These experiments can get tiring to the outsider reader pretty quickly so I am going number my updates down the page as this piece develops and keep publishing the same post - feel free to skip. This is for my own brain tracking changes and developments.
1: Write-on using line segments
For this:
I drew a line on the iPad - saved it to the cloud
opened it on the Mac and sliced the route into four or more sections
exported this into a single SVG file which I then opened in Pixelmator Pro/exported to a Motion project
in Motion I create a duplicate (black underneath with a wider outline) converted the top pieces into a yellow thinner line
I broke the four pieces into ease-in/out write-ons
I created a default marker in Affinity and did the same thing as above
then I added various animation behaviours - fade/type on/fade out
duplicated the pieces along the line and changed the pointer with shape manipulation within Motion
For this method to work it needs the stages to be decided in advance - the write-on behaviour is quite quick and easy to do instead of using keyframes.
2: Camera movements using ‘Frame object’ and ‘ease both’
Using the ‘Frame object’ menu function to position the focus on the placed markers. Then I use the scale slightly to bring it in. I don’t really like the wiggling going on in the camera movement. It probably needs a bit more love to get it feeling better.
3: More careful handling of keyframing
I went back and scrapped the camera moves and tried a bit more care. This time I used less scaling. It feels efficient and (perhaps) a little less human but I think it functions fine.
4: Redesign the map elements
I went into Affinity Designer and used all of my prior ideas to make this. It went back and forth between the Mac and iPad to make the most of the various organising/creating tools. Notice that I have used the green (going there) and red (returning) colour scheme. I also added in some edited segments for where the hills are most extreme. In an earlier version I tried to bring in a moving gradient diagram but it felt too busy.
5: Animate the sections
Pixelmator Pro didn’t play well with a handful of elements when I tried to bring my design into the SVG file/Motion project process.
the mile marker numbers didn’t translate accurately, so I ended up converting them to vector curves feeling pretty sure that I wouldn’t need to change the text again
the sections I had cut out to represent steep hill sections were re-interpreted as rounded sections (see below).
The Affinity designer squared ends (left) and the resulting Pixelmator Pro rounded version (right). In the end I quite like the look so it wasn’t such a sad time for me.
I needed to go in and tweak a few of the numbers that hadn’t translated very well even after converting them to curves.
Overall I was happy with Pixelmator Pro but be aware that it isn’t a perfect translation tool. It’s great but not perfect for Affinity files - worth bearing in mind if you cry a lot at night.
Anyways - here is the latest build:
There are a few framing issues but you get the idea - I like how this is turning out. When it comes to the video I am hoping to make with the actual Three Forts run, I need to remember to break those sections into smaller parts (as per section 2 above). Another issue is how the interplay between shot footage and the map works - so far this is a nice set of moving information - how do you integrate shot video into this without overdoing it?