Animation with QuickTime

Viewing QuickTime Animations

You can view either Macintosh-generated or Windows- generated movies on both platforms.

To view existing movies

    1. Double-click the file name or icon for the desired movie in your file manager.

    At the bottom of the QuickTime window, there is a play bar.

    2. Click the appropriate button to play the movie.

Using the Orbit Point Animator

If you want to create an animation that moves in a circular path around a specific 3D object or point follow the steps below.

To create animation in a circular path

    1. Open your VectorWorks drawing.

    2. Set up your view.

    Select the starting view you want, being sure to select the four settings found on the 3D menu--Standard Views, Projection, Rendering, and Perspective. In addition, use the Zoom In or Zoom Out tools to select the size of your drawing in proportion to the Drawing Area. Make sure that only those layers and classes you wish to appear in the animation are visible.

    3. If you want to specify a specific center of rotation, select the object or group of objects to which you want the center to be.

    4. From the Model menu, choose Create Animation.

    The Create Animation dialog box appears.

    5. Set the Camera setting to Orbit Point.

    6. Click Options.

    The Simple Orbit Options dialog box appears.

    7. Set the Rotate About point for your animation--what you want to be at the center of your animation.

    Select Center of Ground Plane if you want the point 0x, 0y, 0z to be at the center.

    Select Center of Working Plane if you want the point 0i, 0j, 0k to be at the center.

    Select Center of Selection if you want the object(s) you have selected to be at the center.

    8. Set the Rotation Angle for your animation.

    For example, if you want the animation to create a complete circle, type 360 (degrees) in the textbox.

    9. Click OK.

    VectorWorks will automatically use default Compression Settings for QuickTime--selecting a good quality that doesn't create a monstrous file size. However, if you want, you can customize these settings. Click the Options button after QuickTime, and select your new Compressor, Quality, and Motion settings in the dialog box that appears.

    To zoom in on a preview press Control+Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and click the preview window.

    To zoom out on a preview press Control+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Macintosh) and click the preview window.

    For detailed information about these settings, see the QuickTime FAQ, which you can get for free from the Apple web page (http://www.apple.com) or a third-party manual that explains this extension software.

    Note: QuickTime is a complex program which allows users great flexibility in selecting settings. If you don't want to use the VectorWorks default settings, we recommend that you study QuickTime documentation before changing Compression Settings.

    10. Enter the number of seconds in the textbox after Duration (sec).

    11. Select the Time Scale for your animation.

    The default is 1.00; if you select a smaller number (from .1 to .99), the animation will be in slow motion; if you select a larger number (1.01 to 10.00), the animation will be sped up.

    12. If you want to check your animation before exporting it, click Preview.

    VectorWorks will show you a wireframe preview of the animation no matter what rendering mode you have selected for the final export.

    You can preview a specific subset of the time range by holding Command (Macintosh) or Control (Windows) while clicking Preview.

    Note: If you want to stop a preview in mid-stream, simultaneously press Command and the Period (Macintosh) or Escape (Windows).

    13. Click Save Movie.

    The Save dialog box appears.

    14. Enter the name you want given to your QuickTime Movie.

    15. Click Save.

Using the Move Along Path Animator

The Move Along Path type of movie creation allows you to create an animation that moves through your 3D drawing along a specified path. For example, a walk-through presentation of a house.

To create an animation moving along a specified path

    1. Open your VectorWorks drawing.

    2. Set up your view.

    Select the starting view you want, being sure to select the four settings found on the 3D menu--Standard Views, Projection, Rendering, and Perspective. Projection must be set to Perspective.

    Note: If you use views that do not have the projection mode set to Perspective, you will get unpredictable results.

    3. Save a sheet for each point along the path that you want to use for creating your animation.

    You can use the Walkthrough and/or Flyover tools to change views. To save a view, from the Page menu, choose Save Sheet. In the Save Sheet dialog box that appears, type a name in Sheet Name, make sure that the Save Current View checkbox is clicked, and then click OK.

    4. From the Model menu, select Create Animation.

    The Create Animation dialog box appears.

    5. Set Camera setting to Move Along Path.

    6. Click Options.

    The Select Animation dialog box appears.

    7. Click New.

    The New Animation Name dialog box appears.

    Enter a name for this animation then click Create.

