Chapter 6 Animation

637 Chapter 6 Animation 6.1 Animation A n i m a t i o n This chapter describes the animation tools in trueSpace. 6.1.1 Animation Control Group By default, trueSpace places the Animation Control group on your toolbar when you start the program. Here, you will find a variety of VCR-like controls for playing animations, recording key frames, and moving between animation frames. Unlike traditional animation techniques (such as cel drawing and stop-motion photography), where one must draw every frame to create motion, in trueSpace you define the important points in time where actions take place (known as keyframes) and the program then draws CHAPTER 6 638 Animation all the in-between frames. Many types of actions can be keyframed, including movement, rotation, scaling, deformations, camera zooms, look at and ahead constraints, shader and material attributes, edge/ver- tex/face translation, and Inverse Kinematics/Bones manipulation. To set a keyframe for an object, simply move to that frame and manipulate the object; to keyframe texture changes, select the desired frame number, make changes to your shader settings, and use thePaint Over tool to apply the modified surface (also see the material editor documentation for information on trueSpace’s animated material capabilities). When used in conjunction with the Object Move tool, creating keyfames for position also creates an animation path for the object which can then be displayed with by selecting the Animation Path tool. In addition, keyframes may be recorded into clips, which can easily be expanded, contracted, moved, and blended with other clips to compose complex animations in a non-linear fashion. For example, one clip may contain keyframes of a character moving his legs as if walking. Another clip may be recorded just to move the character across the grid. A third clip could be recorded to swing the character’s arms. With the “walking” and “swinging” clips shortened and set to repeat, the animations would blend together, and the character would appear to walk across the screen. This is the full Animation Controls group, offering access to most of trueSpace’s animation functionality without cluttering up your workspace. Play Record Advance to End Previous Keyframe Next Keyframe Previous Frame Next Frame Return to Start Jumps to the animation’s first frame, or to the first keyframe of the selected object. If a specific animation parameter (such as Move) is selected, clicking this button jumps to the first keyframe in that parameter. Reverse to Previous Keyframe Clicking this control jumps the Current Frame Number to the previous keyframe for a scene or object. If a specific animation parameter is selected, clicking this button jumps to the previous keyframe for that parameter, ignoring other animation tracks. Reverse to Previous Frame Caligari trueSpace 7 639 ARTIST GUIDE Play Plays the animation to screen in wireframe or solid mode depending on the current screen mode. Advance to End Advance To Next Keyframe Jumps the Current Frame Number to the next keyframe for a scene or object. If a specific animation pa - rameter is selected, clicking this button jumps to the next keyframe for that parameter, ignoring the other animation tracks. Record Key Sets a key frame for animated parameters for the current object at the current frame. The type of key set depends on the current tool active. There are two modes for the Record Key tool and are set by a right- click on the record tool. With Autorecord enabled, a key is set every time an object is manipulated at a A frame other than 0. If Autorecord is disabled then the Record Key must be pressed each time you wish n i to create a keyframe. m a t i o n Advance to Next Frame Animation Parameters Panel Right-click on the Play tool to open the Animation parameters panel. Settings here include the animation start and end frame, whether the current object or the entire scene is animated, looping controls, and base rate controls. • Play Mode: This determines whether the current clip, the current object, or the entire scene (all objects) is animated when the Play button is activated. If two or more windows are open, including the main view, the object animates in all windows. Scene animates only in the active window. Note: Clip-view defaults to scene mode; key-view defaults to clip mode. • Play Opts: ◦ Toggle: Plays the animation forward then backward once. CHAPTER 6 640 Animation ◦ Loop: Loops the animation during screen playback only. The ESC key or the double right- click interrupts play back. It can be combined with Toggle. ◦ Reset: When enabled, trueSpace will return you to frame 0 after animation playback has completed. • Base Rate: The rate in fps (frames per second) that the animation will play at. The choices are 30 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL, and 24 fps for film. • Start/End: These values show the current start and end frames for animation preview. By default Start is set to 0, the first frame, and End is set to the last frame in which animation for the currently selected object ends. You can also change these in the Project window. • PlayRate: This limits the real-time playback rate to the specified number of frames per second. trueSpace will play back frames as fast as it can draw them (dependant on hardware), not ex- ceeding this rate. 6.1.2 Overview of the Scene Editor Scene Editor Click on the Scene Editor tool to open the Scene Editor (also known as the SE for short), which com - bines all the trueSpace animation functions within one window. In addition to giving you complete control over all aspects of your animation, this powerful utility gives you the ability to edit your scene in much the same way you would use Windows Explorer to manage your hard drive. Toolbar Track Pane Object Listing Clip Naming / Selection Status Bar When you open up the Scene Editor, you’ll notice it’s divided into five parts: • The Toolbar (across the top of the SE), which contains a row of icons for editing, managing, and previewing your scene’s animation; • The Object Listing (the left pane below the toolbar), a hierarchical display of the objects in your scene; • The Clip Naming/Selection functions which can be used to create, rename, and change active clips; • The Track Pane (to the right of the Object Listing), which contains a timeline of all animation in your scene; and Caligari trueSpace 7 641 ARTIST GUIDE • The Status Bar (across the bottom of the window), which displays information on the current frame number, including running time and total number of frames of animation in your scene. When moving your cursor over the Toolbar, the Help field to the far left displays the name of the tool your cursor points to. The Scene Editor behaves in every way like a standard Microsoft Windows window. To resize the Scene Editor, click and drag on any of its four corners. To minimize, maximize, or close the Scene Editor, click on the appropriate buttons in the title bar. To resize the Object Listing or Track Panes, click and drag on the divider which separates these panes. By right-clicking on any object in the Object Listing, you can rename, copy, delete, or render the selected object. (If you have used Windows Explorer, you’ll probably catch on to these conventions quickly. See “The Object Listing” for more information.) Note that when you minimize the Scene Editor, it is nestled into the main title bar of trueSpace. You can restore the Scene Editor by either by clicking on the Restore button or the Scene Editor tool. The Toolbar On the toolbar you will find all the tools necessary for editing keyframe locations (such as Copy, Paste, and Delete). You will also find controls to manage the contents of the Track Pane. A Scene Editor Preferences n i m a t Clicking on the Scene Editor Preferences button opens up the preferences dialog box. (Note: The Scene i o Editor preferences dialog can also be opened by right-clicking the Scene Editor button from the anima- n tion toolbar.) • Display: This field allows you to select which objects show up in the Scene Editor. Choose between All Objects, or Animated Objects Only. ◦ All Objects: When selected, the Scene Editor displays every object in your scene. ◦ Animated Objects Only: This option restricts the information in the Scene Editor to only those CHAPTER 6 642 Animation objects which are animated (contain keyframes). Note: For relatively simple scenes, it is a good idea to select All Objects to give you easy access to all the objects in your scene. However, with more complex scenes con- taining large amounts of animation, consider selecting Animated Objects Only so you don’t have to hunt through the Scene Editor for a specific object. • Animation Tracks: The options in this field let you select which animation properties are displayed in the Track Pane. Choose between Show all, Hide empty tracks, or Show none. (For more detailed information on the information displayed, see the section titled “The Track Pane” later on.) ◦ Show All: Displays the complete range of animatable properties for all the objects in your scene, even those properties not currently keyframed. ◦ Hide empty tracks: Restricts the Scene Editor display to only those properties which are animated. (For example, if an object is set to rotate in your animation, the Scene Editor will only display rotational keyframes, and ignore other properties such as movement and scaling.) ◦ Show None: When this option is selected, only the objects (and sub-objects) in your scene are displayed in the Object Listing.

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