3Designer™

User's Guide
Version 2.1
 CyberGraphics Maker User's Guide
ii
3Designer User's Guide

Important Notice
This guide is delivered subject to the following conditions and
restrictions:
This guide contains proprietary information belonging to Orad Hi-Tec
Systems Ltd. Such information is supplied solely for the purpose of
assisting explicitly and properly authorized users of 3Designer.
No part of its contents may be used for any other purpose, disclosed to
any person or firm or reproduced by any means, electronic or
mechanical, without the express prior written permission of Orad Hi-Tec
Systems Ltd.
The text and graphics are for the purpose of illustration and reference
only. The specifications on which they are based are subject to change
without notice.
The software described in this guide is furnished under a license. The
software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of that
agreement.
Information in this guide is subject to change without notice. Corporate
and individual names and data used in examples herein are fictitious
unless otherwise noted.
Copyright © 2005 Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd. All rights reserved.
3Designer and 3Designer Advanced are trademarks of Orad Hi-Tec
Systems Ltd.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries.
MapCube and MapCube Media are registered trademarks of MapCube
VRML: Portions of this software is based in part on the CyberVRML97
package written by Satoshi Konno.
iv 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Other company and brand products and service names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.
If you require technical support services, contact Orad Hi-Tec Systems
Ltd. at [email protected]
 Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING 3DESIGNER .................................................. 7
What is 3Designer? ................................................................................. 7
Introducing 3Designer ............................................................................ 9
Authoring Using 3Designer.................................................................... 9
3Designer Workflow .............................................................................. 11

CHAPTER 2 GETTING STARTED.............................................................. 13

Installing 3Designer .............................................................................. 14
Hardware Requirements ................................................................................... 14
Required Files ................................................................................................... 15
3Designer Installation........................................................................................ 15
Installing the Core 3Designer Component ................................................... 18
Installing the CyGRenderEngine for Windows .................................................. 22
Installing the SoundService............................................................................... 26
Installing the ClipQueryService ......................................................................... 27
Installing MySQL ............................................................................................. 29
Installing CSPControl ........................................................................................ 32
Installing ClipManager....................................................................................... 34
Installing CyGCom ActiveX ............................................................................... 36
TextGen Service................................................................................................ 38
Installing the HASP Driver................................................................................. 39
Finishing the 3Designer Installation .................................................................. 40
Licensing................................................................................................ 41
Configuration Files................................................................................ 42
Post-Installation..................................................................................... 42
2 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Starting 3Designer ................................................................................ 43

Loading a Scene ................................................................................... 44
Creating a New Scene .......................................................................... 45
Deleting a Scene ................................................................................... 46
The 3Designer Main Screen ................................................................. 47
Menu Bar ........................................................................................................... 48
Using the Window Ribbon ................................................................................. 53
Property Editors .................................................................................... 56
3Designer DVG Video Output .............................................................. 56

CHAPTER 3 SETTING UP THE DESIGNVIEW ......................................... 59

Using the DesignView .......................................................................... 60
DesignViews ...................................................................................................... 60
Switching to a 3-Dimensional Display ............................................................... 61
Navigating the DesignView................................................................................ 61
Zoom.................................................................................................................. 62
Building Scenes in the DesignView................................................................... 62
Selecting Objects in the DesignView................................................................. 63
Moving Objects in the DesignView.................................................................... 63
Scaling Objects in the DesignView.................................................................... 63
Rotating Objects ................................................................................................ 64
Deleting Objects from the DesignView.............................................................. 64
Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip .......................................... 65
Using the Primitive Object strip ......................................................................... 67
Using the Complex strip .................................................................................... 70
Using the Materials Strip ................................................................................... 71
Using the Textures Strip .................................................................................... 71
Using the News Strip ......................................................................................... 73
 What is 3Designer?
3

Using the Misc. strip .......................................................................................... 73

Using the Auto strip ........................................................................................... 73
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors................................... 74
Action Buttons ................................................................................................... 75
Editor Tabs ........................................................................................................ 77
Object Tab ......................................................................................................... 77
Transformation Tab ........................................................................................... 80
Geometry Tab ................................................................................................... 82
Color Tab........................................................................................................... 93
Texture Tab ....................................................................................................... 96
Texture Mapping Tips........................................................................................ 98
Mipmaps and Anisotropy Explained.................................................................. 99
Light Tab.......................................................................................................... 101
Global Tabs ..........................................................................................102
Layer tab.......................................................................................................... 103
Camera tab...................................................................................................... 103
Environment Tab ............................................................................................. 105
Path Tab (3Designer Advanced)..................................................................... 107
Shadow Tab .................................................................................................... 108
Event Tab (3Designer Advanced) ................................................................... 109

CHAPTER 4 MANAGING OBJECTS ....................................................... 111

Managing Objects Using the Object Tree ......................................... 112
Editing Object Properties in the Object Tree................................................... 116
Editing Object Properties with the Property Editor Dialog Box ....................... 117
Using the Property Editor Dialog Box for Other Properties............................. 118
Transferring Object Properties ........................................................................ 120
Working with Groups ..........................................................................122
4 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Adding Complex Objects to the Asset Strip .................................... 125

CHAPTER 5 WORKING WITH TEXT....................................................... 127

Working with Text ............................................................................... 128
Decorative Text ............................................................................................... 128
Text Styles ....................................................................................................... 129
Ticker Objects ..................................................................................... 130
Creating a Custom Ticker Object .................................................................... 131
Activating a Ticker Object................................................................................ 133

CHAPTER 6 WORKING WITH DATA ...................................................... 135

Exporting Parameters for Real-time Manipulation .......................... 136
Making Internal Connections............................................................. 138
Using Functions (3Designer Advanced)........................................... 140
Function Operators.......................................................................................... 142
Using 3Designer Math Function Parameters .................................................. 144
Math Functions for parameter of type STRING............................................... 145

CHAPTER 7 ANIMATIONS ...................................................................... 147

Creating Animations........................................................................... 148
Animation Timeline .......................................................................................... 148
Defining an Animation Sequence .................................................................... 150
Changing Keyframe Properties ....................................................................... 152
Multiple Animation Timelines ............................................................ 154
Creating Multiple Animation Timelines ............................................................ 154
Using the Animation Window (3Designer Advanced) ..................... 156
Animation Window Buttons.............................................................................. 157
Using the Right Mouse Button......................................................................... 158
Animation Window Operations ........................................................................ 160
 What is 3Designer?
5

Animating Along a Path (3Designer Advanced)............................... 164

Using the Digital Disk Recorder / DDR (3Designer Advanced)....... 167

CHAPTER 8 UTILITIES.............................................................................169
Font Installer.................................................................................................... 170
Controller ......................................................................................................... 171

CHAPTER 9 CUSTOMIZATION................................................................ 173

Hot Keys (3Designer Advanced)........................................................ 174
Paste Options (3Designer Advanced) ............................................... 175
Preferences ..........................................................................................177
Scene Configuration........................................................................................ 179

CHAPTER 10 CYGMAKER SCENE CONVERTER ................................. 181

Using the Scene Converter ................................................................ 181

CHAPTER 11 VRML OBJECT IMPORTING ............................................ 185

CHAPTER 12 TRACKING CALIBRATION APPENDIX ........................... 193

Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning ............................. 194
Hardware preparations.................................................................................... 194
Homing the tracking system ............................................................................ 195
Measurements with TSPositioning.................................................................. 195

CHAPTER 13 MAPCUBE INTEGRATION ............................................... 211

INDEX............................................................................................................ 223
6 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
 What is 3Designer?
7

Chapter 1

Introducing
3Designer
About This Chapter
This chapter introduces 3Designer. It includes the following sections:
What is 3Designer?, page 7, describes the software modules of the
3Designer system.
3Designer Workflow, page 11, describes the workflow and main tasks
for building a scene.

What is 3Designer?
3Designer is an On-Air Graphics (OAG) package that provides a
complete graphics environment for creating three-dimensional complex
scenes, together with optimal authoring tools and real-time broadcasting
control. 3Designer is designed to provide animated real-time
performance for a wide range of applications, including sports, weather,
news, finance, elections and special events coverage.
8 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

An example of the 3Designer final production output is shown below.

A full 3Designer system is made up of three software modules:

3Designer- Authoring module. This can be either 3Designer or
3Designer Advanced, depending upon the installation.
Control Application – A control interface module for broadcasting
(varies according to customer’s installation).
RenderEngine – A real-time rendering application for rendering the
graphics to a video output.
The 3Designer modules cater to all requirements for integration of your
OAG applications into the automated studio. First, three-dimensional
graphic templates (scenes) are designed in the 3Designer module, where
you can define animated sequences and determine what can be changed
in real-time by "exporting" parameters to the Control module. Reporters
can then insert or import real pertinent data into the templates using
3Designer Control, which may be run from a remote station.
 Introducing 3Designer
9

Introducing 3Designer
The 3Designer module employs a unique and intuitive method of
authoring, providing maximum design flexibility without the need for
programming or professional graphic-design experience. 3Designer
authoring allows you to use a two-dimensional layout that simplifies the
process of constructing your scene, while allowing you alternatively to
switch to a three dimensional display where you can view and edit your
work. By using and manipulating a virtual camera you can provide
alternative displays that allow you to view your work from different
angles.

3Designer includes project management tools and libraries for objects

and templates, and also supports imports from external modeling
packages in VRML2 / VRML97 file format. The different work-area
modes contained in 3Designer take you through the natural stages of
defining a scene, as described in the following chapters.

Authoring Using 3Designer

3Designer’s structure is based on the creation of scenes within projects.
When authoring a scene, you can either create a completely new scene,
or use an existing scene or generic template as a base.
During the creation of the scene, you add objects by dragging and
dropping them into the work-area, and you then define characteristics for
the objects.
You can use 3Designer to connect and animate the objects in the scene,
and to export object data for manipulation in real-time.
Animation - 3Designer enables you to create high-quality, unlimited
animation. Almost any graphic parameter in 3Designer can be animated
and, if required, exported for real-time manipulation. For more
information on animations, refer to Chapter 3, Setting up the DesignView
and Chapter 7, Editing Animations.
10 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Exporting for real-time manipulation - 3Designer provides maximum

flexibility for manipulation of on-air graphics in real-time. This is done
by exporting editable parameters from 3Designer to the Control module,
where live data can be imported for rendering animated sequences, object
characteristics and text strings. For example, a bar may grow and change
color in real-time to represent the score and colors of the winning team.
For more information on exporting parameters, refer to Chapter 4,
Transforming Objects.
Internal reference and math functions - 3Designer provides the ability
to connect a data parameter from one object to any parameter of a second
object, so that any manipulation of the first parameter value is also
applied to the second. You can also define more advanced math functions
for manipulating data allowing complex animated actions based on real-
time data (Available in 3Desigenr Advanced only). For more
information, refer to Chapter 6, Defining Data.
Exported Parameters - 3Designer provides a run time control
application that can set data into exported parameters.
 3Designer Workflow
11

3Designer Workflow
The following workflow contains the main tasks performed when
creating a scene in 3Designer.

To create your scene, you must first add objects, and then
define their placement in three-dimensional space.

You can define unique characteristics for each object added to

the scene, customizing the geometric properties of the objects
to your requirements.

You can give character to the scene by defining attributes such

as color, material, texture and lighting for each object.

You can export most parameters in 3Designer to the 3Designer

Control module, where data can be imported and manipulated
in real-time.

3Designer enables you to animate almost anything in your

scene.
12 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
3Designer Workflow
13

Chapter 2

Getting Started

About This Chapter

This chapter describes the 3Designer Main screen and the video output,
giving an authoring overview. It includes the following sections:

Installing 3Designer: Page 14.

Starting 3Designer: Page 43.

Opening, Creating, and Deleting Projects and Scenes. Page 44.

The 3Designer Main screen: a brief definition of menus, options,

toolbars, and icons. Page 47.

Using the Window Ribbon: this bar provides icons that display crucial
editor and management windows such as the Object Tree and Property
Editors: Page 53.

3Designer Video Output: how to use 3Designer in conjunction with real-

time video output: Page 56.
14 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing 3Designer
Hardware Requirements
The optimum platform for 3Designer uses Orad's DVG-10 with
authoring on Microsoft® Windows®.
Minimum hardware specification for 3Designer:
Windows 2000 SP4
Intel Pentium IV (2.0GHz) with Hyper-Threading
512mb of physical memory
40 GB of UDMA 5/6 HDD (one partition only)
nVidia GeForce 4 (128mb)
Onboard or PCI Intel NIC Ethernet Card 100mps
1280 x 1024 resolution monitor (24/32 bit color)
DVD-ROM
Keyboard and 3-button Mouse, or Mouse with wheel.
Recommended hardware specification for 3Designer:
Windows 2000 SP 4
Intel Pentium IV (3.0GHz) with Hyper-Threading
1GB of physical memory
80GB of UDMA 5/6 HDD (one partition only)
nVidia GeForceFX (128mb)
Onboard or PCI Intel NIC Ethernet Card 100mps
1600x1200 resolution monitor (24/32 bit color)
DVD-ROM/CD-Writer combo or DVD-Writer
Keyboard and 3-button Mouse, or Mouse with wheel.
 Installing 3Designer
15

Required Files
The following files are required for the full installation of 3Designer:
• 3Designer and RenderEngine installation package
• TrackingSet (hereafter known as TS) installation.

3Designer Installation

¾ To install 3Designer:
1. Insert the 3Designer CD and double-click the installation package
icon. The Package Contents page appears.
2. Read the Contents page and click Next; the InstallShield Wizard
Welcome screen appears:
16 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

3. Click Next. A screen appears instructing you to disregard prompts

that may appear regarding restarting the system during installation –
do not restart the system until installation is complete.

4. Click Next and select components for installation:

 Installing 3Designer
17

Options Description
3Designer Core Application used for authoring
CyGRenderEngine for Windows Graphics Engine for Windows machines
CyGRenderEngine for Linux Graphics Engine for Linux machines
SoundService Sound Service that executes commands to load
and play sound files
ClipManagement Set Group of components used in video clip
management. See related manual for details
+ClipQueryService Database client for clip management needs. By
default this should be installed on the same
computer as 3Designer
+MySQL Database engine used for clip description
storage. Separate license for usage required
+DVS Services According to installed DDR hardware, one
corresponding service should be installed
+ClipManagement Main application for video clip management.
By default this should be installed on the same
computer as 3Designer
CyGCom ActiveX Components ActiveX control for users who would like to
develop their own applications for control:
CyGRenderEngine - ReCom; DDR -
DDR_Com (video clip management);
SoundServer - SoundCom
TextGen Service TextGen service is used by CyGRenderEngine
to generate decorated text effects
HASP Drivers Installs drivers for HASP Dongle (required for
licensing of 3Designer, CyGRenderEngine for
Windows, ClipManagement
The rest of this installation procedure will describe the steps for a full
installation, as if all of the components were selected.
18 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing the Core 3Designer

Component
1. The Welcome screen opens:

2. Click Next, then click OK and click Next again to display the
following screen:
 Installing 3Designer
19

3. In the location box, specify the location for the license file; the
default is C:\Orad\Common Files\
4. Click Next to display the Setup type screen:

5. Specify type of installation: Compact, Custom or Typical:

Compact Program will be installed without shared data; this will

be mounted from a specific network place.
Custom You may choose options to be installed. Recommended
for advanced users. Shared data will be assigned to
drive G.
Typical Program will be installed with most common options
on local drive. Shared data will be assigned to drive G.

