RockPlot3D | File | Animations | Rotation
Use this program to create an animated, spinning view of your 3D image, stored as a single AVI file or as individual frames.
Menu Options
Step-by-Step Summary
Menu Options
- Rotation Axis: The AVI rotation axis can be specified in either Bearing and Dip or as an XYZ vector from the origin. If you enter settings for one set of prompts, the other set will be updated automatically with their corresponding values.
- Direction and Dip from Horizontal:
- Direction: Enter the compass bearing (0 to 360) for the axis around which the 3D image will be rotated.
! Note that this bearing is relative to the current viewing angle; it does not represent actual direction. A bearing of 180, for example, will always create a rotation axis that opposite your current view.
- Dip: Enter the dip angle in degrees for the rotation axis, with 90 being straight up, -90 being straight down, and 0 = horizontal.
You can click the Preview button to see a reference line displayed at the direction and dip you've entered.
- Example: Let's say you've used the View | Custom View option to set your starting view to, say, 225 bearing and 15 degree angle. This would look like this:
Then, to rotate the entire display around the vertical axis for your animation, you would enter:
Direction: 180. This sets the bearing of the axis to the opposite of my current location. Using the scheme described here, you would always enter "180" for the Direction.
Dip: 75. This represents 90 degrees (vertical) minus the current viewing offset from horizontal ("15" in this case).
- Vector from Origin: (These will be populated automatically if you've entered direction and dip, above.) You can use these prompts to define the X, Y, Z point to which the rotational axis extends, from the origin point of 0,0,0. The X, Y, Z points must range between –1, –1, –1, and 1, 1, 1.
- Preview: To make it easier to visualize animation rotations click on this button to display the rotation axis as a pink line in the display.
- Number of frames: Enter the number of images to be included in the AVI clip. This setting, plus the frames per second, will determine the play length of the "movie."
- Frames per second: This setting determines how fast the rotation should be. The default is 2 frames per second. Increase this value to make the image spin faster (more frames per second), decrease this value to make it spin more slowly.
- Degrees per frame: This setting determines how much rotation should occur at each frame. The default setting is 5 degrees. Increase this setting to make the image rotate more at each frame. Decrease this setting to make the image rotate less at each frame. A positive value rotates clockwise around the rotational axis, and a negative value counter-clockwise.
- Options
- Create AVI File: Choose this option if the program is to generate an AVI file of the animated view.
- File name: Click on the button to enter the name to be assigned to the AVI file to be generated. The default file name extension is AVI.
- Play Animation: Check this box for the resulting AVI file to be loaded into the default player on your computer.
- Create Frames: Choose this option if the program is to export individual frames as BMP images for later assembly into an animation with other movie-making software applications.
- Output Folder: Browse for the folder where the BMP images are to be stored.
- Frame Prefix: The frame images will be numbered automatically and sequentially, as 0001.bmp, 0002.bmp, and so on. If you'd like any characters stored in front of the numbers, enter that here. For example, entry of a prefix of "plume" would generate file names "plume0001.bmp," "plume0002.bmp," etc.
- Pixel Format: Choose the color depth for the output frames. 24 bit color will generate better-looking images but larger files.
Step-by-Step Summary
- If necessary, create or open the R3DXML file you wish to export. (See Opening a RockPlot3D View.)
- Adjust the image view to your satisfaction. This includes, but is not limited to, the rotation angle, zoomed-in state, vertical exaggeration, and window size. Keep in mind the size of the AVI viewing window you will be using when you set the RockPlot3D window size.
- Select the File | Animations | Rotation command.
- Enter the requested menu options, described above.
- Click OK to continue.
The program will proceed to rotate the current 3D image around the specified axis, at the requested interval, in background memory.
! The view will not re-render for the animation production - all you'll see on the screen is the lower status bar changing as the rotation views are generated.
! This process can be slow, depending on the length of the movie.
- Prior to saving the AVI file, the program will prompt you for the desired CODEC (COmpress/DECompress) technique to reduce the size of the resulting AVI.
- Which to choose? The most reliable option is to choose Uncompressed. However, the compression options can greatly help to reduce the output file size for large videos.
- The best CODEC to use may depend on your computer's setup - some may work better than others and some may not be supported at all. You can see a list of Video CODECs installed on your computer by starting Windows Media Player, choose Help / About, and click on the Technical Support Information link.
The completed movie will be stored under the requested AVI file name, or individual BMP frame names. If you've requested that the animation be played, the movie will be loaded into your default video player.
The AVI file cannot be read into RockPlot3D. It can be viewed using Windows Media Player or other AVI-reading software program.
Back to Exporting Images
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