Working with Animations - Intergraph Smart Review - Help

Before you start creating animation, take a few minutes to review the terminology used in the animation processes. These terms represent key animation concepts and components.

Animation Path - Smart Review provides the following types of animation paths:

• A Display Set animation path shows you the traversed area of a display set. Display Set animation paths are graphic objects that can be set to show, shade, dim, as well as material assignment and movement. A Display Set animation path consists of a series of placed animation points, which are represented by tipped cones. When you select a Display Set animation path in the Main view and open the Properties dialog box, information including the display set name associated to the path, the number of animation points, and the position corresponding to where you clicked in the path is listed.

  The Display Set animation path has three basic aspects:

• Simple Physical Aspect - The "lines" between the points.

• Detailed Physical Aspect - The points between the line (currently represented as short cones at the display set move reference point offset).

• Reference Geometry Aspect - The rotational reference geometry showing the rotational direction at the start, and at the changes along the path (currently represented as long cones at the display set rotate reference point offset).

  

  You can view the properties of a Display Set animation path. Click Select Filter > Elements and click on a Display Set animation point in the path. Right-click to open a shortcut menu and select Properties. You can see the date and time corresponding to the point.

• A Key Frame animation path represents saved views in a Save and Recall Views view group. The points in a Key Frame animation path are each saved view making up the view group.

For a ScheduleReview animation, only the Start and Finish dates are shown and the animation cannot be changed in the Sequencer.Animation Player - Provides controls for playing back your animation project and recording animations to either a static image or an AVI file.

Animation Point - Represents user-defined key points that define a Key Frame and Display Set animation path.

• For a Display Set animation path, animation points capture all state changes at a specified instance in time. Possible state changes include the discrete spatial (X/Y/Z) location, display set position, visibility, shading, brightness, and material assignment. A Display Set animation must contain at least two points. Smart Review inserts transitional or interpolated points between each animation point. The number of interpolated points defines the smoothness of path objects from one animation point to the next. You can modify the position of a selected animation point as well as delete selected points. You can change any state or time of an existing point to change the animation path. Use the Element selection filter, and then click on an animation point. Right-click on the point and select Properties to see information such as the display set name and the time associated to the point.

• Key Frame animation points correspond to each saved frame in a view group.To see the frames, open the Save and Recall Views dialog box and select the view group defined for the animation. The point numbers are always contiguous and increment as time moves forward.

A ScheduleReview animation only has Start and Finish dates with no animation points. A ScheduleReview animation is read only in the Animation Sequencer.Animation Project - Represents all animations created and available in the current playback or time block. To define the animations that are available as well as their playback options, use the Animation > Playback/Capture Settings dialog box. In the Common page of the Animation Playback/Capture Settings dialog box, you must select the types of animations to include in the playback, the start and end dates of the playback, and the playback speed. All animations you created for the selected types are shown in the playback time block.Animation Sequencer - Provides the tools you need to display and synchronize all animation types, change start times for Key Frame and Display Set animations, and adjust the animation playback speed. You can run the Animation Sequencer with the Animation Player to see the locations and timing of display set objects as they are moved in your model. Because all animation types in Smart Review are based on time, you can create, play, and modify animations to show progression of a construction site development.

Although it is not intended to be a simulator, the animation sequencer enables you to arrange Display Set and Key Frame animations to reflect the schedules required in your project. For example, you can see where an object is located at any point in time, and change it as required.

Capture - Records display set property settings, position, motion, and time information to create an animation. The resulting display set animations can be saved to an output format such as an AVI file for distribution.

Display Set - Display sets are user-defined collections of graphic objects. Smart Review does not limit the number of display sets you can create. However, your hardware capability can limit your number of display sets. A display set definition can contain one or more criteria, allowing you to place objects in display sets based on object attributes, model attributes, highlighted objects, or other display sets. After a display set is defined, it can be manipulated independent of the model. For instance, you can review different material assignments on a single structure rather than the entire facility, or wireframe the HVAC data in a shaded model of a plant.

Display Set Animations

Sequences of display set movements and rotations that can be saved, opened, and edited. You can start, stop, forward- step, and reverse-step through the animation playback. Display set animations are used to show, for example, how an object fits into space in the model as it is moved along a path. You are able to analyze display set placement at specific times so that you can see possible problems prior to the actual movement in the plant.

ScheduleReview Animations

ScheduleReview allows you to use data from your project planning software, such as tasks and start/finish dates, to display the sequence of construction. You can also reverse the action, so that you can display the deconstruction sequence. ScheduleReview works in conjunction with a supported project planning application such as Primavera or Microsoft Project. ScheduleReview animations can show changes in single steps (by day, week, or month) or continuously. For example, you can use ScheduleReview to help analyze the construction process to avoid problems, show the construction of specific units in the context of the overall project schedule, display the project as it should appear on a certain day, or fly through the model while displaying the construction sequence.

The ScheduleReview time format shows Year:Month:Day and Hours:Minutes:Seconds in the Project Manager and Animation Sequencer time displays. The formats are taken from the Windows Short date and Long time Region and Language settings on your computer.

Key Frame Animations

Key Frame animations show movement as if you are walking through the model in the Main view window. A Key Frame animation consists of a series of saved views or frames created using the View > Save and Recall Views command. Each saved view contains the current view parameters, such as the position of the eye, lighting, and the direction the eye is looking.

Key Frame animations, like Display Set and ScheduleReview animations, are time based in that saved view frames play within a fixed time interval. A saved view has a user-defined sequence number that determines their display order and the number of transitional (tween) frames that Smart Review creates between each saved view. The number of tween frames defines the transition rate from one saved view to the next. The saved view frames in a view group are then played by the Animation Player. You can use the Animation Sequencer to change the start time of a Key Frame animation as well as increase or decrease its playback speed.