4.297 Geometry Modeling
Fall 2002
QuickTime VR, Animations, and Dissolves

This handout shows how you can quickly create simple animations using VIZ and Premiere. For a more detailed explanation of all the features please see the help files associated with each program.

QTVR Panorama Using VIZ
01. QTVR Panorama

• First setup a camera in the middle of the space you want to view. The starting view of the panorama is the view in the camera.
• Click on the Utilties tab in the command panel.
• The last option is the Panorama Exporter. Click on it.
• Click on "Render..."
• The "Render Setup Dialog" window should appear. This render window is very similar to the standard render window. The most important option is the "Output Size". For test runs, pick a small size. When you have fine tuned your lights and materials, pick a larger resolution.
• Make sure you have the appropriate viewport selected and click on "Render". VIZ will now render 6 images, which correspond to the 6 sides of a cube, from the camera point.

02. Panorama Exporter

• A "Panorama Exporter Viewer" should appear after VIZ finishes all 6 renderings. The QTVR that shows up in the viewer is a preview of the final draft.
• To get the final version, in the "Panorama Exporter Viewer" select File>Export>Export QuickTimeVR.
• Give your new QTVR file a name and click on "Save".
• Close the "Panorama Exporter Viewer" and "Render Setup Dialog" to start work in VIZ again.
• Double-click on your new movie file and it should open up with the QuickTime Player. You can pan around using the mouse. Use the control key to zoom out and the shift key to zoom in.

Camera Animation Using VIZ
03. Keyframing

• VIZ uses keyframing as the method to generate animations. The keyframing technique involves specifying specific points in time and adjusting the parameters of the animated object. For instance, at time 0 (the beginning of an animation) the camera is at position 0,0,0. And then at time 10 (in seconds) the camera moves to position 10,10,0. You set the two points and VIZ interpolates the position of the camera between the two points.
• The first thing to setup in making an animation is the total number of frames. If you want a 10 second animation at 15 frames per second (fps) then the total number of frames should be 150 (10 * 15).
• Click on the "Time Configuration" icon .
• You can adjust the length of the video and the frame rate in the "Time Configuration" window. If you plan on playing your animation on a computer, I would suggest that you keep the frame rate to 15fps.

04. Animate Button

• To animate the camera in VIZ you simply have to state the position of the camera at the beginning and the end of the animation.
• To go into animation mode, click on the "Animate" button. The button and the time slider should turn red to indicate that you are now in animation mode.
• Move the slider to the end.
• Move the camera named "camera-animate" to the desired position.
• Click on the "Animate" button again to get out of animation mode.
• Notice there are now two red markers on the track bar (located right below the time slider). These markers represent the location of the key frames.
• To preview your animation, click on the "Play Animation" button or move the time slider back and forth.

05. Adding More Key Frames Graphically

• In the previous step, we created a straight linear camera movement from one point to another. Suppose we want the camera to move along a curve. To do that we need to add more key frames along the time line.
• Select the camera named "camera-animate" and click on the "Motion" tab in the command panel.
• Click on "Trajectories". The path of the camera should show up in the viewports.
• Click on "Sub-Object" to enable the "Add Key" and "Delete Key" buttons. The "Sub-Object" button should turn yellow. In this mode, you can manipulate the key frames (represented as white squares on the path) with the move tool.
• Move the last key frame.
• To add a key frame, select "Add Key" and click anywhere on the path. The "Add Key" should turn orange.
• Add a key frame in the middle of the path.
• Move the key frame and notice how the path changes.
• Click on "Sub-Object" again to get out of key manipulation mode.

06. Adjusting Key Frames

• By default, VIZ assumes you would like to have a constant smooth connection between the key frames. To adjust the connection between two key frames, you have to adjust the in and out key tangents of the key frame.
• In the track bar, right-click on a key frame.
• Select the top option which should name the object and the type of adjustment. In this case it should say "camera-animate: Position".
• In this window you can adjust the position of the frame as well as the key tangents represented by the graphs. Below is a list of what these graphs mean.
• Smooth: Creates smooth interpolation through the key.
  Linear: Creates linear interpolation at the key.
  Step: Creates binary interpolation from one key to the next.
  Fast: Causes the interpolated rate of change to speed up around the key.
  Slow: Causes the interpolated rate of change to slow down around the key.
  Custom: Displays adjustable tangent handles at the key in Function Curves mode.
• Change the in and out tangets to be linear and notice how the path of the camera changes.

07. Track View

• To see the key frames in a graph format, click on the "Track View" icon.
• A new track view window should appear. The items listed on the left are all the things you can animate in VIZ. The right half of the graph shows the tracks and keys of your scene.
• You can add, delete, modify, move keys for any of the items listed. See the reference manual for more details.
• To see the key frames as function curves, click on the "Function Curves" icon. The right half should show 3 curves. The red curve represents the x coordinate; green = y, blue = z.

Dissolve Animation Using Premiere
08. Adobe Premiere

• Creating a simple animation that dissolves between 2 images is relatively straightforward. For this process, we will use Adobe Premiere 6.0.
• Open Premiere and select "Multimedia QuickTime". (It actually doesn't matter which one you pick because we'll adjust it later).
• First thing you want to do is to load the two images you want to use for the dissolve effect.
• File>Import>File... (or use ctrl-i). The images will show up in your bin.
• In the bin, drag one image to the track "Video 1A" and the other to "Video 1B".
• Move the bars so that they overlap slightly.
• Under the Transitions tab on the far right, drag "Cross Dissolve" to the Transition track in the timeline.
• To see a preview of your video, press return. This may take some time depending on how long a video you are making.

09. Exporting The Movie

• To export your timeline to a movie goto File>Export Timeline>Movie... (or use ctrl-m)
• Click on "Settings" to adjust the export parameters. You can also adjust the settings beforehand by going to Project>Project Settings...>Video...
• Inside the "Export Movie Settings" window, you can adjust how the video is exported. If you plan on playing the video from your computer, I would recommend that you use the "Sorenson Video" compressor at a frame rate of 15 fps. Adjust the size of the frame to match your image.
• Click "OK".
• Give your new movie a name and click "Save".
• In windows, double-click on the movie and it should play with the QuickTime Player.