Below, the installation procedure for each of these options is described.

Compact Installation
You will be prompted to enter the remote hostname for the computer
containing the shared data folder.
20 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installation will then resume. A shortcut will be added to the desktop.

Custom Installation
For a custom installation, you must specify a location on the drive where
you want the installed files to be placed:
1. Use the Browse button to specify the drive and folder location:
 Installing 3Designer
21

2 . Click Next and select the components that you want to install:

Option Description
Orad3Designer Core application
Shared Data Data directory with Assets
DIS DIS plugin and data (requires additional hardware)
SceneConverter Scene importer for CyGMaker v1.9
TextEffects TextEffects settings and plugin (licensed separately)
Map Editor MapCube plugin (licensed separately)

3. Click Next to complete the component installation and continue to

the next part of the installation.

Typical Installation
• Click Next; this installs the software with the default options and
continues to the next stage of the installation.
22 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing the CyGRenderEngine for

Windows
The following installation stage installs the CyGRenderEngine for
Windows.
1. The installation begins with the following screen:

2 . Click OK to display the following screen:

Installing 3Designer
23

3 . Click Next to display the following screen and use the Browse
button to specify an installation location for CyGRenderEngine for
Windows:

4 . Click Next to complete the CyGRenderEngine for Windows

installation and then click Finish. The installation proceeds to the
next stage.
24 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

CyGRenderEngine for Linux installation

The following installation is for the CyGRenderEngine for Linux. The
installation opens with the following screen:

1 . Click OK, then click Next to proceed.

2 . You are prompted to enter the rendering host names for all hosts that
should be installed with CyGRenderEngine for Linux. Enter each
name / IP address separated by a space to install on multiple hosts
and click OK (see overleaf):
Installing 3Designer
25

3 . As each host is successfully installed, you will see the following

screen:

4 . After the installation is complete, proceed to the next installation

stage.
26 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing the SoundService

At the start of the SoundService installation, the following screen
appears:

1. Click OK to display the Destination path screen and specify where

you want the location of the SoundService files:
 Installing 3Designer
27

2 . Clicking Next will install the service to the designated path and
start the service. The SoundService installation is finished and
proceeds to the next stage.

Installing the ClipQueryService

At the start of the ClipQueryService installation, the following screen
appears:

1. Click OK; the ClipQueryService installation Welcome screen

appears:
28 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2 . Click Next; the ClipQueryService is installed; when the installation

has finished, the following screen appears:

3 . IMPORTANT: make sure to select No¸ the select Finish. The

installation proceeds to the next stage.
 Installing 3Designer
29

Installing MySQL
The following screen appears at the beginning of the installation:

1. Click OK, then click Next to display the following:

30 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2 . Click Next again to display the following information screen for

MySQL Servers and Clients 3.23.41

3 . Click Next to display the following screen and specify the install
directory for MySQL:
Installing 3Designer
31

4 . Select the installation type and click Next (the default used by
ClipManagement is Typical).

5 . After the MySQL installation has completed, you will be returned

to the DDR installation, where you can either answer Yes to install
ClipStation Pro, or No to install SD Station Plus
32 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing CSPControl
The following screen appears at the start of the installation:

1. Click Next to display the following screen:

Installing 3Designer
33

2 . Use the Browse button to specify the directory for the installation
and click Next to display the following screen.

3 . Specify the Start Menu location for the program group and click
Next to display the following:

4 . Click Finish to complete the installation of CSPControl and

proceed to the next installation stage.
34 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing ClipManager
The installation starts with the following screen:

1. Click OK to display the following screen:

Installing 3Designer
35

2 . Click Next to start the installation. The following screen appears:

3 . Select the location for the license folder (default is c:\orad\Common

files)
4 . Select Typical setup.
5 . After DDR installation is complete, proceed to the next installation
stage.
36 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Installing CyGCom ActiveX

The Installation of CyGCom ActiveX components starts with the
following screen.

1. Click Next. The following screen is displayed:

Installing 3Designer
37

2 . Select an installation type and click Next.

The Typical installation will install components plus the demo; you
will be prompted to specify a location for the demo material to be
installed (default is the c:\data\Project directory) as shown in the
following screen:

A Compact installation will install only the documentation for the

ActiveX components.
A Custom installation gives you the option of installing individual
parts of the ActiveX components, documentation and examples as in
the following screen:
38 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

3 . When the installation is complete, proceed to the next installation

stage.

TextGen Service
1. In the Welcome screen, click OK then Next to start the installation.
You are prompted to define the location for the installation of the
service:
 Installing 3Designer
39

2 . Click Next to complete the installation and proceed to the next

installation stage.

Installing the HASP Driver

1. Click OK to start HASP installation. A new screen opens from
Aladdin:
40 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2 . Click Next to start the HASP installation. This is the last component
to be installed when installing all components.

Finishing the 3Designer Installation

When the 3Designer installation is complete the following message from
the install suite is displayed:

3 . Click Next to proceed to the final screen:

 Licensing
41

4 . Select Yes and click Finish to restart your computer and complete
the installation.

Licensing
After restarting the Control-PC, the HASP ID number should be noted
and sent to Orad support.

¾ To access the ID number:

1. Open a command line, and run the following command:
C:\Orad\CyberGraphics\bin\getDongleLabel.exe

After a few seconds, the HASP ID number will be printed on screen.

42 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2 . Make a note of this number and send a license request to

[email protected].

Configuration Files
The configuration files for 3Designer are found in this location:

G:\config\hosts_setup.txt and G:\config\user_setup.cfg

For information on configuration, contact [email protected].

Post-Installation
All installers used during the installation procedure are copied to the
following directory:

C:\Orad\CyberGraphics\3Designer2_1 Suite Installers\

 Starting 3Designer
43

Starting 3Designer
To start 3Designer do one of the following:

• Double-click the 3Designer icon on the desktop.

-OR-
• Select Start→ Programs→ Orad→ 3Designer.
44 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Loading a Scene
Before you can work with a scene in 3Designer, you must select a project
that will contain the scene (or scenes). You can either open an existing
project, or create a new project.
To load a scene from an existing project:

1. From the File menu, click Open, or click the Open icon in the
toolbar; the Load Scene dialog box appears:

The dialog box displays a list of existing projects and their scenes.
2. Select a project, then select a scene in the Scene window. You can
choose to view the scenes in the window as a list or as icons.
3. Click OK; the selected scene appears in the 3Designer Main Screen.
 Creating a New Scene
45

Creating a New Scene

You can create a new scene for an existing project, or you can create an
entirely new project and then create scenes for it. In either case, you can
base your new scenes on existing templates. A template is simply a set of
characteristics (properties and objects) inherited from a previously
created scene that you saved as a template. Such characteristics include
complex objects that you may have created and added to the Asset strip,
as well as textures, colors, cameras, and other elements.
To create a New scene:
1. From the File menu, choose New, or click the New icon. The Create
Scene dialog box appears:
46 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2. In the Create Project dialog, you can either create a completely new
project, or you can use an existing one and associate it with a new scene.
3. To create a scene based on an existing template, simply select a project
and a template and click OK; the new project is displayed in the
3Designer Main Window with the properties and objects of the
associated template.
4. To create a completely new project, click New project; the Create New
Project dialog box appears:

5. Enter the name of the new project and click OK. You are returned to
the Create Scene dialog box. The project now appears in the list of
projects.
6. To create a scene for the new project, click OK.

Deleting a Scene
You can delete scenes from a project.
To delete a scene:
1. Click Open to display a list of projects and scenes, and select the scene
that is to be deleted.
2. Click Delete; the scene is deleted from the list of scenes.
 The 3Designer Main Screen
47

The 3Designer Main Screen

The 3Designer Main screen enables you to access all of 3Designer’s
menus, functions and windows.
In the example shown below, the DesignView Main window is shown as
it appears on an opened scene, with most of its toolbars activated.

Window Ribbon Orthogonal View

Menu bar

Toolbar

Object Tree

Transformation
strip

Asset Strip

Object Editor
Tabs

Animation Strip
48 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Note
You control the Main screen display by using the Window Ribbon
explained in more detail on page 53 below. The Ribbon lets you toggle
the display of crucial windows such as the Object tree, Property Editors,
Asset Strip, etc.
The Main screen contains all of the tools and display areas you need to
create sophisticated graphics and animations. Following is a brief
explanation of each of the items on the Main screen; fuller discussions of
how to use them are provided in the chapters indicated.

Menu Bar
The following sections provide information on the 3Designer Menu bar.

Most of the menu options have short-cut keys associated with them;
some actions can also be activated by clicking on the relevant toolbar
button. The different shortcut menu options are described over the next
few pages:
 The 3Designer Main Screen
49

File Menu
Menu Keys Button Description
New Ctrl+N Creates a new scene.

Open Ctrl+O Opens the scene loading

window.
Close Closes the current scene.
Save Ctrl+S Saves the current scene.

Save As Ctrl+Shift+S Enables you to save the current

scene under a different name in
the same project.
Merge Enables you to merge saved
scenes into the current one.
Import Enables importing of VRML
objects created in an external
application.
Export Enables collects all of the scene
geometry, material, textures and
fonts into one folder, ready for
use in a different 3designer
system.
Create Enables saving the scene as a
Template template for reuse in future
scenes. (3Designer Advanced
only)
Recent Lists the ten most recent scenes
Scenes worked on for rapid retrieval.
Exit Exits 3Designer.
50 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Edit Menu
Menu Keys Button Description
Undo Ctrl+Z Undoes the last editing action.

Redo Ctrl+Y Redoes the last editing action.

History Ctrl+H Lists the most recent editing

actions. (3Designer Advanced
only)
Cut Ctrl+X Cuts an object from the scene to
the clipboard and enables you to
paste it in somewhere else.
Copy Ctrl+C Enables you to copy an object.
The selected object, together with
all the information stored in the
object's pin, is copied to the
clipboard.
Paste Ctrl+V Inserts the contents of the
clipboard into the scene.
Delete Del Deletes an object from the scene
without copying it to the
clipboard.
Cleanup Ctrl+R Removes from the scene all those
properties, such as material and
texture that are not attached to a
specific object.
Find Ctrl+F Enables you to search for
particular objects among the
scenes of your project.
Repeat Find F3 Repeats the Find operation.
Animation Ctrl+G Opens the key editor for the
Key currently selected animation key.
 The 3Designer Main Screen
51

Menu Keys Button Description

Animation Ctrl+B Enables you to assign the
DDR playback of a DDR clip to an
animation group. (DDR
functionality is available in
3Designer Advanced only)

View Menu
Menu Keys Button Description
Front View Ctrl+1 Displays the front view of the
objects in the DesignView, on the
X- and Y-axes.
Top View Ctrl+2 Displays the top view of the objects
in the DesignView , on the X- and
Z-axes.
Left View Ctrl+3 Displays the left view of the objects
in the DesignView , on the Y- and
Z-axes.
DesignView Ctrl+4 Displays the objects in the scene as
three dimensional objects with
shading, texture, lighting, etc.
On-Air Mode Ctrl+L Displays the scene as it would be
displayed on either PAL / NTSC
output (dependent on operators’
Region)
Windows Enables you to display various
toolbars and special areas on the
screen – you can use the toolbar
buttons to do this as well.
52 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Tools Menu
Menu Key Description
Asset Manager Ctrl+F5 Opens the Asset manager application.
(3Designer Advanced with DDR only)
Font Installer Enables you to install fonts directly into
the Windows Font folder and then install
them on the DVG. Only lists the fonts that
are not already installed.
Controller Opens a Control window that allows you
to control and test the playback of a scene.
DVG Control Ctrl+F4
Panel
RenderEngine Ctrl+F8 Opens dialog for direct communication
Chat with Render Engine.
Video Mouse Ctrl+M Displays the mouse cursor in the video
output. This mode enables you to navigate
the work camera and to select objects on
the video screen.
Start Render Start Render Engine with current scene.
Engine This option is available for the Local
RenderEngine, and only if the
RenderEngine is currently inactive.
Radial Array Transforms the selected object(s) into a
radial array of identical objects (3Designer
Advanced only).
Rectangular Transforms the selected object(s) into a
Array rectangular array of identical objects
(3Designer Advanced only).
Pie Chart Creates a pie chart object of user defined
segments and animations in current scene.
VRML Imports VRML objects for inclusion in
Importer the scene. These will be created inside a
new layer in the Object Tree
 The 3Designer Main Screen
53

Customize Menu
Menu Description
Hotkeys Enables you to define Hotkeys for 3Designer
commands (3Designer Advanced only).
Paste Options Enables you to configure how 3Designer pastes
objects. You can define a different setting for
each kind of object (3Designer Advanced only).
Preferences Lets you configure the way 3Designer performs
a wide range of actions.
Scene Configuration Enables you to control rendering, blending of
transparent objects.

Render Menu
Menu Description
Image Renders a still image of the currently selected
view to a user defined image file.

Help Menu
Menu Description
Contents Opens 3Designer manual contents page
Index Opens 3Designer manual index page
Tutorial Opens 3Designer tutorial
About Displays 3Designer version information

Using the Window Ribbon

3Designer displays a Ribbon underneath the Toolbar that lets you display
important windows that provide functions that you need to construct your
scene. The Window Ribbon looks like this:
54 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Button Name Description

Tree View Toggles a section of the main window that displays
all of the objects in your scene as a hierarchical list.
The tree displays the drawing order of objects from
the scene, object properties and other information.
Transform Strip Toggles controls for X,Y,Z axes so that you can
position objects or rotate them.
Asset Strip Toggles a range of elements such as objects, textures,
materials, etc. that you select from to build your
scene.
Property Editor Toggles a row of tabs that provides object properties
Tabs that you can modify. These include color, lighting,
etc.
Animation Strip Toggles controls for playing animations, advancing
from frame to frame, etc.
Properties View Toggles a dialog that lists object properties such as
color, light, geometry, and provides information on
which objects possess them.
Properties Editor Toggles a dialog that displays properties of the
currently selected object. This is an advanced
property editor where all possible a parameters of the
given property can be edited. It is recommended to
use the standard editor instead of the advanced editor
to edit the scene.
Connections Displays connections between objects and enables
you to connect or disconnect them. It is also possible
to export parameters and apply the mathematical
functions with this dialog
Animation View Displays an animation panel for viewing and editing
animation sequences. (3Designer Advanced only)
Log View Provides a log of errors, etc. that occurred during the
editing session.
 The 3Designer Main Screen
55

Object Tree
The Object Tree is a hierarchical tree displaying the objects in the scene
together with their properties. You toggle the display of the Object Tree
using the Object Tree button in the Window Ribbon:
Object Tree button

Object Tree

You can change the properties of objects by selecting the appropriate cell
in the appropriate column adjacent to the object name and clicking the
right mouse button. By selecting the object name itself and clicking the
right mouse button, you can rename the object, create new objects and
layers, and perform other actions. For more information about how to use
the Object Tree, refer to Managing Objects Using the Object Tree on
page 112.
56 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Property Editors
The Property Editor window contains nine editors, selected by tabs.
These editors are used to change the values of the object parameters
comprising the current scene displayed in the work-area.

