DriveWorks Pro 22

Animate Rotation

Animate Rotation

The Animate Rotation entity allows you to animate the rotation of a Node in a 3D scene over a set period of time. The entity lets you set the animation type, time frame and a new target rotation. When the entity is enabled the Node will rotate to the new target rotation as specified in the animation.

The Animate Rotation entity is great for animating models in a scene. It can be used to make your models more interactive and realistic. It is useful for animating specific actions inside 3D scenes such as: a door opening, a mechanism in action or the rotation of a selected model.

The example above uses two Animate Rotation entities on each door Node. When the doors are opening the Animate Rotation entity uses the Elastic Easing curve which mimics a springing open effect. When the doors are closing it uses the Quintic Easing curve, which gives the impression of a soft closing effect.

The animate entities use Easing Curves to perform these types of animations. Commonplace on the web and in 3D, they are basic forms of animation that can add further realism to a model or scene.

Information Panel

With the model Node selected and the Animate Rotation entity added to the Node, the following will be displayed in the Information Panel:

Animate Rotation Enabled

Enable and disable the Animate Rotation entity. Disabling the entity will stop any animation from running and the Node will stay in its current rotation.

Target

Target is the new rotation or target for a Node to animate towards. Target can be specified in two ways. You can target another Node in a DriveWorks 3D Document or you can enter the rotation as a pipe delimited list (X|Y|Z).

• Target a Node

  Root\Model\Model-1

• Target a rotation

  20|90|30 - X|Y|Z

Use World Rotation

This changes the behavior when targeting a rotation. When targeting a rotation (X|Y|Z) this property determines if that rotation is relative to the current Node or to the world space.

Nodes can be parented together or offset from each other in any axis. This will affect their overall world rotation. For example, if you have 4 Nodes parented and offset from each other by 10 degrees in the Y axis, the fourth Node will have a world rotation of 40 degrees in the Y axis.

This property lets you set the rotation of a Node relative to its local or world rotation, giving you the freedom to choose.

Duration

Duration controls the length of the animation in seconds.

Ease Type

Animate Rotation uses Easing curves to perform animation. These are predefined curves that define the animation behavior. Ease type is the type of curve to use. These are split into "In | Out | InOut | OutIn". These affect the behavior of the chosen curve.

Ease Curve

Ease Curve is the animation curve to use. This defines the path and animation behavior for the Node. Easing functions are common in web and 3D animation. You can find out more about Easing Functions here.

On Complete Macro Name

On Complete Macro Name is used to specify a Specification Macro Name. This runs a Specification Macro at the end of the animation letting you trigger other events or further animations.

On Complete Macro Argument

One Complete Macro Argument is used to specify an argument for the Specification Macro that is run above. This argument is passed into the Specification Macro like any other Specification Macro in DriveWorks.

Parameter Panel

With the model Node selected and the Animate Rotation entity added to the Node, the following will be displayed in the Parameter Panel:

• Animate Rotation Enabled

  Animate Rotation controls the enabled state of the Animate Rotation entity. Enter either TRUE or FALSE to control the enabled state of the entity.

• Target

  Target is the new rotation or target for the Node to animate towards. Target can be specified as a Node path or as a 3D rotation (X|Y|Z).

• Use World Rotation

  Use World Rotation determines whether to rotate the model against the Nodes local rotation or against the world rotation. Enter either TRUE or FALSE.

• Duration

  Duration controls the length of the animation in seconds. Enter a number.

• Ease Type

  Enter the type of Ease Curve you want to use. These can be one of the following: Out | In | InOut | OutIn.

  This specifies the type of curve to use. This alters the behavior of the curve.

• Ease Curve

  Ease Curve defines the animation curve to use.

  These are as follows:

  • Linear
  • Exponential
  • Circle
  • Quadratic
  • Sine
  • Cubic
  • Quartic
  • Quintic
  • Elastic
  • Bounce
  • Back
• On Complete Macro Name

  On Complete Macro Name is the name of the Specification Macro to run once the animation completes. Enter the Specification Macro name as a string.

• On Complete Macro Argument

  On Complete Macro Argument is used to pass an argument into the Specification Macro Name above.