RockPlot3D | Animations | Rotate
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
- Rotation
- Pre-Defined: Choose this option to use one of the default rotation options. Click this tab to access the settings.
- Rotation: Choose one of the default rotation options described here. Refer to the animated icons for examples.
- Custom: Choose this option to define the rotation details yourself. Click this tab to access the settings.
- Rotation Axis: The animation's 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.
- Example: Let's say you want to rotate an oblique view around the vertical axis, and you want that axis to remain vertical, here's how you would do this: Use 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 your current location. Using the scheme described here, you would always enter "180" for the Direction.
Dip: 15. This represents the current viewing offset from horizontal ("15" in this case).
Tip: The current view direction and angle are shown in the RockPlot3D menu bar.
- 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.
- Frames
- Number of frames: Enter the number of images to be generated and included in the animation. This setting, plus the frames per second, will determine the play length of the "movie."
- Degrees per frame: This setting determines how much rotation should occur at each frame. The default setting is 1 degree. 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.
- Output Options: Use these settings to define the animation output file type and display settings. (More info)
- If necessary, create or open the RockPlot 3D Scene (.Rw3D file) you wish to export. (See Opening a RockPlot3D Scene.)
- 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 animation viewing window you will be using when you set the RockPlot3D window size.
- Select the Animations | Rotate menu option.
- Enter the requested settings, described above.
- Click the Continue button to proceed.
The program will proceed to rotate the current 3D image around the specified axis, at the requested interval, in background memory. Each frame will be stored in the Animation_Frames sub-folder in your project, using the image prefix you defined under Output Options.
! 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.
- If you have requested AVI output and if you have not suppressed the Video Compression window, 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 format and file name.
If you've requested that the animation be played, the movie will be loaded into your default video player.
Back to Creating Animations
RockWare home page