# The Anim menu

This document discusses the Anim menu shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Anim menu.

## Anim menu commands discussed in this section

All commands listed on the Anim menu are specific to 3DO Animator and are not discussed in the Studio/32 manual.

## Set # of Frames command

When you select Set # of Frames, 3DO Animator displays the Set # of Frames dialog.

Figure 2: Set # of Frames dialog.

The table below discussed the options available in the dialog.

    Table 1:  Set # of Frames dialog options.
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Option         |Description
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Enter The      |Specifies the number of frames for the
    Number of      |animation. The maximum allowed in a
    Frames         |single animation is 999.
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Make Number... |Specifies a different first frame than
    The First Frame|frame 1. 3DO Animator reshuffles the
                   |frames to renumber them. This is useful
                   |when you are combining animations.
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Duplicate last |If the Duplicate last frame box is
    frame          |checked, 3DO Animator makes every frame
                   |you entered in the top box an exact copy
                   |of the last frame of the animation. This
                   |is useful when you want a single picture
                   |to be the background for a range of
                   |frames, or even for the whole animation.
                   |Open the picture and set the number of
                   |frames, and check the "Duplicate last
                   |frame" box. 3DO Animator creates the
                   |number of frames you specified, each a
                   |duplicate of the picture.
    --------------------------------------------------------

## Show/Hide Control Panel command

When you select Show/Hide Control Panel, 3DO Animator displays (or hides) the Anim control panel.

Figure 3: Anim control panel.

The control panel presents frame counter and speed adjustment scroll bars, a dynamic display of current memory, Pause and Sound options, range buttons, and five control buttons for working through and playing your animation.

### Keyboard Shortcuts

For a summary of the keyboard shortcuts you can use with these controls, see the quick refererence card that is part of you documentation set.

## Anim control Panel options

### Disk space indicator

The disk space indicator in the upper-left corner of the panel displays the amount of disk space still available and gives an estimate of the disk space needed to save the animation.

### Frame counter

Displays the current frame's number and the total number of frames in the animation. To move to a specific frame, drag the scroll bar or click the Next Frame or Previous Frame button.

If you are working with key frames and the current frame is a key frame, a small key is displayed between the number and the scroll bar. In that case, you can advance from one key frame to the next by using Option-clicks.

### Speed adjustment bar

Displays the speed at which the current animation will play in frames per second (fps). The default setting is 30 fps. The default range is between 1 and 60 fps. To change the playback speed of an animation (while the animation is not playing), drag the slider to the left (decrease) or to the right (increase).

To set the fastest possible playback speed for your animation, drag the sliding control to the far right so that black fills the scroll bar. This sets the playback speed at infinity.

To change the playback speed of the animation while it is running, press the + or - key on the numeric keypad to increase or decrease the speed of the animation by one frame per second each time you press the key. Hold either key down for continuous change in that direction.

### Pause button

Lets you adjust the length of time a selected frame is on screen as your animation plays. Settings made through the Pause control override settings in the Speed control.

Move to the frame you want to pause on, and click the Pause button. In the Pause On Frame dialog, enter the number of seconds you want that frame to appear on the screen and Click OK. The number you entered appears in the control panel next to the Pause button.

You can set a pause on as many frames as you like, but you must set it one frame at a time.

### Sound button

Lets you add sounds to an animation. Sound is linked to a specific frame and plays as the frame plays. You can add sounds one at a time to as many frames as you like (one sound per frame), however, many sounds slow down the playback speed.

Sounds with a short play period (large files) work best. Sustained sounds, or sounds on several consecutive frames, tend to get clipped and distorted when played back.

### Range buttons

If you click one of the Range buttons, 3DO Animator displays the Set Frame Range dialog. A range can be any contiguous number of frames. Enter starting and ending frame numbers when you want to work on just a range of frames or when you want to save a range of frames (see the description of the Save Range command later in this chapter).

When you enter a range of frames, all animation playback commands in the Anim control panel are affected. Play Once, Play Continuously, and Play Ping Pong will work only on the range of frames entered in the boxes.

### Previous frame button (Command-2)

Click to move backward one frame. If the current frame is the first frame in the sequence, this button moves the animation to the last frame.

### Next frame button (Command - 3)

Click to move forward one frame. If the current frame is the last frame in the sequence, this button moves the animation to the first frame.

### Play once button (Command - 4)

Click to play through an animation sequence one time (at the speed set in the frame counter), from frame 1 to the last frame. Option-click takes key frames into account-that is, it tries to complete a sequence in the specified time by skipping from one key frame to the next if possible.

### Play Continuously button (Command - 5)

Click to play an animation sequence continuously at the speed set in the frame counter. Press any key or the mouse button to stop.

### Play Ping Pong button (Command - 6)

Click to play an animation sequence continuously, but the button plays the sequence forward, then backward, then forward, and so on. Press any key or the mouse button to stop.

## Go to Frame command

Prompts you for the frame you want to reach.

## Key Frames command

When an artist creates an animation, only the key frames contain full information about the picture. Other frames only know about the differences.

The submenu of the Key Frames command allows you to access key frames directly without going through intermediate frames.The following commands are available.

### Set Current As Key Frame

Saves the full image for the current frame and defines it as a key frame.

### Set Key Frames

Sets key frames at regular intervals in the animation.

### Cancel Current Key Frame

If you select this command, the current frame won't be saved as a full image any more.

