2 Basics

Mouse Usage
Anim8or requires the use of a mouse with two buttons. You use the left one most of the time to select, move, and change objects. When you are selecting things, the left button always deselects everything beforehand, so that only a single item remains selected. The right button, on the other hand, allows you to select multiple items by adding newly selected items to those already so. As of version 0.7 you can use the middle button to deselect the selection of anything. If you don't have a middle button, press and hold the alt key and the right button can be used for these functions instead.
When moving, rotating, or non-uniformly scaling something, the left button changes the X and Y-axis. Moving to the left or right affect the X-axis, and up and down the Y. The right button changes the Z-axis.
You can often double click on something to bring up an edit dialog for that item.

Where's Undo?
Anim8or has a complete undo command for the Object, Figure, Sequence and Scene Editors. As long as you stay in either Editor you can undo and redo multiple editing commands. A history is kept of as many changes as can fit in the undo buffer. The default size is 1 MB of memory but you can increase this in the Configuration dialog. So unless you're editing large models, you will be able to undo more than one operation.
You use the Edit->Undo and Edit->Redo menu commands to apply undo's and redo's. Or you can use the keyboard shortcuts of Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y.
As an alternate to Undo, you can still use the original (rather simplistic, and to some people annoying) substitute. When you are dragging a mouse in the main window to change something, say an object's orientation, and you think "Oops! I didn't want to do that!" just keep on dragging the mouse until it's outside the active view window and release the button. This will cancel the operation.
Still, when using this and any other computer program, I still offer the same advice: "Save Early, Save Often!". And don't always save to the same file. Keep a recent backup handy.

Tool Tips
You can turn tool tips on with the Options->ToolTips menu command. Then if you pause the mouse cursor over a toolbar button it function will be shown in the status bar.

Toolbars and Menus
Here is a portion of a typical toolbar. It has several sections in it that control different aspects of its behavior. The first thing that you will notice is that markings on some of the buttons are in WHITE  , some are in BLACK , and a few are in GRAY . The white ones indicate that the associated mode or option is currently selected or in effect. The black ones indicate a state that is not selected. The gray buttons show options that are not currently available.

The top group of buttons on each toolbar act as a radio set indicating the current editing mode of the active view. When you click on any one of them, it becomes highlighted and that mode is selected. All of the others are deselected. The meanings of the various buttons in this group, and the other common buttons, are described below.

Common Button Meanings
The topmost group can have up to 4 buttons in it. When you click on one it set the indicated mode, and changes the lower part of the toolbar to show the functions that are present in your new mode. The different modes are:

This button indicates that you are in the most basic select-and-edit mode for the editor that you are currently using. You will use it for most operations, such as selecting things and common editing actions.

This button is used for changing your view or views of your workspace. With it you can pan, zoom, tilt, and scale each view independently.

In this mode you can move and rotate the pivot for objects in your workspace. A pivot is the point and orientation that are used when you scale and rotate each object.

You use this button to move into point edit mode. It allows you to add, move, and modify individual points, edges, and faces on editable mesh objects.
The next row of three small buttons  shows the three axis of the 3D world. They indicate which axes are "unlocked', allowing you to move and rotate things in each direction. You can individually select or deselect them, and thus restrict the movement of objects that you are changing.
Below these buttons you will find three more small buttons  that form a radio group. They show the current coordinate system you are using. You can use world, object, or screen coordinates when you manipulate things.

You will find that there are several common toolbar buttons that have the same or similar meanings in more than one editing mode. They are described next.

You use the arrow button to select individual components. When you click on an object using the left mouse button, you select it and deselect any previously selected objects. When you use the right mouse button, you leave any currently selected objects selected, and select additional ones.

With this button you can click and drag to show the corners of a selection rectangle. Any and all objects that fall within that area are then selected. Again, the left mouse deselects any previously selection items, while the right mouse does not.

This is the move function. You set it when you want to move your objects around on the screen. When you press the left mouse button within a view window you can drag anything that is currently selected in the X and Y directions by moving the mouse to the left and right, or up and down. The objects will move along with your mouse. Similarly, the right mouse button will move them along the Z-axis, which is usually into the screen.

This is the rotate button, used for rotating things. When you click and drag the left mouse button, any selected objects will rotate around the X and Y-axes along with your mouse. You can use the right button to rotate them around the Z-axis.

This is the non-uniform scaling button. With it you can scale most objects independently in the X any Y directions using the left mouse button, and in the Z direction with the right mouse button.

This button scales objects in all dimensions simultaneously.
There is also a VCR style set of buttons for controlling the playback of your animations. You use its buttons in the same manner as those on a standard VCR or tape player.

Top Toolbar
This is a toolbar that's at the top of the window. You can use for several tasks common throughout Anim8or.

 

The buttons on the top toolbar do the following things.

Undo - If this button is enabled you can use it to undo the most recent edit command.

Redo - Reapply a command that you have un-done.

Cut - Deletes any selected components and puts the on the clipboard.

Wireframe - Changes the working views of your object to Wireframe.

Wireframe - Changes the working views of your object to Wireframe.

