Animating a Viewpoint

You can animate a viewpoint using the Keyframe Animator and Viewpoint Editor. After you've defined the viewpoint in the Viewpoint Editor, add the viewpoint as a member of the animation and record different positions for the viewpoint using the Keyframe Animator. When the animation is triggered, the user's view of the scene is defined by this animation.

Animated viewpoints are useful for guided tours and for cases where you want the browser to control how the user views the scene--for example, when the user steps onto a merry-go-round or a bus. They can also be used to allow the user to travel with other objects in the scene, such as a bird or a spaceship.

Some browsers (such as Cosmo Player) interpolate between viewpoints when the user moves from one viewpoint to the next. This interpolation is strictly mathematical and may result in a path that moves the user through walls and other objects. For more explicit control over animation between viewpoints, use this feature to define the exact path the user follows through the scene.

Follow these steps to animate a viewpoint:

  1. In the Viewpoint Editor, click Create Global to create a global viewpoint.

  2. In the Viewpoint Editor, check Lock to camera. This step ensures that the camera and viewpoint are always synchronized.

  3. In the Keyframe Animator, choose Animation > Add current viewpoint.

  4. In the Keyframe Animator, move the scrub bar to a new time.

  5. Change the view in the main window. This step edits the locked viewpoint.

  6. Click the Master record button.

  7. Record additional keyframes by repeating steps 4 through 6.

Follow these steps to create the trigger for the viewpoint animation:

  1. In the Viewpoint Editor, toggle the Lock to Camera option to unlock the camera.

  2. In the main window, choose View > Show/Hide Iconic Objects / Show Viewpoints to display the viewpoint icon.

  3. In the main window, dolly out so that you can see the viewpoint icon.

  4. In the main window, select the viewpoint icon.

  5. Click the Create Trigger button. Select viewpoint binding. With this trigger, the viewpoint animates when the user goes to the named viewpoint in the browser.

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