Animate and Record Results

Animate the Results

If you've previously run a motion analysis, click the Play button on the animation toolbar to animate the results.

Prerequisite: Run a motion analysis. When complete, a check icon

appears above the Analyze Motion icon and the animation toolbar is displayed at the bottom of the modeling window.

Select the Review Motion Results tool on the Analyze icon, if not already active.
Click the button on the animation toolbar to review the motion analysis. Click the button to pause the animation.
Optional: Click the icon to change the animation settings.
Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.

Tip:

Drag the slider on the animation toolbar to view a particular point during the motion analysis.
To plot results, click an object in the modeling window or Model Browser, and the chart will appear.
If you make a change to the model that requires running a reanalysis, the check icon disappears, and you will not be able to review or plot results until you run another motion analysis.
If there's a position of the mechanism that you'd like to use as the model's starting point (for the next run), click the button.

Record the Results

Capture to a video in .mp4 format by clicking the button on the animation toolbar.

Prerequisite: Run a motion analysis. When complete, a check icon

appears above the Analyze Motion icon and the animation toolbar is displayed at the bottom of the modeling window.

Select the Review Motion Results tool on the Analyze icon, if not already active.
If you haven't already done so, play back your motion results to get an idea of what you're about to record.
Optional: If desired, click the icon to change the animation settings.
Click the button on the animation toolbar to begin recording the motion results; the icon changes to red to indicate that it is recording. Click the icon again to stop recording.
When the recording is finished, the video is automatically saved in the C:\Users\username\Documents\Altair\captures directory. It is automatically given a name constructed from the time stamp, i.e. recording2018.8.8_15.47.39.mp4.
Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.

Tip:

The default behavior is continuous recording, but the recording will stop automatically if the playback option is set to Once rather than Loop.
To hide the workflow help, select File > Preferences, and in the Workspace category clear the Show workflow help check box.
To avoid recording the mouse cursor, click the button on the animation toolbar and press the Tab key to move the focus to the button. Then press the Spacebar to start or stop the recording.
Note that the video recorder captures everything in the region of the modeling window. Avoid obscuring or minimizing that window during the recording process.

Animation Toolbar

Use the animation toolbar to play, record, and configure the animation.

Animation Settings: Click to open the Animation Settings.
Play and Record/Stop Recording: Click the button to begin recording the results; the icon changes to red to indicate that it is recording. Click the icon again to stop recording.
Start Animation/Pause Animation: Click the button to start or pause the animation. Use the arrow buttons to jump the first or last frame in the animation.
Move to First/Previous/Next/Last Step: These buttons allow you to step through the animation frame-by-frame. If you hold down the Previous or Next button, it will auto-repeat. If you want to skip frames, use the Increment By feature in the Animation Settings; hold Ctrl to temporarily override this behavior.
Slider: Drag the slider on the toolbar to view a particular point during the analysis; use the arrow keys to move frame-by-frame through the animation.
Current Step: Displays the current time or frame. You can also enter a value to go to the nearest time/frame.
Make Current Frame the New Design Position: Click to use the current position of the mechanism as the model's starting point for the next run.

Note: The animation toolbar has Previous and Next buttons with an auto-repeat feature, allowing you to step through the animation frame-by-frame by holding down the button. In addition, the Animation Settings include an option to Reverse Playback.

Animation Settings

Modify the animation settings from the animation toolbar.

Playback: Select whether to play the animation on a continuous Loop, Once, or Bounce (between forwards and backwards). Select the check box to Reverse Playback.
Display: Set the units for the slider to either Time or Frame.
Increment By: Increase the value in the counter to skip frames during playback. The reset button restores the default value of 1.
Speed: Drag the slider to change the speed of the animation.
Scale Factor: Enter a custom value to change the scale of the animation. Generally the scale of a displacement is too small to see clearly, so auto scaling is enabled by default.
Recording Settings: The default Auto setting gives you an estimate of the duration of the recording at 30 frames per second. If your video plays back faster than you want, select Custom Duration to change the length of the video; this will adjust the frame rate to try to achieve the specified duration. The Custom Duration has a minimum value of 1 second, and maximum value of 30 seconds.

Animation Shortcuts

To	Do this
Play and pause	If the Play button is active, press the Spacebar.
Increment the slider	Use the arrow keys to move frame-by-frame through the animation, or position the cursor over the slider and use the scroll wheel.
Exit tool	Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.