### Cancel All Key Frames

Removes all key frame markings.

## Append command

When you select Append, 3DO Animator displays the standard file selection dialog, with a Picture Preview window for PICT or VDAN files.

Choose a file and click Open to add that file to the end (after the final frame) of the current animation. You can only append a PICT or VDAN file, and it must be the same size as or smaller (in total horizontal or vertical dimensions) than the file you're appending it to. If you try to add a larger file, an error message is displayed.

## Save Range command

When you select Save Range, 3DO Animator lets you cut large animations into smaller pieces and use the pieces in other animations. It displays the standard Save As dialog but saves only the current range of frames from the current animation.

Before choosing this command, you must set the range using the Set Frame Range dialog, which appears when you click one of the range buttons in the Anim control panel.

## Delete command

When you select Save Range, 3DO Animator displays a submenu for deleting frames from your animation.

Caution: You can't choose Undo after using one of the Delete commands. Before you choose one of these options, make sure that you want to delete-that is, remove a frame or frames from the animation.

The following commands are available:

### Current Frame

Deletes the current frame and makes the following frame the current frame unless you're at the last frame.

### Frames...

Displays the Delete Frame dialog, which lets you specify the range of frames you want to delete. Click OK to delete the specified frames from the sequence.

### All Frames

Deletes all the frames in the animation sequence and leaves the current frame as your document.

## Insert command

### One Frame

Adds a frame after the current frame and copies the contents of the current frame to it.

### Frames...

Displays the Insert Frame dialog. Enter the number of frames you want to add to the animation sequence (after the current frame), and click OK.

Check the Duplicate Current Frame option if you want the frames you're inserting to be copies of the current frame. 3DO Animator inserts blank frames otherwise.

## Clear command

When you select Clear, 3DO Animator presents a submenu for clearing frames and filling them with the background color.

Caution: You can't choose Undo after using one of the Clear commands. Before you choose one of these options, make sure that you want to clear.

The following commands are available:

### Current Frame

Clears the current frame.

### Frames...

Displays the Clear Frames dialog, which lets you enter the range of frames you want to Clear. Click OK to clear those frames from your document.

### All Frames

Clears all the frames in the current document.

## Light Table command

Provides a draft page with additional functionality for each frame. When you select Show The Light Table Document, the light table dialog appears.

Figure 4: Light Table dialog with light table on top.

The options available in the Light Table dialog when the light table is on top (the default) are listed in below.

The following commands are available when the light table is on top:

### Light Table on Top

Brings the light table to the top.

### Document on Top

Brings the source document to the top.

### Transparency

Makes the background of the light table transparent. As a result, the document is always fully visible even if the light table is on top.

### Filter

Makes the background color translucent, like colored glass. This makes it easy to distinguish what you draw from the art underneath.

### Spare Page

Lets you copy information from the light table onto one draft page.

### Link to Another Document

Lets you create an empty animation that contains exactly what you draw on the light table and then save it as an animation sequence. Also allows you to use an opened animation and sync the frames to another document.

With the document on top, you have a number of additional options, shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Light table dialog options (document) table on top).

The additional options available in the Light Table dialog when the document is on top are listed below.

### Background

Prompts for a PICT file to be used as the background for the light table. The PICT file is scaled to fit the document and remapped to use the colors of the document. You can then draw on top of that background image.

### Previous Frame

Goes to the specified frame in the light table.

### Fix Frame

Prompts for a frame number and goes to that frame.

### Merge in All Frames

Option for the Merge button.

### Release the Light Table

Discards all information in the light table.

## Grid Distortion command

When you select Grid Distortion, 3DO Animator presents a submenu that lets you create an animation by distorting a selected shape over a specified number of frames.The following commands are available in the submenu.

### Start the Grid Distortion

Starts the transformation process.

### Abort the Grid Distortion

Terminates the transformation process

### Show/Hide the Grid Distortion Options

Displays the control panel for the distortion options if it's hidden; hides it if it's showing.

## Anim Selection command

When you select Anim Selection, 3DO Animator presents a submenu which offers the following options:

### Anim Template

Not supported in this release.

### Anim Distortion

Lets you distort an animated selection.

For an example, see Animated distortion.

### Anim Effect

Lets you add transition effects to an animation. The effect you choose takes place in a selected area between a starting frame and an ending frame, which you specify in the Transition Effects dialog. An effect can be added to a stationary selection as well as to a selection you have moved with Anim Move or Anim 3D. You can transform any selection or selected area of the screen with a transition effect.

For an example, see Transition effects.

### Anim Move (Command-0)

Gives you a simple way to create horizontal and/or vertical movements for the objects you create. You set a beginning point and an end point for the object you want to move. 3DO Animator draws the movement of the object as a straight line between the two points over the number of frames you set.

For an example, see Using Anim Move.

### Anim 3D

Not currently implemented

### Pickup selection

Lets you pick up part or all of an animation. You can save an animated selection (using the Save As Selection command) and use your creation as animated clip art in other animations.

Use one of the Selection tools to surround the selection before choosing this command. If the selection changes location during the animation, surround the entire animated area with the selection Marquee.

For an example, see Saving an animated selection.

## Process command

When you select Process, 3DO Animator displays a submenu lets you choose the Edge Detection command. This command starts an edge detection process on all frames in an animation. As a result, you will have a document that, in general, contains clean outlines. The command is only valid for 8-bit documents. You can't undo the results of the command.