Objects within a 3D Canvas scene may be animated using simple key-frame based animation functions. A key-frame is a snapshot of how the scene looks at a point in time. The Animation Toolbar, if enabled, is located at the bottom of the 3D Canvas window, and contains all of the animation related functions.
Animations are played and recorded from the point of view of a camera. This Camera is part of every scene, and is visible and can be animated as with any other object.
Note that in every scene there are in effect two cameras, the Animation Camera and the Layout Camera. When you are laying out a scene, you are looking at it through the Layout Camera, but when it comes time to view the animation, the animation is viewed through the Animation Camera. This technique allows you to set an animation path for the Animation Camera that will be used to view the animation.
Each position on the animation slider is a key-frame. You may set the position and orientation of the objects in your scene at each key-frame on the slider. When the animation is played, 3D Canvas will interpolate positions between these key-frames. Interpolation of position is based on Spline curves. You can create a straight-line path by creating sub-path key frames.
As you set-up your animation, the currently selected object's path is displayed as a positioning aid. Colored points indicate key-frame non-interpolated positions.
You can work with a sub-range of your animation by selecting a start point using the animation slider and shift-dragging the animation slider to the desired end point.
Functions are included to play animations, record animations to video, and save an animation still frame image to a bitmap file.