By using the Property Editors, you can modify the properties associated
with objects, materials, textures, and other elements. Refer to Modifying
Elements with the Property Editors, page 74.

You display the Editor tabs by clicking the Property Editor button
on the Ribbon.

3Designer DVG Video Output

When the 3Designer authoring station is connected to a DVG, 3Designer
is able to display the scene using the SDI video output, while you are
creating it. The video output is viewed on a separate monitor, showing
the view from the currently selected camera. You can click on an
alternative camera in the main screen and move it in the work-area, in
order to view the three-dimensional output from that camera's
perspective. All changes made to the scene are displayed on the video
output in real-time (Requires Orad DVG-10 or DVG-one for
visualization).
Each camera in a scene functions as a separate layer, that has it’s own
three-dimensional space. That camera can only manipulate the view of
objects that are placed within that camera’s layer. This allows for the
creation of complex scenes with multiple camera animations that affect
only a particular sub-set of objects.
3Designer DVG Video Output
57

When the mouse is in video mode (by selecting Video Mouse from the
Tools menu), you can use it to perform the following actions in the video
output of the DVG:
• Select an object; single-click with the left mouse button.
When using the mouse within the orthogonal views it has the following
functions:
• Left mouse button: single click to select objects, single click and
hold to manipulate objects.
• Middle mouse button: click and hold to move the viewing area.
• Right mouse button: single click and hold combined with mouse
movement provides zoom control of the viewing area; double-
clicking resets the view.
• Mousewheel: click and hold to move viewing area; rolling
controls zoom action.
58 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
3Designer DVG Video Output
59

Chapter 3

Setting Up the
DesignView
About This Chapter
This chapter explains how to set up the DesignView and describes the
functions available from the DesignView window. It includes the
following sections:
Using the DesignView, page 60, describes the DesignView and the
objects that can be placed on it.
Building a Scene with the Asset Strip, page 65, describes the various
objects that 3Designer provides for placement into your scene.
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors, page 74 , describes
how to use the 9 property editors to modify the placement, geometry,
colors, materials, etc. of objects in your scene.
60 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using the DesignView

The picture below shows the entire GUI with the DesignView active. The
DesignView work-area enables you to define the location of objects on a
two-dimensional screen.

DesignViews
The DesignView displays a two-dimensional layout grid in the work-
area. You can use the View menu to display different two-dimensional
views of the work area:

View Display
Front view X- and Y-axes
Top view X- and Z-axes
Left view Y- and Z-axes
 Using the DesignView
61

Switching to a 3-Dimensional Display

You can view the scene as a 3-dimensional display by simply choosing
Design from the View menu. The display depicted in the sample 2-
dimensional scene above would now look like this:

Navigating the DesignView

¾ To navigate the DesignView:

1. Click anywhere in the work-area.
2. Hold down the Middle mouse button and move the grid in the desired
direction.
62 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Zoom
You can zoom in and out by pressing the Right mouse button and
moving up / down, or using the mouse wheel.

Building Scenes in the DesignView

The DesignView window is where the design of objects in your scene can
be viewed. Objects can be added into the scene by using drag-and-drop
actions to place objects displayed in the Primitives Asset strip directly
into the required location on the DesignView. Part of the Primitives
Asset strip looks like this:

When an object is added in the DesignView window, a bounding box

gives a visual representation of the object on the DesignView. Each
object displays a unique name that consists of the primitive name and (if
there is already an object in the scene that shares the same name), a
number. For example, if you add two spheres to the DesignView, the
DesignView objects are named Sphere and Sphere1, respectively. The
default name can be changed in the scene, tree or work-area.
 Using the DesignView
63

Once they are added into the scene, the objects can be moved, scaled and
rotated as required. In addition to the primitives, you can place complex
objects in the DesignView, as described in this chapter.

New scenes have a default light activated in them. This light can be
viewed as an object in on the DesignView and its properties can be
modified in the Light tab.

Selecting Objects in the DesignView

When you select an object in the DesignView, the object’s X, Y, and Z
positions are displayed as colored arrows, and a solid green line is
displayed around the bounding box of the object.

Moving Objects in the DesignView

Objects can be moved by clicking and dragging them along one of their
coordinate arrows (X, Y, or Z) in the work-area. Alternatively, you can
use the Transformation Strip to specify the exact X, Y, Z coordinates of
the object.
Objects can also be moved using controls in the transformation tab.

Scaling Objects in the DesignView

You can change the scale of the object by doing the following:
1. Select the object that you want to scale.
2. Make sure that the Transform strip is displayed (if it is not, click the
Transformation button).
3. In the Transform strip, adjust the scale values for the X, Y, or Z
coordinates; the object is scaled according to your specifications.
64 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

The axis to the right of the work-area represents the third (hidden) axis
(Z for front and Y for top). When an object is selected, arrowheads are
displayed beside the axis, indicating the coordinates for that object on the
hidden axis, and enabling you to manipulate the object on that axis.

Alternatively, you can scale the object directly in the DesignView by

simultaneously holding down Alt and pressing the Left Mouse to display
the object’s scale handles – simply drag the handles to scale the object as
desired. Objects can also be scaled using the transformation tab.

Rotating Objects
To rotate an object in the DesignView:
1. Select the object that you want to rotate.
2. Make sure that the Transform strip is displayed (if it is not, click the
Transformation button).
3. In the Transform strip, adjust the rotation values for the X, Y, or Z
coordinates; the object is rotated according to your specifications.

Alternatively, you can rotate the selected object by simultaneously

holding down the Ctrl key and the Left mouse button and dragging the
rotation wheel lines surrounding the object.

An objects’ rotation can also be adjusted from the transform tab.

Deleting Objects from the DesignView

Any object added to the work-area can be deleted at any time by
selecting the object and pressing <Delete> on the keyboard.
When using the DesignView in ‘On-Air’ mode, the delete function is
disabled.
 Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip
65

NOTE

Operations such as selecting a group, adding assets

to groups, and changing the location of objects
within the Object Tree cannot be carried out from
the DesignView – these operations must be done
from within the Object Tree.

Building Up a Scene with the

Asset Strip
The Asset strip provides you access to several strips containing Objects,
Materials, Textures and other elements that you can use to build up a
scene. To display the Asset strip click the Asset button on the
Ribbon. You can switch between the various strips by clicking on their
button in the Asset Strip area, or by using the list arrow.
Using the Asset Strip, it is possible to:
• Drag and drop items from the Asset Strip into the object tree
(multi-selection available)
• Drag and drop items (Objects, properties etc), from the tree to the
Asset Strip (multi-selection available)
• Drag and drop reference items (like cut-outs, text styles) from
editors to Asset Strip (can only be done from the reference icon
close to the reference selector)
• Drag and drop reference items from the Asset Strip to editors
(drop can only be achieved on the reference selector icon)
66 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

• Drag and drop property items (colors, materials, textures) from

the Asset Strip to the properties in the scene (in the browser
located to the right of the Editors tab); over and existing item will
copy the data; over an empty field will create a new element
• Drag and drop property items from the existing property items
(from the browser on the right of the Editors tab) into the Asset
Strip
• Drag and drop items from the Asset Strip directly into the
DesignView. For objects, this will create a new object; for
properties, this will apply the property over the given object
The Asset Strip provides the following elements:
Element Button Description
Auto Selects one of the asset strips from
below, based upon the item that is
currently selected.
Complex Provides a series of complex objects
that you can drag and drop into a scene.
Material Provides sets of properties including
color, lighting, etc. that you can apply to
objects.
Misc Provides sets of properties including
paths, sound events and shadows (for
text)
News Empty asset for user purposes

Primitives Provides basic geometric shapes used as

the basis for other objects; primitive
objects are added to the scene using
drag-and-drop action.
TextStyles Enables you to add text styles to a text
object in the scene.
Textures Enables you to add textures to an object
in the scene.
 Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip
67

To move an element from the Asset strip to the DesignView, simply drag
the element onto the DesignView.
Each of the elements in the Asset strip can be modified using the
Property Editor tabs.
The following sections give a brief description of the elements found in
the Asset strips.

Using the Primitive Object strip

Each of the following tools in the Primitive Object bar can be dragged
and dropped into the scene, and then modified as required. In addition to
the primitive objects provided, you can also add new elements by simply
clicking the right mouse button in the strip and choosing New Group.
68 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Button Name Description

Flat Layer Adds an orthogonal (flat) layer and camera
Camera to the scene, enabling the scene to be
viewed from different perspectives and
different heights, and providing the ability
to zoom in and out. You can determine the
camera and target position in the
DesignView. Other camera parameters are
defined in the Transform window.
The Flat Layer camera can be used for
viewing the 2-dimensional DesignView.
Perspective Adds a perspective layer and camera to the
Layer scene, which is used to view the scene in 3
Camera dimensions in the Perspective view.
Group Adds a group to the scene, to which you can
attach objects and properties. For more
information, refer to Working with Groups,
page 122.
Rectangle Adds a rectangle object to the scene.

Disk Adds a disk object to the scene.

Cube Adds a cube object to the scene.

Sphere Adds a sphere object to the scene.

Cylinder Adds a cylinder object to the scene.

Cone Adds a cone object to the scene.

Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip
69

Button Name Description

Rotary Adds a rotary object to the scene.

Spline Adds a construction spline to the scene that

can be used as a path for animated
sequences. The required path shape and
position must be set in the DesignView.
Additional segments/control points can be
added to, or deleted from the spline by
opening the Path tab and clicking Insert,
Append, or Delete. (3Designer Advanced
only)
Extrusion Adds an extruded object to the scene. The
control points for the extrusion can be
edited by the user in the Geometry Tab.
(3Designer Advanced only)
Paper Roll Adds a paper roll object to the scene.

Ticker Adds a ticker object that presents data in a

horizontally or vertically moving display.
You can update this data continuously
within the framework of ticker templates,
which are the repeatable elements of the
ticker object. The ticker object is a group
object, and the different objects that it
contains constitute the ticker template.
Text Adds text to the scene. The actual text
content is defined as described in using the
geometry editor. Refer to Editing a Text
Object on page 89.
Text3D Add 3D text to a scene.
70 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Button Name Description

TextDeco Adds decorative text to a scene.

Clock Adds a clock object to the scene.

Gradient Adds a rectangular with a color gradient to

the scene.
Teapot Adds a teapot object to the scene.

Infinite Adds a diffuse light object to the scene. You

Light can determine the light position and rotation
in the DesignView.
Lights are connected to materials in the
Color editor. Other light parameters are
defined in the light editor.
Point Light Adds a point light to the scene.

Spot Light Adds a spotlight to the scene.

Using the Complex strip

The Complex strip consists of complex objects that are built up out of
primitive objects. You can use the complex objects that are provided
(bell, teapot, 3-dimensional pentagon), or you can create your own by
creating Group objects and assigning them properties (see the sections
Working with Groups, page 122, and Adding Complex Objects to the
Asset Strip 125).
 Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip
71

Using the Materials Strip

The Materials strip provides a range of “materials” consisting of color,
lighting, shade, etc. that can be directly applied to objects in your scene.
To apply a material element to an object simply drag the material from
the strip to the center of the object – the object takes on the properties of
the material.

Using the Textures Strip

The textures strip provides various “textures” which consist of images
that can be applied to objects – both static and animated textures are
provided. You can also apply an animated texture (DIS) whose content is
from an external video sequence. This is similar to the DDR videos that
are applied to animation sequences (see the discussion on page 167). DIS
and DDR functionality is only available in 3Designer Advanced.

¾ To apply a texture to an object:

1. Display the Texture Editor Tab.
2. From the Texture strip, drag the desired texture into the reserved
element area:

3. Select the object to which you want to apply the texture and click the
green Apply arrow (located above the reserved elements area). The
object displays the applied texture.
Textures can also be applied by dragging from the Asset Strip directly
into the object container in the Object Tree view.
72 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Applying a DIS Texture (3Designer Advanced)

¾ To apply a DIS texture:

1. Display the Textures Asset strip and select New > disTexture. Drag
the texture onto the object that should hold the disTexture. The
following Texture Editor Tab is displayed:

2. Drag the DIS texture into the reserved element area.

3. Select the object to which you want to apply the texture and click
the green Apply arrow (located above the reserved elements area).
The object displays the applied texture.
4. Under DIS Image, specify the name of the CLIP, the Play Mode,
and other parameters as explained below:

DIS Image Parameter Description

Clip Name Name of DIS sequence
Length Length of the sequence in frames
Width, Height Width and Height of the image in pixels
Play Mode Forward, Backwards, Swing (loop forwards and
backwards), Forward Loop, Backward Loop
Format Displays the color mode of the sequence (RGB or
RGBA).
Compression Displays DXT1 in the case of software
compression, and DXT5 if hardware compression
or alpha is used in the video.
 Building Up a Scene with the Asset Strip
73

Current Frame Selects the frame for display – you can then set a
keyframe or an out connection.

Using the News Strip

This strip can be used to contain user-defined scene elements. After
initial installation, this strip is empty.

Using the Misc. strip

The Miscellaneous strip provides the following elements:

The Path element allows you to quickly add a path object to the scene.
The path can be then attached to animation run for an object, so that the
object moves along the path (3Designer Advanced only). The sound
object lets you add a sound file to the scene (3Designer Advanced only).
The three shadow objects are simply convenient shadow effects that can
be modified in the Shadow editor tab (see Modifying Elements with the
Property Tabs on the following page). FastShadow and FastGlow effects
are applicable only to fast text objects in the scene.

Using the Auto strip

The Auto Strip is a context sensitive tool strip that changes according to
the Editor tab that is currently selected.
74 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Modifying Elements with the

Property Editors
You can modify the properties associated with objects, materials,
textures, and other elements by using the Property Editors. The editors
are contained on nine Editor Tabs that are displayed by clicking the
Property Editor button on the Ribbon.
The Editor tabs consist of the following:
Tab Description
Object Provides parameters for controlling the behavior of the
selected object.
Transformation Provides controls for positioning, rotating, and scaling
the selected object.
Geometry Provides parameters for modifying the shape and other
physical characteristics of the selected object.
Color Provides parameters for mixing colors.
Texture Provides parameters for modifying textures, importing
images to the texture gallery, etc.
Light Provides parameters for controlling the lighting
assigned to an object.
Path Provides a path between objects that can used for
animations. (3Designer Advanced only)
Shadow Provides controls for creating shadow effects on object
lighting.
Event Provides parameter for specifying and triggering events.
(3Designer Advanced only)
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
75

The editor tabs and how you use them are described in more detail
below.

