Object animation

The object animation tool allows you to animate 3D objects freely in the environment, allowing you to assign paths for the objects to follow.

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Creating a path

To animate an object along a path, start by selecting the object you want to animate. Then, right-click on the object to bring up its contextual menu, and click on the Create Animation option to create the animation path for the object.

To add new waypoints, you can either click on the environment or press the spacebar. (Please note that this shortcut will not work in explore mode.)

Editing an animation

To edit an animation, you need to open the animation window first. The window should open automatically when you create a new animation. Alternatively, you can open it manually by clicking on the desired animation in the sidebar, and then selecting the Edit button that appears after you make your selection.

Add a new waypoint

You can add new waypoints to a path by either clicking on the edit path button, which adds new waypoints at the end of the path, or by double-clicking on an existing segment to insert a waypoint.

Edit a waypoint

You can select a waypoint by either clicking on it within the waypoints window, or by clicking on it within the scene. Once selected, you can move and rotate the waypoint as desired.

Edit the animation settings

To modify the settings that determine how the overall animation will behave, you can click on the settings button. These changes can be made while the animation is running, allowing you to see the effects in real-time.

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Multiple settings can be adjusted in the path settings tab. You can customize these settings to your liking.

• Autoplay : When true, the animation will run automatically when opening the layout, pressing the sync button or when rendering a video.
• Speed : Speed at which the camera moves through the path.
• Rotation speed : Only affects segments that have "rotate after move" enabled, in which case it will determine the angular speed of the object.
• Delay on play : Makes the object pause at the starting point of this segment for the indicated duration.
• Loop animation : When toggled this animation will only stop with user input, as it will start again once finished.
• Closed loop : Helps to make a perfect loop.
• Show collisions : Adds a green outline to the object that turns red when the object collides with anything.
• Rotate after move : Makes the object only rotate after the movement of each segment is done.
• Curvature : Determines the curve of the path.
• Fixed height : Constrains the animation to the current height of the object, the “height” constraint is local so if you rotate the base object it will move the waypoints with it.
• Show object on path : Show the entire object in each waypoint instead of the small spheres. This will reduce performance.

Edit a segment settings

You can also modify individual segments in the path so that they act differently from the rest. For example, you can pause or accelerate specific segments to create variation in the animation.

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Settings can be applied to individual segments as well.

• Speed multiplier : Determines the final speed of this segment. It is a multiplier so it still depends on the base speed of the animation. Final speed will never be lower than 1 cm per second.
• Rotate after movement : Makes the object only rotate after the movement of the segment is done.
• Pause on start : Adds a delay at the beginning of the segment.
• Ease-in, ease-out : Toggles the ease-in, ease-out speed curve, which allows for a smooth transition between the speed of the current segment and the speed of the next segment.
• Curvature multiplier : Makes the curve more or less pronounced for this segment.

Playing an animation

Animations will play automatically when you open your layout if they have the Autoplay option enabled (The option is enabled by default).

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Each object can play only one animation at a time. There is no limit to the number of animations an object can have, but playing one animation while another is active will stop the previous one. This also applies to the Autoplay setting; when it's turned on, all other animations for the object will be disabled.

To play or pause an animation manually, you can click on the play/pause button in either the right-side menu or the animation window. Additionally, you can use the Play All Animations button to restart all active animations. If you only want to play an animation from a specific segment, you can click on the play button shown to the right of the waypoint in the animation window for ease of use.

Showing collisions

You may also visualize the collision of the object with the rest of the environment while the animation is running, by activating the Show collisions option.