Liren Large Software Subsidy 13/13.iso/p/p036/15.ddi/FLYTHRU.TXT

Text File | 1992-07-01 | 22.4 KB | 680 lines

FlyThrough Producer and Movies


FlyThrough Producer lets you create simple fly-through animations
that help you visualize 3D models. You create an animation with
FlyThrough Producer by defining a path along which a virtual
camera moves and by setting the direction and field of vision of
the camera. When recording begins, the camera follows the path
and saves rendered images at intervals along the way. The still
images are frames. A series of frames makes up a sequence. You
can store sequences in many industry-standard file formats.

You can control

* The path of the "camera"

* The type of lens used by the camera (from fisheye to
  telescopic)

* Front and back clipping planes (you can slice through objects)

* A fixed or floating camera target point

* The number of frames created along a selected camera path

* The format of the output files

* The quality and resolution of the rendered images

With Movies, you can play back a sequence. The succession of
still images creates the illusion of motion, just as in a film or
videotape. Movies reads and writes many standard file formats.
You can use Movies (and many other animation packages) to edit
sequences or to integrate them into multi-media presentations.

To load FlyThrough Producer:

* In the MDL settings box, select FLYTHRU and click the Load
  button.

  or

  Key in MDL LOAD FLYTHRU.

Note:
  FlyThrough Producer and Movies are implemented as MDL applications.


Files

The FlyThrough Producer and Movies software consists of the
following files:

            File                Description
            -------------------------------
            "flythru.ma"        FlyThrough Producer application

            "movies.ma"         Movies application

These files are installed in MicroStation's "mdlapps" directory.



Producing Your First "Movie"

To illustrate the use of FlyThrough Producer and Movies, follow
these steps to create and play a simple animation featuring the
familiar orientation cube from MicroStation's 3D seed files:

1.Create a new MicroStation design file using the "seed3d.dgn"
  seed file.

  When you open the file, the cube is displayed.

2.Set the active depth in the Top view (View 1) to approximately
  the center of the cube.

3.Maximize the Top view and use the Window Center view control
  to center the cube in the view.

4.With the Place Arc by Center tool, place an arc with a radius
  approximately twice the length of one side of the cube and
  with its center at the center of the cube. Place the second
  end of the arc close to the first end, so that the arc almost
  makes a full circle.

5.Use the MDL Applications settings box in the User Menu to load
  FlyThrough Producer.

  The FlyThrough Producer settings box opens.

6.In the Output section of the settings box, choose Constant
  from the Shading option menu.

  (If the View setting in the Output section is not 1, choose
  View 1 from the View option menu.)

7.In the Frame section of the settings box, change the number of
  frames in the sequence in the Frame field from the default of
  10 to 20.

8.From the Tools menu in the FlyThrough Producer settings box,
  choose Define Path.

  The message "Identify Element at path beginning" is displayed
  in the Command Window.

9.Place a point on one end of the arc to identify the element
  that defines the camera's path and to define the beginning of
  the camera's path.

  The message "Accept element at path end" is displayed in the
  Command Window.

10. Place another point on the arc, near its other end, to define
  the end of the camera's path.

  The message "Define target point" is displayed in the Command
  Window.

11. Define the target point (a single location at which the
  camera will be aimed) by entering a data point at the center
  of the cube.

  FlyThrough Producer calculates the position of the camera
  along the arc at each of the 20 frames. The camera's view of
  the cube from the first camera position is displayed in View 1.

12. Open an Iso view and use the Fit All tool to see all the
  camera positions. A cone shows the orientation of the camera
  at each position. The camera's volume of vision is graphically
  displayed as a pyramid radiating from the first camera
  position.

13. Undo the placement of the arc by center.

  (The camera path remains defined.)

14. From the Tools menu's Preview sub-menu, choose Camera.

  In the Iso view, each camera position and a graphical
  representation of its viewing volume (in the shape of a
  pyramid) are displayed in turn.

15. From the Preview sub-menu in the Tools menu, choose View.

  In the Top view, the camera's view at each position along its
  path is displayed in turn. Each of those views will be
  rendered to create a frame in the sequence. You can select a
  particular view to preview with the scroll bar at the bottom
  of the FlyThrough Producer settings box.

16. From the Tools menu, choose Record.

  The Record FlyThrough Producer dialog box opens. By default,
  the sequence is saved in Animator FLI format with the filename
  "<designname>.fli."

17. Click the OK button.

  While the sequence is created, an animated character appears
  in the Command Window. When the last frame has been saved, the
  character stops moving.