Action Buttons
Many of the parameters in the Editor tabs have Action buttons next to
them that appear like this:

Action Buttons

Action buttons enable you to connect parameters to dynamic actions

within your scene. For example, you can attach a parameter value to an
animation keyframe – when the keyframe is played, the parameter is
activated.

¾ To attach an Action to a parameter:

1. After specifying the parameter’s values in the Editor tab, click the
Action button beside it. The following menu appears:
76 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2. Select an option:
Option Description
Create Enables you to create a new animation channel on the
Channel fly which afterwards you can use to create a keyframe
associated with the parameter.
Edit Displays the animation channel associated with the
Channel parameter.
Remove Removes an animation channel associated with the
Channel parameter.
Set Key Sets a keyframe in the animation timeline for the
currently selected parameter
Edit Key Opens the Key Editor dialog box
Remove Removes keyframe from the animation timeline for the
Key currently selected parameter
Create Brings up the Connections dialog box enabling you to
Export associate the parameter with outside input so that you
can control the parameter’s values in realtime.
Out Brings up the Connections dialog box enabling you to
Connection define the dependent parameter value (out connection)
associated with the parameter.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
77

Option Description
In Brings up the Connections dialog box enabling you to
Connection define the independent variable value (in connection)
associated with the parameter.
Function Brings up the Connections dialog box enabling you to
define a function expression that regulates the parameter
value.
Reset to Resets the parameter values to their default setting.
Defaults

See Chapter 6, Working with Data, page 135 for detailed explanations
as to how to use the Connections dialog box.

Editor Tabs
This section covers each of the Editor tabs. The Editor tabs are context
sensitive, and the fields change and become active according to the type
of object selected.

Object Tab
The Object tab looks like this:

You use the Object tab to define the Visibility and Bounding Box
78 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Visibility
You can define the visibility of the object in the scene under various
conditions by using the following parameters:

Parameter Description
Visible You can make an object invisible by deselecting the
Visible checkbox.
Fade in/out Creates special fade effects for an object or group of
objects in an animation timeline.
Transparency OnKey - When this mode is selected, the object is
blended with the background but not with other
objects, and the transparency value of the object is
transferred to the key output signal. This mode
should only be used when the background is fully
opaque.
OnFillLockKey - When this mode is selected, the
object is not blended and the transparency value of
the object is transferred to the key output signal.
This mode should be applied to transparent objects
if the background is not fully opaque.
OnFillAndKey - When this mode is selected, the
transparency value of the object is used to blend it
with other objects, and is also transferred to the key
output signal.
OnTransparencyKey - When this mode is selected,
the object is blended with the background but not
with other objects, and the transparency value of the
object is transferred to the key output signal. This
mode should only be used when the background is
fully opaque.
Lock Prevents the object from being edited.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
79

Parameter Description
Draw in Color Draws the image in color on the DVG output.
Draw in Key Specifies that the key be drawn on the DVG output.
Anti-aliasing Specifies DVG anti-aliasing.
Allow Marks objects to which a depth key mask will be
Hierarchical applied from Maestro.
mask

Bounding Box
This set of parameters allows you to perform some action on a side of a
bounding box surrounding the selected object. By clicking on the action
button next to the bounding box side listed here, you display the Action
dialog box that lists the possible actions that you can perform. In
particular, the Out connection option can be used to set the relative edges
of objects in the scene; for example the text objects contained within a
Ticker.
Please note that the bounding box parameters are applicable only for fast
text objects.

Single Child Mode

This parameter is used to enable object flipbooks, which allow for the
creation of complex animations. By selecting a group object that contains
child objects, and then enabling this option, you can use the combo box
to cycle the visibility of the objects according to their position in the
hierarchy.
80 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using the action button by the combo box, keyframes can be set for the
flipbook, to control which child is visible.

Transformation Tab
The Transformation tab is used to define the transformation parameters:
position, rotation and scale parameters of the selected objects with
respect to the X, Y, and Z-axes:
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
81

The values that are entered here are also displayed in the Transformation
strip (and vice versa).
Using the Scale Lock you can lock the scale along a particular
combination of axes to scale the object more precisely.
The Run parameter is used to assign a path animation to an object.
The Axis button displays the Align group as shown here:

By clicking on an Align button you can align the selected object along a
particular side of its X, Y, or Z-axis. For example, by clicking the Center
button in the Along X axis row the following object was centered about
its’ X axis as shown here:
82 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Geometry Tab
The Geometry tab displays “No Reference” when there is no relevant
data to display. The tabs are context sensitive, so the fields displayed
vary according to the object selected.
To display the Geometry parameters, select an object in the Object
gallery at the right of the tab panel:

In the Geometry tab you can edit the unique characteristics of each
primitive object. The fields displayed vary for each object type.

NOTE

When defining resolution parameters for any object,

bear in mind that increasing the resolution
generates a smoother surface, but also increases
the rendering time.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
83

Editing a Sphere
The Geometry tab for a sphere contains the following fields:

Draw Style
Filled Select the checkbox for the object to appear as
a full, filled object.
Line Select the checkbox for only the outline of the
object to be drawn (as a wire frame).
Resolution Enables you to edit the resolution of the
sphere.
Segments Specifies the number of latitudinal segments
that the sphere consists of.
Sides Specify the longitudinal resolution of the
sphere.

Editing a Cube
The Geometry tab for a cube contains the following fields:
84 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Draw Style
Filled Select the checkbox for the object to appear as a
full, filled object.
Outline Select the checkbox for the object to appear as an
outline (as a wire frame).
Solid Select the checkbox for the object to appear solid,
so that you cannot see through the object.
Shape Deselect the checkboxes of the object parts that
you do not want drawn.
Resolution Enables you to edit the resolution of the cube
sides, on each axis. Increasing the subdivisions
gives a smoother, lighter effect when using spot or
local lights.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
85

Editing a Torus and Cylinder

The Geometry tab for a torus and cylinder contains the following fields:

Draw Style
Filled Select the checkbox for the object to appear as a full,
filled object.
Outline Select the checkbox for the object to appear as an
outline (as a wire frame).
Solid Select the checkbox for the object to appear solid, so
that you cannot see through the object.
Shape Deselect the checkboxes of the object parts that you do
not want drawn.
Resolution Enables you to edit the resolution of the torus/cylinder
by altering the number of polygons that comprise the
cross-section/height of the torus/cylinder.
Cut Angle Enables you to define the start and stop angle
coordinates for the removed section, if you do not want
the torus/cylinder to appear as a complete circle. Size
defines the percentage of the inner radius to be removed
if you want to create a torus.
86 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Editing a Cone
The Geometry tab for a cone contains the same fields as described for a
torus/cylinder, above, with the following exception: The Size parameter
is replaced with Top Radius, which enables you to define the radius of
the top circle, to create the shape of the cone tip.

Editing a Disk
The Geometry tab for a disk looks like this:

The Draw Style and Cut angle parameters are the same as those for the
Cylinder (see above).
The Shape parameter, Slices, allows you to specify the resolution of the
circumference.
The Shape parameter, InnerRadius, allows you to create a hole in the disk
and determine its size – a value of 0 makes the disk solid.

Editing a Spline (3Designer Advanced)

The Geometry tab for a Spline looks like the following figure:
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
87

Draw Style Description

Fill Select the checkbox for the object to appear as a full,
filled object.
Outline Select the checkbox for only the outline of the object
to be drawn (as a wire frame).
Resolution Enables you to edit the resolution of the spline’s
surface.
Length Specifies the number of segments through which the
spline will be drawn.
Cut Specifies the resolution (number of segments) that
defines the cutout shape of the spline (the shape of the
spline’s ends or cross-section surface).
Cutout The Cutout area allows you to select predefined
cutout shapes from the list. You can define new
shapes and add them to the list with the New button.
88 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Cutout Editor
The cutout editor enables the re-designing of the spline cross-section.
You can select a previously designed line cut from the dropdown list, or
create a new shape by clicking the New button. The small graphics
window displays a cross-section of the current shape.

Button Name Description

Draw Mode Clicking on the spline adds new control
points.
Edit Mode Enables you to move control points to
reshape the spline.
Show a Closed Toggles displaying the spline as a closed or
Spline open loop.
Snap to Grid Snaps the control points to the grid as you
move them.
Show Grid Displays a grid in the Edit window.

Open Separate Expands the current cutout-editing window

Editor Window so that you can more easily edit the spline.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
89

Editing a Text Object

The Geometry tab for a text object looks like this:

The following parameters are used:

Parameter Description
Input Enables you to enter the required text. When you
press Enter, the text appears in the Text object.
Text Style Allows you to select from a list of Text styles (that
were already defined). You can add your own style
to the list by clicking New.
Alignment Enables you to align the text within the text box
frame by selecting Left, Right or Center
justification from the dropdown list.
BiDi Algorithm Specifies the text direction (Standard or Right To
Left).
Style Definition
Font Lists available fonts for the text object.
Encoding Specifies the type of text coding (Unicode, etc.)
Min Filter Changes texture mipmapping setting between the
following settings: Nearest, Linear,
NearestMipMapNearest, LinearMipMapNearest,
NearestMipMapLinear and LinearMipMapLinear
90 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Parameter Description
Type Draws the object in one of the following modes:
Fast Texture, Fast Geometry, Fast 3D, Decorated.
Fast Geometry and Fast 3D enable you specify
Filled our Outline styles for object, as well as to
specify its complexity.
Script When working with Decorated text, it is possible to
additionally specify Standard Script or Arabic script

Kerning Enables you to define the spacing (overlap)

between characters.
Decoration These enable you to adjust the properties of
Property Decorative Text.
Resolution Defines the characters resolution.
Scale H Defines the horizontal scale.
Skew Skews the characters.
Margin H Defines the horizontal margin.
Margin V Defines the vertical margin.
Decoration Lets you define the kerning and spacing for
Kerning and decorative text. You can specify the percent of
Spacing leading, kerning, whether to use kern pairs,
monospace, percent of spacing between letters,
whether to show wrap lines, and the wrap size
value.
Decoration These enable you to change the look of Decorative
Kerning text.
Effects Background, Text, Bevel, Border, Glow, Shadow
Checkboxes
Color/Material Enables creating a color or material to apply to the
text: use the small palette at the right to mix colors.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
91

Parameter Description
Opacity Defines the opacity of the Text, Border or Glow
effects.
Size Defines the size of the Bevel, Border, Glow and
Shadow effects.
Smoothness Defines the smoothness of the Glow or Shadow
effects.
Shadows Defines the degree of shadow for the Shadow or
Bevel effects.
Distance Defines the distance from the text of the Shadow
effect.
Direction Defines the direction of the Bevel or Shadows
effects in relation to the text. You can also set the
direction using the Direction graphic display.

NOTE

The vertical margin is measured from the top of

the text, not from the top of the effect. Therefore,
certain effects require an increased vertical
margin.

Editing a Ticker
Refer to Editing a Ticker Object on page 131.

Editing a Gradient
The Gradient’s Geometry tab provides parameters for determining
drawing style (as described for Cube above) as well as for controlling the
color of the gradient.
92 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Vertex Colors This determines the base color for the edges of the
gradient. You must check Enable first to use these
parameters.
Selected Use the Selected Color parameters to determine the exact
Color color, hue, saturation, and value for the vertex.
Alpha Determines the alpha value for the color.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
93

Color Tab
The Color tab enables you to create and edit two kinds of colors: plain
and material. Plain colors simply let you determine a particular blend of
colors using the standard parameters for color, hue, saturation, etc.
Material colors provide a richer set of definitions that allow you to
determine colors for 4 separate color characteristics (ambient, diffuse,
emission, specular) as well as lighting that can be applied to an object to
create a kind of “material”. Once you create the color, whether plain or
material, you can apply it to selected objects.

¾ To create a Color:
1. In the Color gallery at the right of the Color tab, Click New and
select either Plain or Material. A new material or plain color icon
appears in the gallery.
2. Select the color icon and edit its name (if desired), then proceed to
modify its parameters.

¾ To apply a color or material to an object:

1. Select the object to which you want to apply the color or material.
2. Select the color or material from the gallery and either click the
green Apply arrow or drag the color or material to the center of the
object to which you want to apply it. The object displays the
characteristics of the selected color or material.
94 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Current Material
For Materials, the color of each of the Ambient, Diffuse, Specular and
Emission buttons represents the current RGB settings for that aspect. To
change the RGB settings, click the appropriate button and change the
values for that aspect in the RGB fields.

Lighting
For Materials, you can add lighting to the material definition. In the
lighting gallery at the right of the color panel, use the yellow arrows to
move Infinite, Spot, or Point light into the Excluded or Included areas as
per your definition. Lights can also be moved from one field to another
by double-clicking with the left mouse button upon the appropriate light.

The following fields are used to create the color properties:

Field Description
Red/Green/Blue Enables you to edit the specific object color.
Hue Manipulates the color tone.
Opacity Enables you to manipulate the surface alpha/opacity
value.
Saturation Enables you to define light saturation on the
material. Good color saturation can display subtle
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
95

Field Description
color changes distinctly so that the human eye
perceives them differently from one another. If
similar colors blend together or if colors appear
dark, they are over-saturated. Colors that appear
washed-out and faded are under-saturated
Ambient Ambient light is an overall light on the surface of the
object that gives a general illumination. There is an
"ambient" parameter that simulates this light.
Diffuse Enables you to define diffusion of light on the
material. The diffusion-parameter determines the
relation between direct and indirect light on an
object gets illuminated with. Higher values result in
a brighter appearance of the object.
Specular Enables you to define the surface reflected color.
Emission Enables you to define the self-lit color for the
material.
Shininess Enables you to set the degree of light reflection for
the material. Shininess is a combination of specular
level and glossiness.
Lighting Enables you to attach lights to the selected material.
See the Lighting section above for details.
Value Light intensity.
Alpha Enables you to define the (alpha) transparency for
the material.
96 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Texture Tab
The Texture tab enables you to import texture images and keys for both
texture properties and animated texture properties, and to define how the
texture is mapped onto an object.

You can apply either a static texture or an animated texture sequence.

