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Quickstart

In this section we're going to guide you through creating your own simple animation using Rebelle Motion IO.

Download project files​

Prepare a JSON file for Rebelle​

First we need to create a JSON file with events (commands) grouped into animation frames (for more info in the JSON Events Reference section). In the following JSON file, we will:

  1. Setup a new artwork
  2. Select a brush and its parameters
  3. Paint a single curved stroke through multiple points
  4. Add some more animation frames with several simulation steps

Save the following file as quickstart.json (or download it from the link above).

{"frames":[
    {"events":[
        {
            "event_type": "NEW_ARTWORK",
            "width": 640,
            "height": 480,
            "units": "px",
            "dpi": 200,
            "paper": {
                "preset": "Default/HM01 Handmade",
                "color": { "r": 255, "g": 255, "b": 255 },
                "deckled_edges": true,
                "paper_scale":  150
            }
        },
        {
            "event_type": "SET_BRUSH",
            "tool": "WATERCOLOR",
            "preset": "Gouache/Gouache Filbert",
            "size" : 40,
            "water": 55,
            "opacity": 10,
            "paint_type": "PAINT",
            "glaze_mode": "OPAQUE",
            "color": { "r": 64, "g": 127, "b": 200 }
        },
        { "event_type": "POINTER_PRESS"  , "pos": { "x": 100, "y": 100 } },
        { "event_type": "POINTER_MOVE"   , "pos": { "x": 200, "y": 200 } },
        { "event_type": "POINTER_MOVE"   , "pos": { "x": 300, "y": 100 } },
        { "event_type": "POINTER_MOVE"   , "pos": { "x": 400, "y": 300 } },
        { "event_type": "POINTER_RELEASE", "pos": { "x": 400, "y": 300 } }
    ]},
    {"events":[
        { "event_type": "SIMULATION", "repeats": 10 }
    ]},
    {"events":[
        { "event_type": "SIMULATION", "repeats": 10 }
    ]},
    {"events":[
        { "event_type": "SIMULATION", "repeats": 10 }
    ]},
    {"events":[
        { "event_type": "SIMULATION", "repeats": 10 }
    ]}
]}

Run Rebelle

Tell Rebelle to process the JSON file and generate animation frames to the out/ folder.

mkdir out
"C:/Program Files/Rebelle 6 Motion IO/Rebelle 6 Motion IO.exe" \
    -batch-json "quickstart.json" \
    -batch-out-rgba "out/####.png"

Convert animation frames to a video

Animation frames exported from Rebelle have transparent background, so we need to first add a solid background to them e.g. using ImageMagick's convert storing output files to the out_bg folder.

mkdir out_bg
for i in `ls "./out"`; do
    convert out/$i -background white -flatten out_bg/$i
done

Now we can create the final video out_bg.mp4:

num_frames=$(ls "out_bg"/* | wc -l)
framerate=2
ffmpeg -y -framerate $framerate -i "out_bg/%04d.png" -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 18 "out_bg.mp4"
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