Animation Window RAM Player
Animation Window
Many times it is useful to play back a sequence of image files in real-time to view your animation. For instance, it is common to render out your animation as individual image files and later when all files have been rendered convert them to a format like AVI or QuickTime. The Animation Window allows sequence of files, AVI, and QuickTime files to be loaded and viewed in real-time and even converted to different file formats.
Import image files
To import the image files into the project, left click (Ctrl click on the Mac) on the Images folder in the Project Workspace and pick [Import][Image Sequence].
Crop Start and End
The images will be loaded in sequence until a frame is missing. For example:
Test0000.tga
Test0001.tga
Test0002.tga
Test0003.tga
Test0004.tga
Test0006.tga
Test0000.tga through Test0004.tga will be loaded and the Crop Start and Crop End will be set to represent the frame range.
Frame Toolbar
The images can be viewed using the + or - key to change the current frame or use the Frame Toolbar. The images will be stored in memory as long as the Animation Window is open allowing for quick playback of the animation, but using a lot of the system memory. This process is called a RAM PLAYER. Click the play button on the Frame Toolbar to watch the rendered animation.
Note: The animation window will use the Skip frames if behind when playing option from the [Tools][Options] dialog's Global tab. If "ON", this feature will skip frames to play back the animation at the current Frames Per Second if it can not play back all the frames quick enough.
The first time a frame gets shown it will be loaded into memory.
Play Range
Also when using the play button it will play back only the selected play range from the Timeline. The play range will be set automatically to the length of the animation or the maximum number of frames in can hold in memory. The play range can be changed by using any of the standard methods described in the user manual.
Note: If the play range is set larger than the amount of memory the system has then the playback can become very slow because it will store the images in virtual memory on your hard-drive.
Move, Zoom and Zoom-Fit
When an Animation Window is active you can use the Move <m> and Zoom <z> buttons to navigate around the image. The Zoom-fit button will set the zoom back to 100%. To make the image fit the Animation Window ctrl click the Zoom-fit button and the zoom percentage will be adjusted to a value that allows the entire image to bee show.
When sizing an Animation Window the zoom percentage will remain constant. To have the image scale with the Animation Window hold down the Alt (Option on the Mac) key when sizing the Animation Window.
Save Animation As
To Save the animation as a different name or format pick [File][Save Animation As...].
Save Animation
Click the ... button to select a filename, path, and file format for the animation. Click the Compression button to change the compression type for AVI and QuickTime files.