Animated textures consist of a sequence of images in single frames,
representing, for example, an explosion. When creating an animated
texture, each saved texture frame in the sequence must be given a
consecutive number for the sequence to run in order. When an animated
texture is imported, the files are automatically run in order.
To apply a texture, simply drag its icon from the Texture gallery to the
object (either on the DesignView screen, or to the object’s texture
column in the Object tree).
The Texture Editor tab lets you import textures from a variety of files.
Supported files include BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, RGB, RGBA, SGI,
TGA, and TIFF.
The Texture tab contains the following fields:
Field Description
Image Enables you to import the texture file. Click the
Browse button to browse through the directories.
The selected file name is displayed in the Image field,
and the number of components of the texture is
automatically recognized and displayed in the
read-only field to the right of the Image field.
Key Enables you to import a key image to attach to the
texture. The key image will be used as an alpha
Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
97

Field Description
channel on the image.
Component as Relevant only for textures with one [intensity]
component.
Enables you to define an option from the dropdown
list for using the texture, as follows:
Alpha - The texture is used as an alpha texture to set
object opacity.
Luminance - The texture is used as a black-and-white
texture to set the intensity of the object material color.
Intensity - The texture sets both the opacity and color
intensity of the object.
Realtime
Allow Resize Enables the DVG to automatically scale the texture
resolution to the nearest power of 2 to increase system
performance.
Allow When checked, this enables the DVG to load textures
Realtime Load in the background. When unchecked, the images are
loaded during realtime operation. Important: if you
are planning to update any exported texture during
production, you must enable this setting for that
texture.
Texture
Properties
Scale Enables you to scale the image on the object.
Translation Enables you to translate the UV mapping of the
texture on the object, without moving the object.
Rotation Enables you to define the texture rotation center.
Center
Angle Enables you to define the texture angle of rotation.
Mapping
Properties
98 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Field Description
Wrap Enables you to define the wrap by selecting an option
from the dropdown list. The options are Repeat and
Clamp.
Min Filter Enables you to define the type of image filter used to
convert the texture to fit a smaller viewing area. The
available options in the dropdown list are Nearest,
Linear, Nearest MipMap and Linear MipMap.
Mag Filter Enables you to define the type of image filter used to
convert the texture to fit a larger viewing area. The
available options in the dropdown list are Nearest and
Linear.
Map Type Enables you to define how the texture is mapped on
an object by selecting an option from the dropdown
list. The options are None, Object Linear, Eye
Linear and Sphere Map.
Anisotropy Enables Anisotopic filtering (see below)

Video Enables you to toggle the mapping of a video

insertion onto the object
Source Enables you to specify which of the available video
sources is used (3Designer Advanced only)
Fields Toggles the video insertion between fields and frames

Texture Mapping Tips

In order to obtain the optimum performance from RenderEngine, it is
recommended to convert all textures to a resolution that is a power of
two, ie 32 x 64, 128 x 512, 1024 x 1024 etc. Textures that are not
changed to a power of two will be automatically converted by
RenderEngine, though this will result in a increased scene loading times.
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
99

NOTE

If the texture is to be updated during runtime, ie by

exporting the texture name so new textures can be
substituted on air, it is mandatory for you to make
the texture to a power of two. You should also check
the box ‘Allow Realtime Load’ (see above table)

Mipmaps and Anisotropy Explained

Mipmapping
Mipmaps are pre-calculated, optimized collections of bitmap images
(textures), which accompany a main texture in a scene, that are intended
to increase rendering speed and reduce artifacts. This technique is known
as mipmapping.
Each bitmap image of the mipmap set is a version of the main texture,
but at a certain reduced level of detail. Although the main texture would
still be rendered when the view is sufficient to render it in full detail, the
renderer will switch to a suitable mipmap image (or interpolate between
the two nearest) when the texture is viewed from a distance, or at a small
size. Artifacts are reduced since the mipmap images are effectively
already anti-aliased.
If the texture has a basic size of 1024 by 1024, then the associated
mipmap contains a series of 10 images, each of half the size of the
previous one: 512x512 pixels, 256x256, 128x128, 64x64, 32x32, 16x16,
8x8, 4x4, 2x2, 1x1 (a single pixel).
Nearest - the renderer takes the closest of the two mipmaps to the current
image size, and renders an interpolation based on that; e.g. If a scene is
rendering a 256x256 texture in a space no larger than 40 pixels, it would
take the interpolation closest to the 40 pixels – 32x32.
100 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Linear - the renderer takes the two textures either side of the current
texture size and renders a mix of the two; e.g. If a scene is rendering this
texture in a space no larger that 40 pixels, then an interpolation of the
64x64 and the 32x32 mipmaps would be used.
NearestMipMapNearest - the nearest neighboring texture will be used
and applied with bilinear filtering; this approximates the gaps between
textures by sampling the color of the four closest (above, below, left and
right) texels (texture pixels).
LinearMipMapNearest - Linear interpolation takes place and is applied
with bilinear filtering (see above)
NearestMipMapLinear – Nearest interpolation takes places and is
applied with trilinear filtering. Trilinear filtering is a high quality bilinear
filter, which uses the four closest pixels in the second most suitable
mipmap to produce smoother transitions between mipmap levels.
Trilinear filtering samples eight pixels and interpolates these before
rendering, twice as much as bi-linear does. Trilinear filtering always uses
mipmapping. Trilinear filtering eliminates the banding effect that appears
between adjacent MIP map levels.
LinearMipMapLinear – Linear interpolation takes place and is applied
with trilinear filtering (see above).

Anisotropy
Mipmapping is an isotropic filter, ie the filtering is applied equally along
both axis of the texture. This can sometimes create excessive blurring if
the texture is being viewed at a very oblique angle to the camera; for
instance an object with dimensions of 1:1 is being viewed at an angle that
results in it appearing 2x1; the mipmap filter that is applied will not take
this into account, and will apply filtering equally to both axis. The
resulting image could look something like the image overleaf
 Modifying Elements with the Property Editors
101

By enabling an anisotropic filter, the mipmapping can be applied

unequally to the axis of the texture. Setting the anisotropy to 1 will allow
the texture to be mipmapped at 2:1, and the resulting image should
appear like this:

Light Tab
The Light tab enables you add lights to your scene and to define the light
parameters. Lights may be positioned to affect the overall lighting in the
scene, or one or more lights may be attached to material properties to be
used for specific objects. The first light is the default when any object is
used.
You can create a light and add it to the gallery in the Light tab the same
way that you create new materials or colors: simply click New in the
gallery; a new light object is added to the gallery. The light gallery’s
objects also show up in the Color tab where they can be included in the
definition of Color materials.
102 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

The Light tab looks like this:

Fields special to the Light tab are described below:

Current Light
Type Enables you to define the light type as Infinite, Point
or Spot. Selecting Spot enables the Cutoff and
Exponent fields.
Cutoff Enables you to specify the distance from the light at
which the spotlight ceases to influence the scene.
Exponent Enables you to specify the transition between the hard
and soft parts of the spotlight.
Attenuation Enables you to adjust the attenuation – you can specify
the amount of Constant, Linear, or Quadratic
attenuation.
Diffuse, Enables you to specify parameters for a color aspect.
Specular,
Ambient
Selected Color Once you select a color aspect (see above row) you
can edit its color properties (color, saturation, hue,
etc.) here.

Global Tabs
3Designer provides three tabs, Layer, Camera, and Environment, for
defining properties that apply to your entire layer, rather than to a
specific object. These tabs are displayed in the Property Editor tabs area
by selecting a Layer object in the Object tree.
 Global Tabs
103

Layer tab
This tab enables you to determine whether the layer is visible (the layer’s
objects are displayed) or not. You can also lock the layer for editing.

Camera tab
Cameras provide a view of the scene according to the way the camera is
positioned. This tab allows you to create a camera for the layer and edit
its properties. There are three kinds of cameras that you can create:
Orthogonal, Free Perspective. Tracked Perspective.
Orthogonal cameras are the same as the Flat Layer cameras created in the
Primitive Objects strip. They are used to provide a two dimensional view
of a scene. Free Perspective camera provide a full three dimensional view
of a scene and can be manipulated by the user directly. Tracked
Perspective cameras also have a full three-dimensional view of the scene,
but tracking data from an external tracking device controls their
properties. Tracked cameras can only be used in 3Designer Advanced.
A camera icon represents the camera in a scene – by dragging the icon to
various positions within the scene, you can alter the view.
A camera’s parameters vary according to the type of camera. The
parameters for cameras are shown below.
104 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Orthogonal Camera Parameters

Position The camera’s position can be specified by defining its

location along the X, Y, and Z-axes. You can also directly
move the camera in the scene by dragging it with the
mouse.
Orientation Enables you to adjust the angle between the camera and
the point of interest. Pan sets the degree of horizontal
angle, Tilt, the degree of vertical angle, and Twist, the
degree of rotation on the Z-axis.
Viewing Specifies the planes beyond which the image cannot be
viewed. You can specify Near, Far, Left, Right, Top, and
Bottom.

Perspective Camera Parameters

Parameters special to the Perspective camera are as follows:

 Global Tabs
105

Target Specifies the X, Y, Z coordinates of the object of interest.

Vertical FOV Half Field of View angle in vertical direction in degrees
Aspect Aspect ration horizontal to the Vertical FOV.
Roll Roll angle of camera in degrees (rotation along the Z
axis)
Use Tracking Connects camera parameters to TrackingSet for real
camera tracked data.
Position Run These buttons allow you to attach an animation path to
the camera so that you can obtain different views as the
camera moves from position to position.
Target Run These buttons allow you to define an animation path for
the camera’s point of interest.

Environment Tab
The Environment tab enables you to control the scene’s background. You
can add a background color, image, or texture. Some of the tab’s
parameters change depending on which type of background you select.

The Environment tab’s fields include:

Parameter Description
Background When color is selected, lets you use the color strips at
the right to define the exact color for the background.
Ambient Enables you to use the color strips at the right to define
the ambient light for the background.
Mode You can select Color, Image, or Texture.
106 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Parameter Description
Color Enables you to specify a color for the background.
When you select a color, you can use the color strips to
adjust the color to your specifications.
Image When the Mode is specified as Image, you can specify
the filename of the image. You can also use the browse
box at the right to select an image file. When you
select Enable, additional parameter settings appear so
that you can adjust the latitude, longitude, and offset
of the background image.
Texture When you specify the Mode as Texture, a list arrow
appears enabling you to select a texture. You can also
create a new texture to add to the list.
 Global Tabs
107

Path Tab (3Designer Advanced)

The Path tab enables you to define parameters for animating on a run path, as
described in Animating Along a Path, page 159:

¾ To Create a New path:

1. In the Path Gallery, click New; a NewPath icon is added to the
Gallery. You can change the name of the path by simply clicking on
its name and editing it.
2. Click the Insert button to edit the path in the Path editor. Insert adds
the control point to the control point list in the editor before any
existing paths. To add control points after any existing control
points, click Append.
3. Edit the control point coordinates and check Smooth if you want to
create a smooth curve through the coordinates that you have defined.
4. In the Interpolate list, select whether to make the path Linear,
Partially Linear, or Non-linear.
• Linear – in this mode with a run value of 0.5, the object
would be placed halfway along the path. Animation will be
relative to the beginning an end points, and timing remain
constant between the two, irrespective of the placement of
the control points between them.
• Partially Linear – in this mode, with a run value of 0.5, the
object would be placed on the middle control point of the
path (if you had an even number of segments), or halfway
along the middle segment (if you had an odd number of
segments), irrespective of the length of the other segments.
108 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Animation between the points would be constant for each

pair of points.
• Non-Linear – in this mode the objects position and
animation speed will be controlled by the placement of the
control points. The object will move quickly between close
control points, and slower between distant points. A run
value of 0.5 will place the object at the halfway point of the
animation, irrespective of the control points.
5. Determine any other parameters for the path as detailed below:
Parameter Description
Show Select the checkbox if you want the path to be visible.
Closed Select the checkbox to close the start and end points
of the path (thus enabling a loop).

6. The path can then be connected to an object using the Run function
in the Transformation tab.

Shadow Tab
The Shadow tab lets you define and apply a shadow to the selected object
– its parameters are similar to those on the Color tab, with the addition of
Smoothness which allows you to define the shadow’s gradient along the
X and Y axes, and Position which allows you to place the shadow
precisely.
 Global Tabs
109

NOTE

Smoothness is only applicable to the fast texture fonts

Event Tab (3Designer Advanced)

The Event tab enables you to attach an event such as the playing of a
sound or recording, the appearance of an image, etc. to an object and to
specify a trigger for the event.

NOTE

See the SoundService documentation for more information.

¾ To create an event:
1. Drag and drop the sound item from the asset strip into the tree and
select the event tab.
2. In the Event tab, specify an event (sound, loop sound, or other event)
and then click the Browse button to find and select the file that
contains the event that you want to trigger.
3. Select the Trigger checkbox.

4. Select the Action button to the right of the Trigger checkbox; the
Action submenu is displayed:
110 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

5. To animate a sound event you must first create a keyframe for the
trigger in the OFF position. Then, in a later part of the sequence when the
animation should be played, you must create a keyframe for the trigger in
the ON position.
Global Tabs
111

Chapter 4

Managing
Objects
About This Chapter

This chapter describes how to manage objects and their properties. It

covers the following:
Using the Object Tree to manage objects, page 112.
Creating Groups and managing them in the Object tree, page 122.
Using the Property Editor dialog box to view the properties of a
particular object, page 117.
Using the Properties View dialog box to view all the properties in your
scene, page 118.
112 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Managing Objects Using the

Object Tree
The Object Tree provides an efficient and powerful way to manage the objects
in your scene. Using the Object Tree you can:

• Move objects in the tree to establish a hierarchy between the objects.

• Inspect the properties of each object by displaying the property’s
Editor tab.
• Add new layers, objects, and sub-objects.
• Add cameras and background properties (images, textures, etc.) to
layers.
• Establish connections between objects.

The hierarchy of objects in the three-dimensional scene is based, by default,

on the order that they were added to the scene. This order can affect the
appearance of the scene. This hierarchy is shown and controlled in the Object
tree window. When loading 3Designer for the first time this window is
displayed as default. You can toggle this window on and off (hide/display) by
clicking the Object Tree button:
Managing Objects Using the Object Tree
113

The display mode of the object tree can be controlled from the Heading
strip. Right-clicking here open the following menu:
114 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Menu Item Description

Add Split Divides the current tree view into two horizontal panes
(3Designer Advanced only)
Remove Split Removes selected split from current tree view
(3Designer Advanced only)
Pool Layer – changes the tree view to display only layer
properties
Object – changes the tree view to display only object
properties
Automatic – changes the tree view to display layer or
object properties, depending on the object currently
selected
Layer and Object – displays both layer and object
properties in the tree view

Left clicking on the object headings toggles expansion and contraction of

the columns to display the full names of each of the attributes:
Managing Objects Using the Object Tree
115

From this window, you can manage the object hierarchy by manipulating
the relative location of objects in the tree. This may be required if, for
example, you want an object to be seen through another (translucent)
object: You must define the "rear" object to be behind the translucent
object by positioning the translucent object relatively lower down in the
branches of the tree.
Objects can be moved throughout the object tree (including form one
layer to another), by left clicking on the object and dragging it to a new
position. When moving objects within the Hierarchy, visual feedback
will be given to indicate where the object will be placed.
Indicates that the currently held object will be placed above the
highlighted object in the hierarchy
Indicates that the currently held object will be placed inside the
highlighted container
Indicates that the currently held object will be placed below the
highlighted object in the hierarchy
The tree view table also displays general property information and
visibility status for each object. You can also change the object
visibility status by selecting the to toggle the visibility/invisibility of
that object or group invisible. Object visibility can also be defined in the
Object tab.
Objects and elements from the property tree also have indicators next to
them to represent exports, animation, connection and functions. Left
clicking on any of these indicators will open the appropriate editor for
that indicator.
The key is as follows:
Pink – this attribute has a keyframe assigned to it. Clicking
on the pink square will open the animation editor.
Green – this attribute has an exported connection assigned.
Clicking on the green square will open the Internal
Connections tab in the Connections window.
116 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Purple – this attribute has an exported value. Clicking on it

will open the Export Connections tab in the Connections
window.
Blue – this attribute has a mathematical function connected
to it. Clicking on the blue square will open the Functions
tab in the Connections window.

