Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: [Paraview] Announcing ParaView 2.0.0

[Amy Squillacote]

Hi  Sam,

Here is a description of the new animation interface as described by the 
person who designed it.

- Amy

>Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 00:55:21 -0500
>From: Utkarsh Ayachit <utkarsh.ayachit at kitware.com>
>User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206)
>X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
>To: Amy Squillacote <amy.squillacote at kitware.com>
>Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [Paraview] Announcing ParaView 2.0.0
>
>Hi Amy,
>
>I just wrote up some explanation of the interface. I am not sure if I 
>should send it to the list or to the user.
>So, I am sending it to you. Please do the appropriate.
>
>Utkarsh.
>
>//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Using the key frame animation interface in ParaView 2.0
>
>The Animation Interface has two parts
>1) The vertical pane on the left side of the window (which shows animation 
>scene properties and active key frame information) and
>2) The horizontal pane with the animation tracks which is used to create / 
>manipulate the key frames.
>
>For every created source, there are a bunch of properties that can be 
>animated. These sources and their properties are listed in the "Animation 
>Tracks" pane with the animation track for each property. The properties 
>are grouped according to the source to which they belong. The track 
>adjacent to any non-leaf node is a "grouping track" which merely shows the 
>bounding extents of the tracks of its children (if they have any), eg. the 
>track adjacent to "Animation Tracks" or for a sphere source, the track 
>adjacent to the name of the sphere. Key frames cannot be added to a 
>"grouping track".
>
>Keyframes can be added/removed only from a track corresponding to 
>properties, such as "Radius" for Sphere source.
>
>To create an animation, we must add key frames to at least one property of 
>any source, which will be varied over time. For simplicity, let's assume 
>that we have create just one sphere source named "Sphere1". The animation 
>tracks will list the Sphere and it's properties (Center (0, 1, 2) , 
>EndPhi, ....Radius...etc). Suppose we want to change the radius linearly 
>from start to end of the animation. Simply, click on the track adjacent to 
>"Radius". A key frame will be added. (ParaView 2.0 and the current CVS 
>version differ slightly in this behavior, I will explain that later. 
>Current discussion is for PV 2.0).  The added keyframe will be labeled "1" 
>and will be the "active" key frame, hence, it's properties will be shown 
>in the left pane. "Time" is the time in animation (in seconds) at which 
>this key frame will have effect, and
>"Value" is the value of the radius. (Whenever possible, paraview 
>initializes the value of the left most key frame to be added to any track 
>to the minimum value for that property and the right most key frame to be 
>added to the track to the maximum value for the property. It min or max 
>value cannot be determined, the value if the current value of the 
>property). One can merely drag this key frame along the track to change 
>the time at which it has effect. To delete a key frame, drag it out of the 
>animation tracks till the pointer changes to a rectangle and release. (All 
>key frames can be deleted from the Edit Menu).
>
>The "Interpolation" property of a key frame controls how the value is 
>interpolated for the animation time between the key frame and the next 
>consecutive key frame (if any). For any property to be animated, there 
>must be at least two key frames.
>
>Going back to our sphere example, we have added one keyframe to the radius 
>track. Click once more on the empty region in the track to add another 
>keyframe. Move them around to when you want the change in radius to begin 
>and end in the animation. You can also stretch the timeline by moving the 
>key marker on the "group track" for the tree node that groups the property 
>(in our case "Sphere1").
>
>Hit Play and you  have a simple animation in which the radius varies 
>linearly between the start key frame and end key frame. As the animation 
>is being played, one can also see the "current time marker". We can
>press the right mouse button on the marker (or Ctrl + Left button) and 
>drag the marker along to change the current time.
>
>Typically, the properties shown in the Animation Tracks pane for each 
>source are a smaller subset (what we think the user is most likely to 
>animate) of properties of the source / filter. Check the "Show all 
>animatable properties" check box in the "Animation Settings" on the Left 
>Animation pane to view all available properties.
>
>Another useful feature of the new animation interface is recording. The 
>idea is that the user will create all the sources/filter which he wants to 
>create an "animation scene" with. Next, enable recording (by pressing the 
>Record button in the Animation Control (or Animation Toolbar)). Now change 
>whatever properties you want to change of the source(s). (One can go back 
>to the Source Properties pane from Select Menu). Once the changes are 
>accepted (by pressing "Accept"), you can record the changes in the 
>properties (as keyframes) by clicking the "Record a frame" button in the 
>Animation Control (or Animation Toolbar). Note that the new keyframes get 
>appended to the keyframes already present in the animation. So it might be 
>a good idea to delete all keyframes before starting recording a new 
>animation sequence. Repeat the process till you are done with the 
>animation. Stop recording and Play to verify that your changes were indeed 
>recorded. After recording, you are free to edit / fine tune individual 
>keyframes (or interpolation types used).
>
>A major difference between ParaView 2.0 and the current CVS version is 
>that now , the first keyframe in any track is always fixed at time 0. 
>Thus, as soon as the user clicks to add a first keyframe to an animation 
>track, ParaView also adds an immobile key frame at time 0 (if not 
>present). The user can still edit the value/interpolation for this key 
>frame at time 0 (referred to as Anchor key frame). However, it can deleted 
>only if it is the only keyframe on the track.
>
>Also, presently Camera cannot be animated. So recording doesn't save 
>camera changes.
>
>
>
>Amy Squillacote wrote:
>
>>Hi Utkarsh,
>>
>>This guy is looking for an overview of how to use the new animation 
>>interface in ParaView.  Do you have anything written that explains the new GUI?
>>
>>- Amy
>>
>>>From: "SamuelKey" <samuelkey at comcast.net>
>>>To: "Amy Squillacote" <amy.squillacote at kitware.com>
>>>Subject: Re: [Paraview] Announcing ParaView 2.0.0
>>>Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:27:09 -0700
>>>Organization: FMA Development, LLC
>>>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1478
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>>>
>>>Amy,
>>>
>>>This isn't exacly a ParaView version 2.0.0 error per se.
>>>I have downloaded Version 2.0 and tried the Animation
>>>capability. Boy is it different than before. I am a big fan
>>>of animation, but inspite of the pop-up bubbles with lots
>>>of explanation I have not yet caught on to what I am
>>>supposed to do.
>>>
>>>Is there a 1-pager somewhere that has an overview of
>>>how to approach the new animation feature to get it
>>>to work successfully?
>>>
>>>Sam Key
>>
>>
>>
>>