18. Load the Movies MDL application.

  The Movies settings box is displayed.

19. From the File menu in the Movies settings box, choose Load.

  The Load Movie dialog box is displayed.

20. Double-click the filename of the sequence you just created.

  While the sequence is loaded, an animated character appears in
  the Command Window. When the last frame has been loaded, the
  character stops moving.

21. When the file has finished loading, click the Play button.
  Its icon is similar to a play control on a CD player ( > ).

  The Movies application displays the frames in sequence in the
  playback window.




FlyThrough Producer


Adjusting the Camera Settings

Lens settings (Angle, Focal Length, and Standard Lens)

The first three settings in the FlyThrough Producer settings box
allow you to define the characteristics of the "lens" of the
virtual camera. To widen the field of vision of the lens,
increase the setting (in degrees) in the Angle field or decrease
the setting (in millimeters) in the Focal Length Field. These two
settings are interrelated; increasing the Angle setting decreases
the Focal Length setting, just as in a real camera lens.

To use a predefined lens setting, choose one of the seven
standard lens settings from the Standard Lens option menu. The
lens names and their respective values are set forth below:

              Standard Lens      Angle    Focal Length
              ----------------------------------------
                 Fisheye          93.3         20

                ExtraWide         74.3         28

                   Wide           62.4         35

                  Normal          46.0         50

                 Portrait         28.0         85

                Telephoto         12.1        200

                Telescopic         2.4       1000

The virtual camera has advantages over conventional cameras. All
elements in the field of view are in focus, no matter how close
to or far from the camera. You need not worry about depth of
field, aberrations, astigmatism, or curvature of field. The
camera makes a perfect picture of the elements it "photographs."

Front and Back Clip Distance

The Front Clip Distance setting (in working units) defines the
location of a plane at which the camera begins to "see" elements
in the design. Any part of an element closer to the camera than
this plane is not included in the frame. If the plane "clips" an
element, the frame will show a "slice" of that element.

The Back Clip Distance setting (in working units) defines the
location of a plane beyond which the camera no longer "sees"
elements in the design. Any element (or part of an element)
further than this plane from the camera is clipped. In some
cases, the plane is the back wall of the scene.

Target Position

You can set the camera to always point at the same place while
moving along the camera path (Fixed) or to point down the camera
path in a direction that is always tangent to the path (Float).
The Fixed setting is useful for aerial studies when you want to
keep the camera focused on one point. The Floating setting is
useful for simulating a walk-through, since the camera points
"straight ahead."

FlyThrough Producer prompts for the location of the target point
when the Target Position is set to Fixed.


Output Settings

View

Choose the output view from the View option menu. The output view
displays the animation frames as they are recorded or previewed
and is the view in which frames are rendered.

With the View Attributes settings box you can control what
elements will appear in your final sequence. To avoid including
lights or the camera path in the sequence, place those elements
in the design as construction class elements. When you record the
sequence, turn off Constructions in the View Attributes settings
box for the output view.

Note:
If your camera path twists and turns, you can create a "roller-
coaster" effect by leaving the camera path visible in your
sequence. The camera appears to chase the path.

Shading

Choose Constant, Smooth, or Phong shading in the Shading option
menu. The higher the quality of the shading you select, the
higher the quality of the sequence and the greater the time
required to create it. Refer to the MicroStation User's Guide for
a complete discussion of constant, smooth, and Phong shading.

Stereo

Turn on Stereo to create separate images for the left and right
eyes, using a color scheme suitable for viewing with the special
red-blue glasses provided with MicroStation. The resulting
sequence, when viewed through the glasses, creates the illusion
of three-dimensional depth.

Speed

The Speed setting determines the amount of time, in 1/60  second
ticks, that each frame in a sequence is displayed during
playback. The fastest playback speed setting is 60 frames per
second. However, the actual playback speed possible on your
system depends upon the speed of its CPU, the speed of the
graphics adapter, and the amount of information that changes
between frames. If your system is fast enough, you can play a
sequence while you continue to do other operations with
MicroStation.

Note:
Currently the Speed setting is only stored in FLI files. It is
ignored when you save sequences in any other file format.

Resolution

You can control the resolution of the animation sequence by
changing the X and Y values in the Resolution fields. Higher
resolution settings can substantially increase both the time and
memory required to record and play back a sequence.

Tip:
  The lower the resolution, the faster each frame is rendered. For
  optimum speed, use the FLI file format and a low resolution to
  test your lighting and camera settings. Once you are satisfied
  with the production, record the sequence in a different file
  format, such as Targa, at a higher resolution.