Editing Object Properties in the Object

Tree

¾ To use the Object Tree to change Object properties:

1. Select the object in the Object tree.
2. Click the property icon in appropriate property column in the tree. For
example, if you want to change the Color property of a cone listed in
the tree, click the icon in the Color column like this:

Click this icon to

display the Color
Property Editor tab

3. The Property Editor tab for the selected property is displayed; use
this tab to edit the properties for the object.
 Managing Objects Using the Object Tree
117

Editing Object Properties with the

Property Editor Dialog Box
You can use the Property Editor dialog box to edit an element’s Object
properties (which are basically the same as those that are displayed in the
Object tab) and change them.
To Use the Property Editor dialog box:
1. Select the element in the Object tree and click the Property Editor
button on the toolbar. The Property Editor dialog box displays the Object
properties of the Object:

2. Change the values according to your specifications.

118 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using the Property Editor Dialog Box

for Other Properties
You can also use the Property Editor dialog box to change parameters for
other tabs such as Color or Transformation.
1. Right-click the icon in the appropriate Property column in the Object
tree (for example, Transformation); the following menu (with appropriate
choices dependent on the icon that you clicked) is displayed:

Menu Item Description

New [property] Creates a new object property according to the
type of property selected, i.e. New
Transformation, New Color, New Texture.
Separate [property] If the property was derived (referred) from
another objects’ property, then it is un-referred
and both properties are displayed as unique. This
action is only available over icons which indicate

that a reference exists, e.g. , ,

Unrefer [property] Un-refers the property from the current object,
but does not delete the property from the property
pool.
Managing Objects Using the Object Tree
119

Menu Item Description

Remove [property] Removes current property from the object, and
from the property pool.
Select [property] Changes current Editor tab to appropriate tab for
Properties editing this property.
Select Used Selects all objects that share the same referred
property.
Rename [property] Opens dialog box for changing name of property.
Show [property] Toggles expansion / contraction of column
Names heading to display either full names or only icons
for that property.

2. Click Edit Transformation (or whatever property was selected); the

Property Editor dialog box for that property type is displayed – for
example, for Transformation, the following is displayed:
120 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

3. Use the right column to change the values for each of the properties
displayed in the box. Some properties, like scale or rotation, take
numerical values, while others are Boolean and take True or False.

Transferring Object Properties

It is possible to transfer properties between objects in the Object Tree.
For example, if you wanted to copy Color properties for the cone in the
following figure, to the sphere, you would do the following:
1. Drag the cone’s color property icon using the right mouse button
from the Color column to the sphere’s Color icon and release the
right mouse button; a menu appears offering several choices of
action:

2. Choose one of the options as described in the following table (see

over).
 121

Option Description
Refer Creates a copy of the object that always reflects any
change to the referenced property in both objects. b
Clone Creates an identical instance of the object allowing
both to be modified without affecting the copied
property in either object.
Copy Data When dragging one object property onto the same
property type of a different object, this option to copy
the original objects’ attributes becomes available.
This does not reference the original object.
Insert Used for inserting references, e.g. it is active when
you drag a cut object from the rotary editor and drop
it on another rotary object in the object tree.

Connect Displays the Connection window so that you can

establish relationships between properties of the
respective objects.
122 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Working with Groups

3Designer enables you to form groups of objects and properties, creating
complex objects. Transformations, color, textures, and animations can
then be applied to the whole group in one procedure.

¾ To create a group:
1. In the Primitives Asset strip, drag the Group icon onto your scene.
2. Click the Object tree icon to display the Object tree and locate the
Group object in the tree.
3. Drag existing objects in the tree to the Group object listed in the tree
(or first create new objects using the Asset strip and then drag them
in the Object tree to the Group object in the tree):
For example, in the figure below, the Cone and Cube objects have been
dragged from somewhere else in the tree to the Group3 object and now
appear underneath it like this:

The group itself is recognized in the DesignView by a green bounding

box surrounding it as in the following figure:
Working with Groups
123

Once you include objects in a group, you can apply properties to the
entire group to affect all of the objects simultaneously. For example, you
can specify Transformation parameters for the group that apply to all of
the objects in the group. Or, you can resize or rotate the group. Similarly,
you can specify a texture for the entire group so that each of the objects
takes on the texture.
However, certain properties assigned to the group will not overwrite
properties assigned to individual objects. For example, in the figure
above, each of the objects has a specific color – assigning a color to the
entire group assigns a default color, but does not cancel out colors
already assigned to the group’s individual objects.
Individual objects can also function as groups – simply use the object
tree to transfer objects to the object that you want to act as a group. This
creates an object with sub-objects like this:
124 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

In this example, the objects are nested so that the earth_and_moon object
contains earth_object which in turn includes the moon_object and
moon_orbit objects. Properties assigned to the higher group will be
applied to the lower level objects (according to the rules that were spelled
out above).
You can expand and contract the groups in the Object tree by simply
double clicking on the expand (+ sign) or shrink (- sign) next to the
group name. Alternatively you can use the right mouse button to display
a menu that allows you to edit the group by expanding, shrinking,
removing objects and other functions as shown here:

The option Expand / Shrink opens the following pop-up menu:

From this pop-up, multiple object trees can be expanded or shrunk.

 Adding Complex Objects to the Asset Strip
125

The Selection option opens the following pop-up menu:

From this menu multi-selection of objects from the object tree can be
made.

Adding Complex Objects to

the Asset Strip
¾ To save a complex object and add it to the Asset
strip:
• Drag the object into the Complex gallery in the Asset strip; the
object now appears in the strip. When you add the object to the strip
it becomes part of the current library and is available for use in other
scenes.
126 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
Adding Complex Objects to the Asset Strip
127

Chapter 5

Working with
Text
About This Chapter

This chapter describes how to work with text in your scene. It covers the
following topics:
Creating text objects, page 127.
Creating and Editing Decorative text, page 128.
Creating Ticker text, page 130.
128 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Working with Text

3Designer lets you create a text object and then add various properties to
it such as three dimensions, color, texture, and many other properties for
controlling the look and feel of your text.

¾ To create a text object:

1. In the Primitive Asset strip, select a text object: text , three

dimensional text, or textdeco and drag it onto the design

window.
2. In the Property Editor tabs, specify the parameter values for the
Text. In particular, use the Geometry tab to specify font, style,
encoding, alignment, and to specify the textual content itself.
If you specify Decotext as the text style, you may specify various
parameters controlling the texture, beveling, etc. of the text object
(see Editing a Text object on page 89).

Decorative Text
Decorative text provides a very wide range of effects that can enhance
the look of the text. Most of these are discussed in connection with the
fields in the Decorative Text area of the Text Property Editor tab on page
89.
In defining Decorative Text Effects, you can also define a color or
texture for the effect. When you define a color, you use the Color Square
in the Effects area, which is provided to specify the exact color that you
want. On the other hand, if you choose to define a texture for the effect,
you must perform the following procedure:
 Working with Text
129

¾ To define the texture of an effect

1. Select an effect from the list of effects.
2. Click the Texture button; the Select Texture browse box is
displayed.

3. Browse for the desire Texture file and click Open. The Texture is
applied to the selected Effect.

Text Styles
3Designer enables you to apply text styles to your text object in two
ways:
• Using the Text Style Asset strip, simply drag a style onto your text
object or into the Object tree row associated with the text object.
The Asset strip gives you the advantage of browsing through all of
your style displays.
130 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

• You can also simply use the text object’s Geometry Property Editor
tab and define the Font as well as other properties for your text
object. Managing Text Styles.

Ticker Objects
A ticker object presents data in a horizontally or vertically moving
display. You can update this data continuously within the framework of
ticker templates, which are the repeatable elements of the ticker object.
The ticker object is a group object, and the different objects that it
contains constitute the ticker template. For example, a typical ticker
object is a horizontal running bar of stock quotes. The ticker template for
this object may include two text objects and a cone object:
Text1 - Name of a company whose stock is traded on the stock
exchange.
Text2 - Updated stock quote for this company.
Cone1 - A cone object, upright and colored green represents an increase
in the stock quote, or inverted and red to represent a decrease in the stock
quote.
This template can then be cloned any number of times and each template
clone can be used to display the name and stock quote of a different
company. Typically, the data variables are exported parameters that are
derived from an external database. The controller application supplies the
data to the RenderEngine and issues the Clone command.
Each time the Clone command is issued; a new template clone is
generated and positioned outside the visible area of the ticker object in
the template clone queue.
The RenderEngine issues a prompt command, sent as the “EmptyIn”
event, when the template clone queue is almost empty, (according to the
configuration of the EmptyInOffset parameter).
When the visible area of the ticker object is completely empty, the
RenderEngine issues a prompt command, sent as the “EmptyOut” event.
 Ticker Objects
131

Creating a Custom Ticker Object

¾ To create a ticker object

1. Drag a Ticker object into the work-area.
2. In the Editors window, select the Geometry tab. The Geometry tab
opens.
3. Configure the ticker object as explained in the next section.

Editing a Ticker Object

The ticker is edited using the Geometry tab:

Name Description
On When selected, the ticker object is in operational
mode and only template clones are visible. When
cleared, the ticker object is in design mode and the
ticker template is displayed in the visible area.
Run When selected, invoked template clones move
through the visible area. When cleared, invoked
template clones do not move through the visible
area and are positioned in the template clone
queue.
Clone When selected, clones the defined ticker template.
When Run is selected, selecting Template Clone
132 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Name Description
also moves the template clone through the visible
area. When Run is cleared, selecting Template
Clone positions the template clone in the template
clone queue.
AutoClone When selected, template clones are invoked
automatically and continuously. When Run is
selected also, the template clones move through the
visible area in a continuous loop cycle.
Speed Displays the defined speed of movement of the
template clone through the visible area.
Movement Displays the selected direction and orientation of
Direction the ticker object (LeftToRight, RightToLeft,
BottomToTop, TopToBottom).
Area Width Displays the defined width of the visible area of
the ticker object.
Area Height Displays the defined height of the visible area of
the ticker object.
Clone Offset Displays the defined offset (spacing) between the
template clones. The CloneOffset parameter is
relevant only when AutoClone is selected.
EmptyInOffset Displays the defined offset to the visible area at
which the EmptyIn event is sent, prompting the
controller application to invoke the next template
clone. Increasing the EmptyInOffset parameter
sends the EmptyIn event earlier, thus reducing the
gap between template clones.
StartOffset Displays the defined offset to the visible area at
which the first template clone in the template clone
queue is positioned. Defining a negative value for
the StartOffset parameter causes the first template
clone in the template clone queue to appear
immediately in the visible area.
 Ticker Objects
133

NOTE

In a standard broadcast, the AutoClone is not

selected. Instead, the Clone checkbox is exported
to the controller application, enabling the user to
control the timing of the template clone invocation.

Activating a Ticker Object

¾ To activate a ticker object

1. Create a ticker object, using the procedure described above.
2. In the Geometry tab, configure the parameters of the ticker object as
required.
3. Select the Mode On check box.
4. Select the Mode Run check box.
5. Select the Clone button to perform one instance of movement of the
ticker through the visible area, or select AutoClone to make the
ticker move through the visible area in a continuous loop cycle.
134 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
Ticker Objects
135

Chapter 6

Working with
Data
About This Chapter
This chapter describes how to control data exported from 3Designer to
3Designer Control, and how to make internal connections between data.
It includes the following sections:

Exporting Parameters for Real-time Manipulation, page 136.

Making Internal Connections, page 138.

Using Functions, page 140.

136 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Exporting Parameters for

Real-time Manipulation
Object parameters can be exported, to enable real-time values to be
imported to the parameters while the scene is on air. The manipulation of
parameters in real-time is described in detail in this chapter.
All editable parameters in the Property Editor windows that are
accompanied with an action / export button , can be exported for real-
time manipulation.

¾ To export a parameter:
1. In the Property Editor window, click the Action button next to the
parameter and select Create Export; the following dialog box is
displayed:
Exporting Parameters for Real-time Manipulation
137

2. In the value box, specify a value for the parameter and click Set. The
value box can be changed to String, Value, or File.
3. In the Target property column, select the property that you want to
export and click Attach. The exported property is listed below in the
From-To table.
4. If you want to export more than one property, click New to create a
new export row, and repeat step 3.
5. When you are through defining the exports, close the dialog box.
Multiple Exports can be connected to a single property, and an Export
can also be connected to multiple properties

An alternative way of exporting is from the Action button , which

will export the currently selected parameter.
138 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Making Internal Connections

3Designer enables you to make internal connections between object
properties. For example, you can make a connection between the position
of an object and the way it is drawn on the screen. You can attach
properties of objects in many different ways – to each other, and to the
properties of other objects.

¾ To create a connection:
1. Select the object whose properties you want to connect.
2. Select the appropriate Property Editor tab and click one of the Action
buttons on the tab; the following menu appears:

3. Click the kind of connection that you want to make (Out Connection
or In Connection); the Connections dialog box appears with the Internal
Connections tab displayed:
Making Internal Connections
139

4. Make connections between the Source and Target properties by

clicking first the Source, then the Target property, and then clicking
Attach. The internal connection is added to the table at the bottom of the
dialog box.
In the Object tree, a small green square beside the property for which the
connection was made appears. Clicking the square displays the
Connection dialog box.
140 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using Functions (3Designer

Advanced)
You can write functions for target properties that affect the behavior of
your scene under specified conditions. These user-defined functions can
affect the animation of an object or can define a static condition.
Conditions can be defined in terms of If-Then statements, or in terms of
standard mathematical expressions. 3Designer uses the following
parameters to build expressions:
E - Represents the External data value.
I - Represents the Internal reference data value that may be passed
from one parameter to the next.
A - Represents the user-defined Animation of the object parameter.
Examples of these three parameters are given on the following page.

