Keyframe Animator: Try It!

Find it: Click the Keyframe Animator button on the Action palette:

This tutorial steps you through creating a simple animation that makes a robot arm move. It creates one member ("robot arm") that is composed of a hierarchy of objects (a sphere for the body, a cylinder for the upper arm, a cylinder for the lower arm, and a cone for the hand).

The basic approach is to set the time (using the scrub bar), then pose the model in your scene. When you're happy with the pose, click the red record buttons.

Click here to preview an animation like the one you're about to create. (After the scene appears, click anywhere on the object to play the animation.)

Part I: Getting Started

First, you'll start the Keyframe Animator, set up the new animation, and add a member. These steps are basic to beginning any animation.

  1. In Cosmo Worlds, open the file /usr/share/Insight/library/SGI_bookshelves/Help/books/CosmoWorlds_UG/Models/anim.wrl.

  2. Start the Keyframe Animator by clicking the bouncing ball button.

  3. Select the object you're going to animate. Click anywhere on the object to select the whole object (body, arm, and hand).

  4. To create a new animation, choose Animation > New animation. To save the animation with the scene, choose File > Save from the Cosmo Worlds window.

  5. Name the animation. Choose Animation > Change name. Type a name into the dialog box (for example, salute) and click OK.

  6. Add a member to the animation by choosing Animation > Add member. The selected object is added as a member of the animation. Once you've added an object as a member, all of the objects that are grouped under it are automatically eligible to be animated. As you select them, you'll see lines appear in red underneath the member line.

Part II: A Few Adjustments

Here are a few adjustments you can make to various settings in the Keyframe Animator.

  1. Choose View > Show time in seconds to display the time in seconds.

  2. Set the length of the animation to 2 seconds. Choose Animation > Set duration. Type 2 into the dialog box and click OK. Note that, by default, frames are in tenths of a second.

Part III: The Action Begins

Now, for the action. In this section, you'll set the time for each keyframe, pose the figure, and then record the pose for each keyframe.

  1. Move the scrub bar to the end of the animation, either by clicking in the time trough or by dragging the scrub bar.

  2. Select the lower arm and hand (by clicking the Child down arrow in the right-hand corner of the Cosmo Create 3D window) and move the arm to its final position.

  3. Click the Master record button (the blue box next to the word "Master").

    The keyframes at position 0 are recorded (they turn blue). In addition, the keyframes at position 20 are recorded. They are currently red because they're selected. Since these are the first keyframes on these lines, you get an automatic keyframe at frame 0 as well, recording the initial pose to interpolate from. The keyframes at frame 0 are blue because they are not selected.

  4. Select the parent of the lower arm/hand group by clicking the Parent up arrow in the right-hand corner of the Cosmo Worlds window. Then move the arm to an intermediate position in its waving gesture.

  5. Click the Master record button.

  6. Practice moving the scrub bar, selecting portions of the robot and posing them, and recording frames.

  7. To delete a keyframe, select it by clicking it (it turns red). Press Backspace to delete it.

  8. Preview the animation by clicking the Play button.

  9. To save the animation, save the file for the scene.

Part IV: Dragging Selected Keyframes

  1. Here's another interesting thing you can do. Go to keyframe 20 and click the keyframe for the UpperArm/Xfm property line. The keyframe turns red because you've selected it (and the keyframes of its parents, the Body and Master keyframes, turn red as well).

  2. Move the scrub bar to frame 5. Drag the selected keyframes to the new time. click the Master record button. Now the robot moves its upper arm before it moves the lower arm.

Part V: Detaching the Hand and Scaling the Hat

  1. If you want to make your animation similar to the one supplied with this tutorial, select the hand (the cone) for the final two frames. First, move the scrub bar to the selected frame. You can select the hand using the Child arrow in the Cosmo Worlds window, or you can select it by highlighting Hand in the Names panel of the Keyframe Animator. Now, position the hand and record the keyframes.

  2. Move the scrub bar, scale the cone (now a hat), and click Record.

    Congratulations! You've now learned the basics of animating an object in a scene. For more practice, try the tutorials listed below for selecting, copying, and pasting keyframes and for animating viewpoints.

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