Animation

The animation toolbar provides tools for creating animated views in Rhino.

Choose among the viewport display and render modes to display the animation images.

Animation options

Set up one day sun study

SetOneDaySunAnimation

Animate sun movement through a specified calendar day.

Set up seasonal sun study

SetSeasonalSunAnimation

Animate sun movement through a specified week, month, or year.

Set up fly-through animation

SetFlythroughAnimation

Animate the camera and target movement along a path curve.

Set up path animation

SetPathAnimation

Animate the camera and target movement along separate path curves.

Set up 360 degree turntable animation

Turntable

Rotate a view around the target.

Limitations

• Rhino provides limited tools for creating animations of your models. These animation tools move only the camera and the sun. Rhino includes no tools for animating objects.
• Rendering the frames creates a series of still images. These still images can be combined into an animation file.
• Rhino does not include tools for compiling the frames into animation files, but many third-party products specialize in this process.

The SetTurntableAnimation command animates the camera rotation once around the current target point.

The view rotates once around the current target point. To get an idea of what the animation will look like, click in the Perspective viewport and press and hold the left arrow ◀ or right arrow ▶ key.

Animation options

Number of frames

The number of animation frames to capture.

File type

Select an image file type from jpg, bmp, png, or tga to save the frames.

Capture method

Select RenderFull or RenderPreview to capture the frames rendered by the current renderer.

Or, select one of the viewport display modes to capture the frames.

Viewport

Select a viewport in the model.

Animation name

Enter a name for the animation.

The SetPathAnimation command animates the camera or target movement.

The camera, target, or both are moved. The three results you can get are: moving camera fixed target, moving target with fixed camera, or moving camera with moving target.

Camera and target setup

Animation options

Number of frames

The number of animation frames to capture.

File type

Select an image file type from jpg, bmp, png, or tga to save the frames.

Capture method

Select RenderFull or RenderPreview to capture the frames rendered by the current renderer.

Or, select one of the viewport display modes to capture the frames.

Viewport

Select a viewport in the model.

Animation name

Enter a name for the animation.

The SetFlythroughAnimation command animates the camera and target movement.

A fly-through animation looks ahead as the camera moves along the path.

Animation options

Number of frames

The number of animation frames to capture.

File type

Select an image file type from jpg, bmp, png, or tga to save the frames.

Capture method

Select RenderFull or RenderPreview to capture the frames rendered by the current renderer.

Or, select one of the viewport display modes to capture the frames.

Viewport

Select a viewport in the model.

Animation name

Enter a name for the animation.

The SetOneDaySunAnimation command animates sun movement through a specified calendar day.

Note

• A daily sun study moves the sun across the sky to show how the shadows change on a given day.
• This animation type is useful if you need to see where shadows are going to fall based on the location of the sun. Architects, civil engineers, and city planners use these studies to determine if new construction will block sunlight from existing structures and green spaces.
• Daylight savings time is automatically taken into account.
• Sun study animations do not move the camera or target locations. Instead, they animate the sun. You cannot combine sun study animations with other animation types.

One Day Sun Animation Options

Latitude (-90 to 90)

Specifies the model's latitude location.

Longitude (-180 to 180)

Specifies the model's longitude location.

North angle (clockwise from y axis)

Specifies the model's north direction.

Date

Specifies the date.

Start time

Specifies the start time.

End time

Specifies the end time.

Minutes between frames

Specifies time interval.

File type

Select supported file type.

Capture method

Viewport

Select viewport name.

Animation name

The name for the animation file set.

The SetSeasonalSunAnimation command animates sun movement through a specified week, month, or year.

Note

• Shadows are shown at the same time of each day.
• This animation type is useful if you need to see where shadows are going to fall based on the location of the sun. Architects, civil engineers, and city planners use these studies to determine if new construction will block sunlight from existing structures and green spaces.
• Sun study animations do not move the camera or target locations. Instead, they animate the sun. You cannot combine sun study animations with other animation types.

Seasonal Sun Animation Options

Latitude (-90 to 90)

Specifies the model's latitude location.

Longitude (-180 to 180)

Specifies the model's longitude location.

North angle (clockwise from y axis)

Specifies the model's north direction.

Start date

Specifies the start date.

End date

Specifies the end date.

Time

Specifies the time of day.

File type

Select supported file type.

Capture method

Days between frames

Specifies time interval.

Viewport

Select viewport name.

Animation name

The name for the animation file set.

The PlayAnimation command plays an animation or animation preview.

The preview toolbar lets you view the animation sequence in wireframe. It is much faster than rendering or shading each of the frames.

For faster playback, play the animation preview in a Wireframe view.

The ViewFirstFrame command displays the first animation frame.

The ViewFrameNumber command displays the specified animation frame number.

The ViewLastFrame command displays the last animation frame.

The ViewNextFrame command displays the next animation frame.

The ViewPreviousFrame command displays the previous animation frame.

The RecordAnimation command renders and saves animation frames.

Each frame renders and saves to the specified folder. When all the frames are rendered, a preview of the animation will be displayed in your web browser.

Command-line options

TargetFolder

Specifies the folder for saving the animation frames.

RunAnimation

Runs the animation when it is complete in an HTML page.

NumberOfPassesForRealtimeDisplay

Sets how many passes will be calculated for capturing each frame when recording the animation from the Raytraced viewport.

See also

Animate views

Animation toolbar