¾ To define a Function for a Property:

1. In the Property Editor window, click the Action button for the
property for which you want to write the function and select
Function from the Action menu. The Connections dialog box is
displayed with the Function tab selected:
Using Functions (3Designer Advanced)
141

2. In the Target property window, select a property.

3. To write a pure math function with no conditional, use the Simple box.
Write expressions with the A, E, I parameters (as explained above) and
click the desired Operator to make it appear in the expression.
4. To write a conditional expression, click the Use Condition button and
write a conditional expression in the boxes provided. Click the button
near the If box to display a list of comparison operators (=, <, >, etc.).
After you close the dialog box, a small blue square appears in the
property column in the Object tree. Clicking the square displays the
Function dialog box.
Below is list of operators that you can use in your functions.
142 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Function Operators
Operator Description
* Product of two values
+ Sum of two values
- Difference between two values
/ One value divided by another value
^ One value powered by another value
max The maximum of two values
min The minimum of two values
exp The exponential of a value
cosh Hyperbolic cosine of a value in radians
cos Cosine of a value in radians
log Base-10 logarithm of a value
ln Natural logarithm of a value
tanh Hyperbolic tangent of a value in radians
tan Tangent of a value in radians
sqrt Square root of a value
sinh Hyperbolic sine of a value in radians
sin Sine of a value in radians
abs The absolute (positive) value of a value
acos Arc cosine of a value
asin Arc sine of a value
atan Arc tangent of a value
(...) Bracketing in order to define the order of execution

Two expressions can be compared and a reaction defined for the result of
the comparison, using comparison operators:
Using Functions (3Designer Advanced)
143

Comparison Description
Operators
< Smaller
> Greater
<= Smaller or equal
>= Greater or equal
= Equal
!= Not equal

Valid Description
Variables
A The value calculated from the animation
E The value provided externally (via an exported
parameter)
I The value provided internally (via a connection to
another parameter)
144 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using 3Designer Math Function

Parameters
This section describes how to use the 3Designer E, I and A parameters.

Using External Data with a Math Function

The E parameter represents a user-input value. It is typically used when
external data is required for a scene, but the entered data needs to be
altered to fit the scale of the scene. For example, when you have a bar in
a scene that needs to be scaled between 1 and 10 units, and the user will
enter a value between 1 and 100, the user-input data (E) must be divided
by 10 to fit the units of the scene. In this case, you should enter E/10 in
the Function field of the Math Function window.

Using Internal Data with a Math Function

The I parameter represents a value passed internally from one math
function to another. It is typically used when more than one dynamic
value is needed for a specific math function. For example, when you are
creating a pie chart, the second section of the pie chart must receive both
external data, to set its size, and data from the first pie section, to set its
starting position.

Using the Animation Parameter in a Math Function

The A parameter represents the animation value for the property. It is
typically used in a math function when the selected object has been
animated and the math function affects the object's animation. For
example, suppose that a cylinder has been animated to grow from 0 to 5
units in a certain number of key frames, and the scale of the cylinder has
been exported so that the user can alter the size dynamically. Entering
A*E in the Function field of the Math Function window will cause the
cylinder to grow from 0 to the imported value (E) and is multiplied by
 Using Functions (3Designer Advanced)
145

the value of the animation, when the animation is played. When you add
an export to a parameter that already has an animation, it automatically
receives a maths function of A*E; because it receives two values at once
they are combined in this way.

Math Functions for parameter of type

STRING
Mathematical functions (as they are known until now) can be combined with
a formatting description to produce a string output.
The formatting description is always surrounded with quotation marks (“)
and combined with a plus sign (+).
There are two different types of formatting:
• Converting the float that emerges from the math function to a string
• Adding a static string
For converting a float to a string, the formatting description that must
follow the math function has the following syntax:
\F
• then (optional) number of pre comma digits ( 0’s are added on the
least significant side if necessary)
• then ‘.’ or ‘,’ ( the comma – can be shown as ‘.’ or ‘,’ )
• then number of post comma digits
• then (optional) a static string

Examples
1. An (external) float value is connected to the string. It should be
shown with a ‘.’ as a comma, and with two digits after the comma.
Math function is: E + “\F.2”
2. Same as the example above but the external input is divided by 100
and ‘%’ sign is shown
146 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Math function is: E/100 + “\F.2%”

or E/100 + “\F.2” + “%”
3. Same as the examples above but a static text ‘Quote:’ precedes the
math function
Math function is: “Quote: “ + E/100 + “\F.2%”

NOTE

The definition of pre-comma digits does not work

correctly for negative values.
Using Functions (3Designer Advanced)
147

Chapter 7

Animations

About This Chapter

This chapter describes how to animate your scenes. You can use
3Designer’s sophisticated animation features to animate objects along
various timelines to produce complex animation sequences.
The following topics are discussed:
Creating Animations, page 148.
Multiple Animation Timelines, page 154.
Using the Animation window, page 156.
Animating Along a Path, page 164.
148 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Creating Animations
An animated sequence is created by defining changes in the parameters
of an object in order to produce an animated action. For example, you
may define the movement of an object along the X-axis. The animated
sequence consists of a series of frames across time, with the first and
final frames of the animation identified by keyframes. Animated
sequences may run concurrently or may begin at different points in time
during the course of the scene. Animated sequences can be defined in all
main screens when using the relevant editor tabs containing the
parameter being animated. The animations are made using the timeline
shown at the bottom of each window.

Animation Timeline
The timeline displays keyframe markers (tick lines) for each animated
sequence, to indicate the points of change on the timeline.
Creating Animations
149

The timeline contains the following control buttons:

Plays back the selected animation.

Stop the selected animation

Start and stop record

To previous keyframe

To next keyframe

Move to the beginning of the timeline.

Move to the end of the timeline.

Create Keys

Remove Keys

Create new animation group

Clone current animation group

Mirror current animation group

Remove current animation group

F Filter: allows you to filter keys according to property.

Keyframe Fields
The Animation time line displays the frame number at the current cursor
position in the timeline. If you manually enter a value in this field, the
cursor will jump to that position.
150 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

The timeline also displays the start and end frame numbers of the section
of the timeline that is currently in view. By entering new values in these
fields, you can rescale and move the timeline. You can also drag the
timeline, to enable you to view the hidden sections, by clicking the
timeline and sliding the mouse left or right while holding down the
middle mouse button. The values in the first and last keyframe in view
fields are automatically updated to reflect the new section now in view.

Current Keyframe
Start of Range End of Range
Animation Group

Defining an Animation Sequence

For each animated sequence, you need to define the parameter starting
references that determine the starting status of the object before the
animated action, and to define start and end keyframes for the animation.

¾ To define an animated sequence

1. Click the REC (record) button. The status bar color will change
to red.
2. Select the object you want to animate.
3. Define the start keyframe for the animated sequence by placing the
keyframe marker at the required point in the timeline, or by entering
a frame number in the current keyframe field.
4. Move the selected object in the work-area, or click a parameter field
and change the value.
5. Define the end keyframe for the animated sequence by placing the
keyframe marker at the required point in the timeline, or by entering
a new frame number in the current keyframe field.
Creating Animations
151

6. Click the REC button to end the recording. The button turns back to
gray.
A small pink square appears in the Object tree near the property that
was animated (usually the Transformation column); clicking the
square displays the Animation window.
7. Use the control buttons in the animation timeline to position the
animation and play it back.
Animations can also be defined using the action button to set a
keyframe:

A keyframe will be recorded for this attribute at the current point on the
animation timeline.

Multiple keyframe creation is also possible using the key tool

from the timeline control button. This opens the Set Key dialog box,
where it is possible to keyframe multiple transformations for the
selected object(s):
152 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Changing Keyframe Properties

You change keyframe properties in the Key Edit dialog box.
To change keyframe properties:
1. On the timeline, right-click the marker whose keyframe you would
like to change. The following menu is displayed.

2. Click Edit Key; a list of the recorded channels is displayed for the
selected keyframe (see over).
Creating Animations
153

3. Select (left-click) the required channel. The selected keyframe

parameters window opens:
-OR-
In the Animation window, double-click a keyframe diamond marker; in
either case, the Key Editor dialog box is displayed:
154 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

4. Change the parameters. See page 160 for details.

Multiple Animation Timelines

3Designer allows you to create multiple animation timelines that can be
played back in real time independently of each other. This feature is
especially useful when the entire animation sequence is not linear or is
not predefined prior to going on-air.
Multiple animation timelines enable you to:
• Play back a series of animations in any order.
• Repeat playback of specific animations within the sequence any
number of times.
• Define animations for the same object on more than one animation
timeline.
For example, if an entire animation sequence, containing four different
animations, is placed on one timeline, the sequence is linear and
playback must be consistent with the predefined order of the animations.
However, if each of the four animations are placed on separate, multiple
animation timelines, playback of the animations can be in any order and
any of the animations can be repeated as many times as is required.
Moreover, alternative animations can be created for the same object. This
allows you to determine which animation to use for the object, according
to real-time, on-air requirements.

Creating Multiple Animation Timelines

¾ To create multiple animation timelines

1. In the Animation strip, click the New animation timeline button
. A new Animation timeline default name (Animation) appears
in the list box next to the button.
Multiple Animation Timelines
155

2. Change the name according to your specifications. The animation

timeline is automatically saved and added to the list in the listbox as
shown here:

3. Define the animation, as described in Error! Reference source not

found., on page Error! Bookmark not defined..

NOTE

The displayed animation timeline and the playback

controls apply only to the currently selected
animation timeline in the list of animation
timelines.
156 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Using the Animation Window

(3Designer Advanced)
The Animation window, shown below, enables you to manipulate and
edit animated sequences that were created elsewhere using the defining
animation feature. To open the Animation window, click the Animation
button or press <F7> on the keyboard.

In the Animation window work-area, all scene elements defined in an

animated sequence are displayed in a tree hierarchy. If an animated
sequence consists of multiple animation timelines, each animation
timeline is displayed as a branch at the same hierarchical level in the tree,
above its constituent channels.
A channel containing one or more keyframes is displayed to the right of
each tree branch, representing the keyframes defined for that object.
Expanding a branch displays the names of all animated parameters for
that particular object, each with an adjacent channel that displays the
defined changes for that parameter in keyframes. Any parameter you
animate in the 3Designerwindows creates a channel in the Animation
window.
 Using the Animation Window (3Designer Advanced)
157

The channel defines the type of animation. Channels are only displayed
for those parameters that changed status during the defined animation,
meaning that if an animated sequence involved change only on the X-
and Y-axes, no channel will be displayed in the Animation window for
the Z-axis. Parameter channels display more than one keyframe when
there are different animations on the same parameter, for example, if an
object moves one way on the X-axis and then moves back on the X-axis.
Red lines indicate the full range of keyframes for a channel. Blue lines
indicate the keyframes for a parameter type, such as Transformation,
whose values are changing in the animation. Green lines indicate
keyframes for parts of the parameter such as Position. Grey diamonds
indicate the individual keyframes.
You can perform any of the editing activities detailed below on a
channel, parameter type, parameter, or individual keyframe. When you
perform an activity on a higher-level entity, such as a channel, all of the
lower level entities (parameters, etc.) included in it are affected.

Animation Window Buttons

Use the buttons on the top of the Animation screen to facilitate your
work:

Button Name Description

All Groups Mode Lists all of the animation channels in the
scene.
Active Group Mode Lists the currently active animation
channel.
Animation list Enables you to select an animation
channel to display.
Multi-Edit Mode Enables you to work on both the keys and
the duration of the animation.
Range Edit Mode Enables you to edit the ranges of the
animations. All of the ranges can be
158 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Button Name Description

scaled so that you can retime the
animations.
Key Edit Mode Enables you to edit individual keys.

Zoom Enables you to expand the timeline.

Fit View to Range Fits the current animation sequence to the

window.
Fit Range to Keys Enables you to view the range according
to the keys that it contains.

Using the Right Mouse Button

You can use the Right mouse button to perform several operations on
animation channels listed in the Animation window.
When you select an animation and click the Right Mouse Button the
following menu is displayed:
 Using the Animation Window (3Designer Advanced)
159

Option Description
New Animation Group Creates a New Animation group.
Remove Animation Group Removes the selected animation group.
Clone Animation Group Creates a duplicate of the animation group.
Edit Animation Group Displays the Animation Group Editor dialog box so
that you can add a DDR clip.
Remove Channels Removes the selected channel.
Mirror Channels Reverses the order of the animation keyframes.
Delete Keys Deletes the selected keyframes.
Select Keys Selects all the Keyframes in the selected channel.
Clone Keys Creates a duplicate of the selected keyframes. To
clone keys, first select the target channel, hold down
Control and select the source channel. Right click and
choose Select keys, then right click again and choose
Clone keys. The cloned keys appear in the target
channel.
Expand/Shrink Enables you to control the display of the Animation
tree objects with a submenu:

Expand to Selected When you have selection of items in the tree, but
some items are not expanded, this action will
expand the tree to show all selected items. If the
selected item has children, but they are not in
selection they will not be expanded.
Selection Enables you to control the selection of Animation tree
objects with a sub-menu (see over):
160 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Option Description

Animation Window Operations

From the Animation window, you can do the following:

Manipulate the speed of an animated sequence

Click a keyframe marker and drag it left or right to increase or decrease
the speed of the animation, respectively.

Create a Keyframe
Double-click in a blank area in a channel for the parameter that you want
to animate – a gray diamond indicating a new keyframe appears. You can
slide the diamond along the channel line to place it where you want in the
animation timeline. Double-clicking on a higher-level entity represented
by a red, blue or green line adds keyframes for all the lower level entities
simultaneously.

Change the Values of a Keyframe

¾ To change a keyframe’s values:

1. Double-click one of the gray diamonds that represents the keyframe
whose values you want to change. The Key Editor window appears:
Using the Animation Window (3Designer Advanced)
161

The fields in the Key Editor dialog box are as follows:

Parameter Description
Frame Indicates the frame in the keyframe on which the cursor
is currently standing.
Value Enables the field to the right of the Value checkbox,
displaying the position of the starting frame for the
keyframe, and the Mode settings field, located under
the Value checkbox.
Mode enables you to determine playback settings for the
keyframe, by selecting an option from the dropdown
list. There are three options:
Linear – ensures the animation time between each
frame is constant.
Jump – jumps between the current keyframe to the
next keyframe.
Acceleration/Deceleration – enables you to specify
acceleration/deceleration values for the animation
162 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Parameter Description
sequence.
Acceleration Enables you to enter the percentage of the total
keyframe time during which the object is accelerating.
The acceleration is relevant from the beginning of the
keyframe action, so that entering a value of 25%
accelerates the object animation for the first 25% of the
keyframe playback.
Deceleration Enables you to enter the percentage of the total
keyframe time during which the object is decelerating.
The deceleration percentage is applied backwards from
the end of the keyframe action, so entering a value of
25% decelerates the object animation during the last
25% of the keyframe playback.
Stop Select the checkbox to enable the pause/continue field,
located under the Stop checkbox.
Pause/Continue - The pause/continue field enables you
to stop the selected keyframe animation for a certain
amount of time by selecting an option from the
dropdown list. The options are:
Pause - Pauses during animation playback at the
current cursor position in the keyframe, and then jumps
to the value you enter in the adjacent field and
continues playback from that frame.
Continue - Stops during animation playback at the
current keyframe, until the continue button is pressed.
 Using the Animation Window (3Designer Advanced)
163

Parameter Description
Loop Select the checkbox to enable the count/infinite field,
located under the Loop checkbox, and the loop length
field, located to the right of the Loop checkbox.
The count/infinite field enables you to loop the selected
keyframe animation by selecting an option from the
dropdown list in the field. The options are:
Count - Loops the animation a specific number of
times, according to the value you enter in the adjacent
field.
Infinite - Loops the animation loops infinitely.
The loop length field enables you to define the length
of the loop by entering a number in the field. Each
repetition goes back that number of frames, counting
from the end keyframe marker, and plays the animation
from that point.