Frame Settings

You can set the current frame (the number of the frame displayed
in the output view) in the left Frame field. You can set the
number of frames in a sequence in the right Frame field. You can
also use the scroll bar to select the current frame. While the
sequence is being previewed or recorded, the frame number text
field shows the number of the frame that is being displayed or
recorded, and the scroll bar shows the progression through the
sequence.

Tip:
  To achieve a smoother animation with FlyThrough Producer:

  * Minimize the difference between successive frames (use more
    frames).

  * Increase speed at which the sequence is played.


Defining the camera path

To define the path that the camera will travel during the
sequence:

1.Place any linear element (line, line string, arc, ellipse,
  curve, or B-Spline curve) in the design along the path the
  camera is to travel. (If you do not want the path to be
  visible in the sequence, place the element as a construction.
  See "View," above.)

2.From the File menu in the FlyThrough Producer settings box,
  choose Define Path.

3.Identify the element that defines the camera path and define
  the point at which the camera path is to begin by entering a
  data point there.

4.Accept the element and mark the end of the camera path by
  entering a second data point at the end point.

Tip:
  For best results when placing a camera path around a design,
  place the camera path so that it lies on the X-Y coordinate plane
  (as in the "Producing Your First 'Movie'" example, above). Rotate
  the design, if necessary, to show the design revolving around the
  axis that you want it to revolve around.


Previewing the sequence

Once you have adjusted the FlyThrough Producer settings and have
defined the camera path, you may want to preview the sequence
before taking the time to record all the frames.

To see the location of each camera position and viewing volume at
each position along the camera path, choose Camera from the
Preview menu in the FlyThrough Producer's File menu. If you also
want to preview each frame in the output view, choose View from
the Preview menu in the FlyThrough Producer's File menu.


Recording the sequence

To record the sequence:

1.Choose Record from the Tools menu.

  The Record Sequence dialog box opens.

2.Choose the format in which to save the sequence in the Image
  section, as explained below.

3.Click the OK button.


Type

The Type option menu is used to choose the file format in which a
sequence created with FlyThrough Producer is saved. The only true
animation format supported is Animator FLI. When you choose this
option, the sequence will be saved as a single 256-color
animation file. For all of the other file formats, FlyThrough
Producer creates a separate file for each frame in the sequence.

Warning:
  If the sequence is not in FLI format, you must insert a number
  somewhere in the filename or the extension. FlyThrough Producer
  will increment the number for each frame saved. For example, if a
  sequence will have 999 or fewer files, the filename for the first
  frame could be "seque000.tga" or "sequence.000." The latter is
  appropriate for converting a sequence to an Apple QuickTime movie
  with the "Convert to Movie" utility.

Color Mode

The Color Mode option menu controls the way colors are handled in
the output file. Some file formats, such as FLI, support only a
single mode (256 colors). Other formats, such as PICT, support
either 256-color images or 24-bit (true color) modes. In general
the 24-bit color mode produces the highest quality images, but
can produce much larger files than the other color modes.

Palette

The Palette option menu applies only to sequences saved in FLI
format. You can choose to record the sequence using:

* Right Screen - the colors of the recorded sequence are based
  on the right screen's color palette.

* Left Screen - the colors of the recorded sequence are based on
  the left screen's color palette.

* Optimized (256 Color) - the colors of the recorded sequence
  are based on a balanced 256-color palette that is not based on
  either screen's color palette.

Choose the optimized color palette for best results when the
sequence is played back on a variety of systems. On your system,
a sequence recorded with an optimized color palette will take a
bit longer to load in Movies.



Movies

To play a sequence:

1.Load Movies.

  - In the MDL settings box, select MOVIES and click the Load
  button.

  or

  - Key in MDL LOAD MOVIES.

2.(Optional) Preview the sequence.

3.Load the sequence.

4.Click the play ( > ) button.

  You can use the scroll bar to view a particular frame or to
  move through the frames slowly.

5.To stop the sequence, click the stop ( || ) button.

Note:
Microsoft Windows adds a considerable amount of overhead
processing to any operation drawing bitmaps to its windows. As a
result, playback of sequences can be much slower under Windows.
If you are running in this environment and are dissatisfied with
playback speed, consider running MicroStation outside of Windows.
(Sequences can be created within Windows without problem.)


File menu

The File menu has items for loading, previewing, and saving
sequence files.

Loading a sequence

To load an animation sequence in Movies:

1.From the File menu, choose Load.

  The Load File dialog box opens.

2.Select the sequence in the list box.

