The Animation Output dialog provides tools to create simple 3D animations from ‘keyframes’ (i.e. snapshots) from the PhotoModeler 3D Viewer. The basic process is to add keyframes to the animation and PhotoModeler will complete the animation by smoothly filling in the frames between the keyframes. The process can be summarized as follows:
• Position the model in the viewer as your starting point
• Click “Add keyframe”
• Reposition your model for the next keyframe using pan, rotate and zoom or any combination of these for each keyframe (remember that PhotoModeler fills between keyframes, so your movement can be significant – some experimentation may be required)
• Click “Add keyframe”
• Continue this process until you are happy with your sequence.
• Once you’re done, click the “Play” button to review your animation. You’ll notice that the keyframes will highlight with a red outline as the animation reaches each one. This shows you the interval at which the animation is playing.
Note: The amount of change between keyframes may require some experimentation. You may need to remove or insert keyframes to get the animation that you’re looking for. See the section below for more information on settings and output control.
You can also select the "Keyframes from photo positions" option to automatically set keyframes based on the positions of the camera for each photo. This feature works best for DSM and/or SmartMatch projects where photos are taken in an ordered sequence of shot relatively close to each other.