Smooth - View objects as smooth.

Material - Toggles showing the Material toolbar.

Arc Rotate - Enables the Arc Rotate tool. You can easily pan, zoom, and rotate any view with Arc Rotate. It is described in detail later on in this chapter.

Snap to Grid - You can toggle Snap to Grid mode with this button.

List - Displays a list of the components in the current view.  You may click on individual components to select and deselect them.

Graph Editor - Displays a graph of the selected Element's controllers in the Scene editor.  You can use your mouse to adjust the values of key frames directly in the graph.

Keyboard Shortcuts
You can use keyboard shortcuts for several common operations. Some are shortcuts for menu commands, and they are shown to the right of the command name in the menu.  Commonly used shortcuts are shown below.  A complete list of all the shortcuts is in Appendix A, Keyboard Shortcuts.
Alt
 When pressed and held before using the right mouse button, it simulates a middle mouse button.
Ctrl-A
 Select All - Select all objects in the current view.
Ctrl-C
 Copy - Copy any selected objects onto the Anim8or clipboard.
Ctrl-F
 Filled view - Show objects as solid instead of as a "wireframe” made out of lines.
Ctrl-P Graph Editor - Display or hide Graph Editor.
Ctrl-R
 Arc Rotate - Enter and leave Arc Rotate mode.
Ctrl-S Smooth view - Show objects as smooth solids.
Ctrl-V
 Paste - Paste applicable Anim8or objects from the clipboard into the current object.
Ctrl-W
 Wireframe view - Show objects as lines instead of solids.
Ctrl-X
 Cut - Cut any selected objects from the current workspace, and copy them into the Anim8or clipboard.
Ctrl-Y
 Redo - Reapply an Undo command.
Ctrl-Z
 Undo - Undo the last editing command.
Ctrl-Shift
 Temporarily change into select mode. This allows you to quickly select a new object by pressing the Control and Shift keys simultaneously and clicking on the object, and return to your previous mode when you release the keys.
Del
 This key deletes the currently selected items.
Esc
 The Escape key stops along Scene from rendering.
1
 Convert multiple working views to a single large view.
4
 Split the screen into 4 different views.
a
 Select ("Arrow") - Change into Select mode.
d
 Drag Select - Change into Drag Select mode.
f
 Frame - Frame the visible objects in the current view.
F
 Frame Selected - Frame the selected objects in the current view.
m
 Move - Change into Move mode.
n
 Non-uniform Scale - Change into Non-uniform Scale mode.
r
 Rotate - Change into Rotate mode.
s
 Scale - Change into Scale mode.
Arrow Keys
 You can use the arrow keys to move, rotate, and scale objects by small amounts in the Object editor, and advance the view by one frame in the Sequence and Scene editors.

Arc Rotate
When you press the arc rotate button in the top toolbar Anim8or displays a special overlay over the focus window. You can then use the mouse to pan, scale and rotate your view. It may take you a try or two to get used to how it works, but once you have it can save you a lot of time over other methods.

To the right is a view of the arc rotate screen. There are six different regions on the screen, separated by the green overlay: the inner, outer, top and bottom, and left and right. Each behaves differently when you click your mouse in them, and each mouse button controls a different function.
  • Left button - Rotate the view. Clicking in the center rotates it around the X and Y-axis. The outer region rotates around the Z-axis. Clicking inside one of the four little squares rotates in the X-axis (for the top and bottom) or the Y-axis (for the left and right) only.
  • Right button - Move the view. The center area moves your view left and right, and the outer region moves into and out of the screen. You may not have seen any change when moving into the screen in orthogonal views but they will be apparent in a perspective view. 
  • Middle button - Scale the view. The different areas all behave the same when you are scaling a view. Note: If you have a two-button mouse you can press and hold the Alt key and your right button will act like the middle button. 

Anim8or Object Libraries
You can use any Anim8or .an8 project file as a library. Objects, Figures, Sequences, and Scenes can all be imported to another Anim8or project with the Object->Import, Figure->Import, etc. menu commands. You can also export individual Objects and such with similar Object->Export commands.

Grid Control
You can set the size of the background grid used in the editing views, or you can let Anim8or pick a default size that changes with how much you zoom the view so that it always shows a reasonable number of grid lines. Use the Options->Grid command to show the grid dialog:

There are two grid sizes that you can set. One is used in the Object, Figure, and Sequence Editors, and the other is used in the Scene Editor.

You can also set snap-to-grid for the Object editor by checking the Enable box in the Snap to Grid section, or with the  snap to grid button in the top toolbar. This will position objects you move at locations on a grid, making it easy to align them. Snap-to-grid also controls the size and rotation for many operations to give you more control on other aspects of modeling. You set the size of the grid snap in the Spacing entry.

Material Editor
The material editor is used whenever you need to design the color, texture, transparency, and other visual properties of an objects appearance. An example is shown below.

Materials are a complex topic. This dialog has several sub-dialogs for certain functions. There is an entire chapter devoted to describing how to use the Material dialogs.

