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.

To set up an animation

  1. In the Animation toolbar, click the Setup animation button, and click the button for the animation type.
  2. After setting up the animation, preview or record it.

Animation options

Set up one day sun study
SetOneDaySunAnimation

Animate sun movement through a specified calendar day.

Note: Skylight is turned off during one-day animation studies.

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.

SetTurntableAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation Setup

Not on menus.

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.

Before setting up a turntable animation

Turntable animation options

Direction

Specifies the direction the view will turn.

AntiClockwise

Turns the view anti (counter) clockwise.

Clockwise

Turns the view clockwise.

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.

SetPathAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation Setup

Not on menus.

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.

Before setting up a path animation

  • Create the path curves for the camera and target.
    The direction of the curve will be used for the travel direction of the camera and target. Use the Dir command to view or change the direction.

Camera and target setup

For a moving camera with fixed target:
For a moving target with a fixed camera:
  • Draw a curve for the target path and create a point object for the camera path.
For a moving camera and a moving target:
  • Draw curves for both the camera and target paths.

Path animation setup

  1. Select the camera path object.
  2. Select the target path object.

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.

SetFlythroughAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation Setup

Not on menus.

The SetFlythroughAnimation command animates the camera and target movement.

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

Before setting up a fly-through animation

  • Create the path curve for the camera and target.
    The direction of the curve will be used for the travel direction of the camera and target. Use the Dir command to view or change the direction.

Fly-through animation 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.

SetOneDaySunAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation Setup

Not on menus.

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.

Calendar

Click to select a date from calendar

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

Select from RenderFull using the current renderer, or display modes using Scene Lighting.

Viewport

Select viewport name.

Animation name

The name for the animation file set.

SetSeasonalSunAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation Setup

Not on menus.

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.

Calendar

Click to select a date from calendar.

End date

Specifies the end date.

Calendar

Click to select a date from calendar.

Time

Specifies the time of day.

File type

Select supported file type.

Capture method

Select from RenderFull using the current renderer, or display modes using Scene Lighting.

Days between frames

Specifies time interval.

Viewport

Select viewport name.

Animation name

The name for the animation file set.

PlayAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation
Animation Preview
Render Tools

Not on menus.

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.

To preview the animation in the viewport

  • In the Animation Preview toolbar, click the Preview animation button.
    The viewport will change showing a preview of the animation. You cannot adjust the speed of the preview playback.
    Press Esc to stop.

ViewFirstFrame

Toolbar Menu

Animation Preview

Not on menus.

The ViewFirstFrame command displays the first animation frame.

ViewFrameNumber

Toolbar Menu

Animation Preview

Not on menus.

The ViewFrameNumber command displays the specified animation frame number.

ViewLastFrame

Toolbar Menu


Animation Preview

Not on menus.

The ViewLastFrame command displays the last animation frame.

ViewNextFrame

Toolbar Menu


Animation Preview

Not on menus.

The ViewNextFrame command displays the next animation frame.

ViewPreviousFrame

Toolbar Menu

Animation Preview

Not on menus.

The ViewPreviousFrame command displays the previous animation frame.

RecordAnimation

Toolbar Menu

Animation
Render Tools

Not on menus.

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.

To record the animation frames

Command-line options

TargetFolder

Specifies the folder for saving the animation frames.

  • Search for "RecordAnimationTargetFolder" in Advanced settings to change the default target folder.

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