BS SDK

Tools / BS Exporter for Blender

Animation

• Supported animation objects
• Creating animations in Blender
• Controlling and previewing animations

[ return to overview ]

Supported animation objects

The BS Exporter for Blender supports animation of the following objects:

• Meshes can be animated in "Object Mode" with Loc (translation), Rot (rotation) and Size (scale)
• The colors (diffuseColor, specularColor and emissiveColor) and alpha (transparency) properties of Materials can be animated
• Lights can be animated with color and energy (intensity)
• Cameras can be animated in "Object Mode" with Loc (translation), Rot (rotation)

Creating animations in Blender

Animations in Blender can be created in one of three ways:

• Pressing the "i" key (insert keyframe), this depends on object, window and panel
• Using the auto key feature of the "Timeline" window
• Adding keys in the "IPO Curve Editor"

See also:

• Blender Documentation: Keyframes
• Blender 2.37a Release Notes: Timeline Window
• Blender Documentation: The IPO Curves

Controlling and previewing animations

The speed, length, changes and properties of Blender can controlled and previewed inside Blender.

The speed of an animation can be controlled by changing the "Frs/sec" (frames per second) value on the "Anim" panel or in the "Timeline" window. "End" specifies the length (cycleInterval) of an animation.

Controlling speed, frames per second and animation length


Controlling speed, frames per second and animation length in the "Timeline" window

In the "IPO Curve Editor" you can modify and control your animations. If you wish to export an animation as looped set "Curve > Extend Mode > Cyclic". The extend mode "Constant" will export animations that are played only once.

The different IPO types depending on the objects of the scene


Set the animation "Cyclic" will export looped animations

Notes:

Every IPO curve of a given property must have the same "extend mode" because VRML/X3D only has one general field to specify whether an animation is looped or not.

The VRML/X3D formats support keys and interpolators, but these have no exportable equivalent in Blender. However, within the exporter dialog you can specify the animation precision, which exports every nth frame as a key frame. So be sure your Blender key frames match your selected precision.

If an animation is shorter than the precision you specify, it will be exported as a linear animation with a start and an end key.

[ return to top | return to overview ]