Visual Quality
You can control the quality of the images shown when you edit, as well as the quality of the images output to files. These are controlled through the Viewport Parameters dialog that is found under the View->Preferences menu. It looks like:

The last area, Frame Rate, sets the number images used to make one second of animation. All .avi file output is generated with this frame rate. If you check the Limit Playback box, then Anim8or will limit the rate it plays animations in the Sequence and Scene Editors. Otherwise they will be played at the fastest possible speed.

OpenGL Workspace
This section controls the appearance of your interactive workspace. You can view your objects as wireframe models, as flat faceted solid objects, or as smooth shaded solid objects.

Most graphics cards display smooth shaded images at the same speed as flat shaded ones, so you might think that flat shading wouldn't be very useful. But it is sometimes helpful to see individual facets on a model.
Texturing, and mipmaps, can sometimes slow the response of your computer, so use the check boxes to enable or disable them as you see fit. Also, texturing can hide the structure of your models, so you don't always want to see it.
You can add a general fog to Anim8or Scenes. Objects beyond a certain distance gradually fade into the color of the fog. Fog is only visible in the camera view of the Scene editor.
The "Use Shaders" check box enables drawing higher quality materials in the working views.  It is available only on computers that support OpenGL pixel shaders.  Graphics cards that support DX9 or higher will usually work.  If your graphics card doesn't have this feature the check box will be disabled.

File Output
This section controls the appearance of your generated images. File images are rendered using a software renderer instead of an OpenGL accelerator, so the speed of your file renderings can be effected quite severely by the settings that you choose.
Anti-aliasing helps to remove jaggies from your final images but takes several times longer to do.  Similarly shadows can increase the realism of your images a lot but they are often much slower to render.

Frame Rate
The last area sets the Frame Rate, or the number of images used to make one second of animation. All .avi files you make will have this frame rate. If you check the Limit Playback box, then Anim8or will also limit the rate it plays animations in the Sequence and Scene Editors. Otherwise they will be played at the fastest possible speed.

Saving Images as .jpg and .bmp Files
You can make a quick preview image of any view that you are working on with the Render->RenderImage command. You can also save this image to a .jpg or .bmp file, or print it, from within this command.

Printing
Anim8or has the usual Print and Print Preview options in the File menu. But it offers one additional level of control of your printed images, by letting you control the size and other properties of the bitmap image used in printing. It is not at all uncommon for a color printer to have a resolution of 1440 by 720 dpi. But generating an 8.5" by 11" image at this resolution is not practical! Instead Anim8or uses a default size of 1024x768 which you can adjust to suit your needs.

Configuration
Anim8or keeps track of 4 base working directories. One is used to store Anim8or project files (.an8) and the others are the default directories for keeping Textures, importing and exporting objects, and saving rendered images. You set these directories with Configuration dialog through the File->Configure command:

When you load or save a project file Anim8or uses the project directory as the initial default. You can change this directory in the Configuration dialog.
When you load a project file, Anim8or looks for texture files in three directories. First it looks in the same directory as the .an8 file. If that fails it tries the Texture directory set in the Configuration dialog. As a last resort Anim8or uses the full path name stored in the project file, which is where the texture file was initially found.
The import directory is the default place for importing and exporting files of any format.
The images directory if the default location for saving any images or movies that you render.
The scripts directory is where Anim8or looks for scripts to preload.  This is where you keep plug-ins as well since they are scripts.  Scripts are only preloaded if the Preload Scripts box is checked.
You can have Anim8or automatically load the last project you were using by checking the Start in Previous box.
If you check the Associate .3DS box then you will be able to start Anim8or by double clicking on .3ds files in Windows.

User Interface Configuration
You can change certain aspects of the way that the Anim8or working views look as well with the User Interface Configuration dialog.  You can find it under the File->ConfigureGUI command.

Most entries have obvious meanings but you might need an explanation for a few of them.
 Fast Focus only applies when you have multiple working views visible at the same time.  It controls what happens when you click inside a window other than the one with the mouse focus.  If fast focus is enabled then the current active editing command will be applied to the new window on the first click.  So if you are in Select mode then any object you click on in the new window will be immediately selected.  If fast focus is disabled then the first click will only change the focus window.  You will have to click a second time to select something.
Transparent Faces in the Wireframe Views section controls the drawing of a thin, transparent skin on the faces of a model in wireframe viewing mode.  This is on by default but you may sometimes find it easier to edit a particular mesh with it disabled.
You can show the wireframe outline or the vertex points overlaid on your solid models in both the flat and smooth viewing modes by checking the appropriate boxes in the Solid Views area.  You may find that showing all this information can slow your computer down, especially if you are editing complex models.  If this happens try disabling these features to improve performance.
When you render an image Anim8or normally updates the screen to show the progress of the render. Some graphics cards are very slow when updating the screen and this can increase the time it takes to render an image considerably. You can disable these partial image updates by unchecking the Show Progress box in the Render Preview section. Anim8or will still display a progress bar so you will still see how far the render has progressed. The final image will still be displayed when it is finished.

This page was last updated on May 20, 2006
 Copyright 2006 R. Steven Glanville