic elements such as revolves, hydraulically-driven, custom-built machinery, lifts, stage trucks and rotating winch trolleys.
More information: demo of Sculptor 3D stage programming on YouTube, Press release
Files
Sculptor Animation Toolkit product sheet (A4) [Download]Sculptor Animation Toolkit product sheet (US letter) [Download]
| Product Features | |
| Plotting | Support for multiple axis types -linear (point hoists, linesets, lifts, actuators) -trolley (axes which follow tracks) -rotational (revolves, rotating joints/hinges) -roaming truck (absolute planar positioning / orientation) |
| No restriction on how axes can be combined e.g. linear winches, hanging from rotating / traversing trolley universal joint attached to actuator arm, on rotating pivot, on a roaming truck | |
| Frame by frame calculation of axis position, speed, and acceleration | |
| Trims and tweaks can be applied to axis data without having to change animation | |
| Summary information available for max, min positions, speeds, accels | |
| Imports and exports eChameleon paths - can originate as joystick recording, Visual Creator move, etc. - refinement tools simplifies vertex and keyframe reduction - tracks changes in position, speed and acceleration compared to the original path | |
| Positional, speed and acceleration graphs available for all axes and paths | |
| Groups | Supports grouping of axes in ‘rigs’ e.g. a bridle |
| Shows and scenes | Organisation into shows and scenes: - changes to the venue in the main show file are reflected in all scenes - multiple versions of the same cue can be stored in separate scenes - all actions (cues) created in the show can be exported in one step - any change to your venue in the base show are reflected in subsequent scenes |
| Playbacks | Toggle for full-speed, real-time playback without extra calculations |
| Safety | Frame by frame checking of safety limits imposed by rig geometry |
| Axis safety information can be manually entered, or read directly from an eChameleon system | |
| Summaries of safety limit compliance for easier error avoidance | |
| Safety checks need to be acknowledged before data is exported to the desk | |
For a captioned demo visit the Stage Technologies YouTube page.
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