  If a sequence of image files from a non-animation format is to
  be loaded, select the file that contains the first frame of
  the sequence. Movies looks for the additional frames by
  incrementing the integer value at the end of the filename. For
  example, the following sequence of Targa files represents a
  valid animation sequence:

     "orbit01.tga"
     "orbit02.tga"
     "orbit03.tga"
     "orbit04.tga"

3.Click the OK button.

  The process of loading an animation sequence involves reading
  each frame and dithering the frame to the current MicroStation
  color configuration. This process can take a lot of processing
  time. To be sure you are loading the correct sequence, preview
  the first frame. See "Previewing a sequence," below.

Previewing a sequence

The Preview item in the File menu allows you to load only the
first frame of an animation sequence and to view it. This is a
quick way to identify a sequence, since loading an entire
sequence can take a while.

To preview the sequence's first frame:

1.From the File menu, choose Preview.

  The Preview File dialog box opens.

2.Select the sequence in the list box.

  If a sequence of image files from a non-animation format is to
  be previewed, select the file that contains the first frame of
  the sequence.

3.Click the OK button.

Saving a sequence

To save a sequence:

1.From the File menu, choose Save As.

2.(Optional) Edit the filename in the Name field.

3.(Optional) From the Type option menu, choose a new format for
  the sequence file(s). The movie may be stored in any of the
  formats supported by FlyThrough Producer.

4.(Optional) From the Mode option menu, choose a new color mode
  for the sequence file.

5.Click the OK button

Note:
You can use Movies to convert a file from one of the supported
file formats to another by loading the movie and saving it in a
different format.


Edit menu

The Edit menu has items for deleting a frame from a sequence,
inserting a frame into a sequence, and inserting a sequence into
a sequence.

Deleting a frame

To delete a frame from a sequence:

1.Use the scroll bar to select the frame to be deleted.

2.From the Edit menu, choose Delete Frame.

Inserting a frame

To insert a frame into a sequence:

1.Use the scroll bar to select the frame (in the original
  sequence) before which the new frame is to be inserted.

2.From the Edit menu's Insert sub-menu, choose Frame.

3.Select a file to open in the Open Frame dialog box.

  Since sequences in most formats are stored in separate files,
  you can select the file containing a particular frame. If you
  select a sequence file in .FLI format, the first frame of the
  sequence is inserted. To make all the frames in a sequence in
  .FLI format available for insertion, save the sequence in
  another format.

4.Click the OK button.

Single frames are resized to match the resolution of the current
sequence.

Inserting a sequence

To insert a sequence into another sequence:

1.Use the scroll bar to select the frame (in the original
  sequence) before which the new sequence is to be inserted.

2.From the Edit menu's Insert sub-menu, choose Sequence.

3.Select the filename of the sequence file you want to insert in
  the Open Sequence dialog box.

4.Click the OK button.

The transition between the sequences is controlled in the Movie
Edit Settings box.

Note:
  Sequences to be inserted must have the same resolution as the
  current sequence.


Settings menu

The Settings menu has items for controlling playback (speed and
looping) and editing (joining sequences).

Playback

Choosing Playback from Movies' Settings menu opens the Playback
Settings box:

To change the speed at which a sequence is played back:

* Key in a higher or lower number in the Speed field.

The Speed setting determines the amount of time, in 1/60  second
ticks, that each frame in a sequence is displayed during
playback. The fastest playback speed setting is 60 frames per
second. However, the actual playback speed possible on your
system depends upon the speed of its CPU, the speed of the
graphics adapter, and the amount of information that changes
between frames.

If Loop Sequence is on, Movies will play the sequence
continually.

Editing

Choosing Edit from Movies' Settings menu opens the Edit Settings
box:

To control the way sequences are joined when they are inserted
into the current sequence, choose a transition type from the Type
option menu.

These transition types are available:

* Cut - The sequences are joined with no transition frames, the
  current sequence will "cut" immediately to the inserted
  sequence.

* Horizontal/Vertical Wipe - The inserted sequence will be
  "wiped" horizontally or vertically onto the current sequence.

* Fade - The current sequence fades out and the inserted
  sequence fades in.

The Frames setting specifies the number of transition frames,
which determines the duration of a wipe or fade transition. The
more transition frames you use, the slower and more gradual the
transition. Setting Frames to zero is equivalent to a cut
transition.

If Still is on, the sequence transition is made between the last
frame of the current sequence and the first frame of the inserted
sequence. This is equivalent to freezing the current sequence at
the last frame and wiping or fading to the first frame of the new
sequence. If Still is off, apparent motion continues, and the
beginning and end of the joined sequences overlap during the
transition.