    8. Highlight the name of the new animation and click Edit.

    The Edit Path Animation dialog box appears.

    9. From the listing of views in the left-hand box, drag the view you want to start with over to the animation graph.

    VectorWorks automatically places your first view at the graph's origin--0 seconds, 0 drawing units/second.

    Note: Click the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons to change how much of your animation graph displays.

    Note: If you want the animation to be a specified amount of seconds, double-click the arrow at the far right of the timeline. You will be given the option of setting the length of the movie. If you create a new path animation, it will take its default length from the setting in the main QuickTime options dialog.

    10. Select the first view you want to use and drag it to the animation graph.

    A bar with an abacus-like bead will be added to the graph. You can drag the bar and bead to change animation settings.

    The distance from the origin to the bar is the time in seconds that it takes to move from your starting view to this first view.

    The curved line (slope) cannot dip below the y axis--this creates a negative velocity. The slope of the line indicates the velocity of the movement (the number of drawing units/second that the camera will move)--in general, you will want the slope to form a steady curve. (A roller-coaster-like curve will cause a similar camera movement--speeding up and slowing down in a jolting manner.)

    11. To set a specific camera target, double-click the "bead".

    The Set View Options dialog box appears.

    12. You can change the Direction of View from the original saved sheet to a new Look At Point.

    For points, you can either type x, y, z coordinates or select a Set Point To that is either the x, y, z center of the selected object/objects in your drawing (top button), the i, j, k origin of the working plane (middle button), or the x, y, z center of a named 3D object in your drawing (bottom button).

    Note: You cannot select named objects in walls or layer links for a Set Point To setting.

    13. Continue selecting views and dragging them onto the animation graph until you have specified all the views you want within the time allotment.

    14. Click Done.

    VectorWorks will automatically use default Compression Settings for QuickTime, selecting a good quality that doesn't create a monstrous file size. However, if you want, you can customize these settings. Click the Options button after QuickTime, and select your new Compressor, Quality, and Motion settings in the dialog box that appears. For detailed information about these settings, see the QuickTime FAQ, which you can get for free from the Apple web page (http://www.apple.com) or a third-party manual that explains this extension software.

    Note: QuickTime is a complex program, which allows users great flexibility in selecting settings. If you don't want to use the VectorWorks default settings, we recommend that you study QuickTime documentation before changing Compression Settings.

    15. Enter the number of seconds in Duration (sec).

    16. Select the Time Scale for your animation.

    The default is 1.00; if you select a smaller number (from .1 to .99), the animation will be in slow motion; if you select a larger number (1.01 to 10.00), the animation will be sped up.

    17. If you want to check your animation before exporting it, click Preview.

    VectorWorks will show you a wireframe preview of the animation no matter what rendering mode you have selected for the final export.

    Note: If you want to stop a preview in mid-stream, simultaneously press the Command key and the Period key.

    18. Click Done.

    19. Once returned to the Create Animation dialog, click Save Movie.

    20. Enter the name you want given to your QuickTime Movie.

Special Effects

Adding Text or Title Screens

Unless you specifically turn text into a 3D object (using the TrueType to Polyline command), VectorWorks and QuickTime will view all text as 2D objects. What this means is that if you add text to your drawing before exporting it as a QuickTime movie, the text object will remain motionless, not moving with the other 3D objects. This principle is also true for any graphic images you have placed in your drawing.

If you want to create a title screen for your movie, the best way to do this is to export it as a separate QuickTime movie--using the Orbit Point animator to export 2D text. (The Move Along Path animator requires you to use 3D perspective projection.) Then, within the QuickTime extension, you can link the two exported files together to create one movie.

Note: When exporting a title screen, be sure that the title movie uses the same QuickTime frame rate setting as the animation movie you want to link it to.

Creating a Pause in the Animation

You can easily add a pause in action to your Move Along Path animations. Simply drag the same view twice onto your animation graph--so that the views are next to each other in sequence--making sure that the line between the views is flat (has no upward or downward slope). This creates a velocity of zero and a natural pause in the animation. In addition, if you set a different Look At Point for each of these frames, the camera will appear to stop its forward motion and pan from one direction to another.



tech@diehlgraphsoft.com
Copyright © 1998, Diehl Graphsoft Inc. All rights reserved.