2. Change the values for that frame. For some parameters you can
specify Acceleration/Deceleration, pauses, and loops. A loop
specifies that a particular range of keyframes repeat a set number of
times as indicated in the Key Editor window above. See the section
on Editing Animation parameters for details.
3. Click Close; the animation sequence changes to reflect your
specifications.

Delete a keyframe
On the timeline the keyframe and press <Delete> on the keyboard.
Alternatively, you can

Delete a channel
Right-click the name of the channel in the tree and select Delete
Channel from the displayed popup menu.
164 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Delete and change operations can also be carried out for multi-selections
of keyframes; keys can be lassoed directly from the timeline, or from the
list of channels:

Animating Along a Path

(3Designer Advanced)
A quick way to animate an object is to create a path, attach it to the Run
function, and then attach Run to the object. The object runs along the
path, frame by frame until it reaches the end of the path.

¾ To animate an object on a defined path

1. Select the object that you want to animate.
2. Select the Transformation Editor Tab.
3 In the Path tab, either click the New icon to create a new run (1), or
select an existing path icon in the storage area (2).

4 In this instance we will make a New Run for this object.

Animating Along a Path (3Designer Advanced)
165

5. A new Run will be created, though it will not be referenced to any

path at the moment

6. Select the path which you wish to animate the object along

7. Click on Position to link the objects position to the path; Rotation

will cause the object to rotate relative to the direction it is traveling
along the path. Please note that Position will link the objects’ X, Y,
Z position to the paths’, and that Rotation will link the objects’ X,
Y, Z rotation to the orientation of the path. They can be separated by
going to the ‘Connections’ menu and removing the connections that
are not required:
166 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

8. Now that the object is linked to the path by the run, its’ position can
be animated along the path by changing the ‘run value’. This value
ranges from 0 (start of the path) to 1 (end of the path). Objects can
be animated along the path by creating keyframes at the desired
position.
 Using the Digital Disk Recorder / DDR (3Designer Advanced)
167

Using the Digital Disk

Recorder / DDR (3Designer
Advanced)
The DDR is an optional configuration for 3Designer users. You can use
the DDR to link a pre-rendered video sequence to a three-dimensional
animation sequence. The resulting output is a background video display
with an animation sequence overlay.

¾ To link a DDR video sequence to an animation

sequence
1. In the Edit menu, select Animation DDR:

2 . In the Animation Group dialog box, either specify the name of the
DDR animation sequence, or drag the clip from the
ClipManagement software into the DDR box. Define the Play Mode
168 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

(Once, Loop, Bounce), and the Start and End animation keyframes
for the video sequence. Click Enabled and then Close. You can
specify two separate DDR sequences.

3. To test the DDR sequence, click the Play button in the Animation
bar. The animation sequence and the video sequence begin playback
simultaneously. Each sequence terminates at its defined stop frame
position.

NOTES

The video sequence start frame is always linked to

Frame 0 in the animation sequence.

The DDR video sequence playback is always at

normal speed. No pause function is available.
Using the Digital Disk Recorder / DDR (3Designer Advanced)
169

Chapter 8

Utilities

This chapter covers several useful Utilities provided with 3Designer.

These include:
• Font Installer
• Controller
170 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Font Installer
The Font installer enables you to import fonts into the Windows Font
folder and then install them into the DVG.

¾ To install a font:
1. In the Tools menu, select Font Installer; the following screen
appears:

2. Use the Browse button to select the folder that contains the fonts
that you want to install.
3. In the left pane, select the fonts that you want to install and click the
Install button; the installed fonts appear in the right pane.
 Using the Digital Disk Recorder / DDR (3Designer Advanced)
171

Controller
The Controller lets you playback scenes and test them through a user
friendly GUI.
1. To control scenes with the Controller:
2. In the Tools menu, select Controller; the following window opens:

3. In the Host box, type the name of the host that contains the project
and scenes that you want to work with, and click the
Connect/Disconnect button.

NOTE

When there is no connection currently active, the

button appears as Connect and the indicator light
is red; when a connection is made, the button
changes to Disconnect, and the indicator light is
green.
172 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

4. Use the Project and Scene boxes to specify the project and scene
that you want to work with and click Load; the scene name appears
in the Loaded Scenes list:

You can repeat this procedure to load more scenes.

5. Select a scene in the Loaded Scenes list, and click the Activate
button.
6. In the Animation list, select an animation sequence and use the
Animation buttons provided (Back, Play, Stop, Forward) to play the
animation.
7. Any scenes that you may have selected for export when creating the
scene appear in the Export window, along with their values. You
can edit these values and send them for export by selecting them and
clicking the Selected button next to Send Exports.
8. To Unload a scene, choose the Unload button; to unload all the
scenes, choose the Unload all button.
Using the Digital Disk Recorder / DDR (3Designer Advanced)
173

Chapter 9

Customization

About This Chapter

This chapter describes various Customization options that make working
with 3Designer easier.
Topics covered include:
Hot Keys, page 169.
Paste options, page 175.
Preferences, page 177.
Scene configurations, page 179.
174 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Hot Keys (3Designer

Advanced)
You can use the Hot Keys dialog box (from the Customization menu) to
reconfigure the hot keys according to your preference:

The left window indicates the actions that can have short-cut keys
assigned to them. The right window displays a list of short-cut keys and
their assigned actions.

¾ To assign a key:
1. Select an action in the left window and a short-cut key in the right
window to which you want the action to be assigned.
2. Click the Connect button.
 Paste Options (3Designer Advanced)
175

To break the assignment between an action and its hot key, select the
action and click Disconnect.

Paste Options (3Designer

Advanced)
You can tailor make the paste options so that you can save yourself the
time needed to perform repetitive tasks that can be performed on Pasting.
The Paste Options dialog box looks like the figure on the next page:
176 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
 Preferences
177

For customizing the way of pasting references, simply select the icon that
corresponds to the Editor tab whose paste options you want to change,
and select the appropriate option in the right column.
Similarly, select the appropriate Paste options for Animations and
Exports.

Preferences
This dialog box lets you configure folders, icons, and other elements of
the 3Designer system:
178 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Option Description
Action Lets you specify Hot keys for Actions that appear in the
Buttons Action buttons in the Property Editor tabs. (3Designer
shortcuts Advanced only)
Asset Strip Lets you change the icons for the asset accelerators.
(3Designer Advanced only)
Directories Lets you specify the directories and files for Resources,
and Files Render Engine, Log file, etc.
Layouts and Lets you specify the palette used by the system, as well
Styles as configuring the size of thumbnails that appear in the
various gallery areas.
Log View Lets you configure the filters for log view as well as the
font.
Misc. Specifies several parameters such as animation, history,
and auto-save.
Object Specifies the way references are handled. (3Designer
Operations Advanced only)
Paste Same as Paste Options (see previous section).
Options 3Designer Advanced only)
Render Specifies the type of connection between 3Designer and
Engine the Render engine. You can specify Remote or local, as
well as control certain display functions such as Frame
rate.
Shortcuts Hot key assignments (see previous section). (3Designer
Advanced only)
 Preferences
179

Scene Configuration
This dialog box lets you specify settings for the way scenes are displayed
on the screen:

Culling
Activating culling will result in RenderEngine optimizing the rendering
process for objects not currently on-screen; this option may not improve
performance for all scene types.

Internal Mixer
The internal mixer option can be activated here; this allows you to use
the internal linear keyer of the DVG platform.
Switching on pre-multiplied mixing causes the DVG board to properly
represent half transparent pixels on the video background. Using it
requires the background to be set to black.
This results in the borders of objects that are on top of the mixed picture
becoming brighter.

Pre-multiply off Pre-multiply on

180 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
 Using the Scene Converter
181

Chapter 10

CyGMaker Scene
Converter

About This Chapter

CyGMaker to 3Designer converter is a separate application used to

convert scenes created in CyberGraphics Maker version 1.9 and above
into the 3Designer file format.

The converter requires a connection to the remote rendering host (DVG)

in order to carry out the conversion process. The converter will
automatically use the remote DVG settings as defined in the 3Designer
preferences in the section RenderEngine, field 'remote'. Please make sure
remote address is defined there first.

Using the Scene Converter

In Windows Explorer, browse to G:\Project, and create special project for
saving the new scenes to (e.g. converted_scenes)
Copy the original scene into this folder
Change its’ name to something that indicates that it's an unconverted
(e.g. uc_old_name), make sure there are only capital, small letters,
numbers and underscores [A-Z]/[a-z]/[0-9]/_ (e.g. all the minuses should
be changed to underscore) in the name.
182 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Run Converter 2.1, either from the desktop icon or from Start >
Program Files > Orad > Converter 2.1
The Converter application will now open

Press 'Convert Now' (the project selector window will appear)

Select unconverted scene and press OK button

A warning message will now be displayed before the connection is opened
to the DVG; any other session that is currently open will be closed when the
conversion process starts.
Using the Scene Converter
183

Conversion process will start, a progress indicator will be displayed until all
steps are completed.

During the conversion some dialogs may appear warning about overwriting
textures (select option according to the requirements).

After the scene will be processed converter will ask about the target scene
filename (in this case don't use the unconverted name - always change it).
184 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

The log window with some warnings may appear, read it carefully and keep
it with converted scene, as it may contain important information needed for
adjusting scene after conversion)
Now the scene is converted but still need to be resaved in the 3Designer
- Start 3Designer
- Open converted scene, the warning will appear on the screen that you are
opening unsynchronized scene; confirm that scene should be resaved.
- Wait until the scene will be resaved
- Now the scene is converted and ready for use
Some issues that may appear after conversion:
- In CyGMaker camera the same camera can be defined as 'Target' or 'Free'
(by changing parameter 'AdjustLookAt' in the advanced editor). It may
appear that in the original scene camera is of the one type and parameters
related to another camera type are animated. In this case change type of the
camera in the original scene and try to convert it once again.
- Camera with animation along a spline will need to be reworked after
conversion.
- In some scenes, the background image will not be converted
automatically; in such cases please reassign the correct texture in the
Environment editor (Image tab)
 Using the Scene Converter
185

Chapter 11

VRML Object
Importing

About This Chapter

3Designer is able to import models that have been created in a third-party

modeling package if they are in VRML format. VRML models may
contain texture, materials and keyframe animations that can all be used
and edited after being imported to 3Designer. It is also possible to import
VRML models that have been prepared in a flipbook format.

Exporting VRML models from 3dStudio Max

The correct way to export a 3dStudio Max animated scene to VRML is to

use keyframed animation.

Use the tool Motion (1) > Trajectory (2) > Collapse (3) to convert
animation (see over)
186 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

The Sample Range should be equal to the End Time - Start Time + 1.
For example, if the Start Time = 0, and the End Time = 100, the Samples
should be equal to 101.

It is also possible to use MaxScripts such as 'mb_collapse' (available

from http://www.breidt.net/scripts/mb_collapse.mcr), or 'Procedural
Motion Baker' (available from
http://www.maxtd.com/pub/scripts/procmotbakV5_1.zip).
When using 'Procedural Motion Baker', after processing scene with this
tool, remove the original objects from the scene (these obects will be
automatically selected after using 'Procedural Motion Baker').
Using the Scene Converter
187

The playback frame rate for the animation should then be set to PAL or
NTSC according to the region that you are working in. Use the time
configuration menu (1) to change the frame rate (2):

When the model is ready for exporting, go to File > Export (or Export
Selected), and a file browser will open where you can specify the
location where the VRML model will be saved.
188 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

After a filename has been entered, a new menu will open with export
options:

It is also possible to export the VRML animation as a VRML flipbook.

This is a model that uses a new instance of geometry for each frame of
the animation. Using this feature, it is possible to export animations that
are constructed using mesh deformations, inverse kinematics etc. Please
note that each instance of the model counts as separate geometry; a 1000
polygon model with 20 frames of animation will create a 20000 polygon
flipbook. To use this, please check the ‘Flip-Book’ option in the above
dialog box.
If you wish to export a VRML model that uses IK bones, then by default
the bones will be visible in 3Designer unless they hidden first in 3dsMax.
The correct export settings are displayed in the illustration above. The
“Polygons Type” should be set to Triangles, Quads or Primitives, and
from the sub menu, set the Sample Rates
 Using the Scene Converter
189

Here you should change the Transform Controllers FPS (frames per
second) to custom, and set the amount according to the region you are
working in (50 for Pal, 60 for NTSC). The model can then be exported.

Importing VRML models into 3Designer

To import a VRML model, from the menu strip select File > Import >
VRML. A file browser window will appear:

From here is it possible to select either a VRML model or a VRML

Flipbook for importing.
190 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

After selecting the model and clicking on ‘Open’, the import options
dialog box will open:

Option Description
Use Lights Enables the importing of the lights used in the VRML
model.
Double Sided In the event that some triangles are oriented incorrectly,
Mesh and you have no tools available to reorient them (such
as 3dsMax), then check this option to correct the
problem.
Reverse All In the event that all of the triangles have incorrect
Normals orientation, then check this option to invert all of the
objects’ normals.
Using the Scene Converter
191

Animation If you are importing a Flipbook VRML model, this

Cycles option will become enabled; here you can select which
of the animation types are imported;
- Common Textures; if this is checked then the
textures that are used in the scene will
automatically be referenced to each model that is
created from the flipbook. If this is unchecked,
then a new instance of each texture will be
assigned to each model in the flipbook
- Common Lights; always greyed out and selected
– the lights in the scene are automatically
referenced to all the materials
- Common Materials; if this is checked then the
materials that are used in the scene will
automatically be referenced to each model that is
created from the flipbook. If this is unchecked,
then a new instance of each material will be
assigned to each model in the flipbook.
Use Textures If this option is checked (and a path selected), the
VRML model will be imported with the accompanying
textures.
Use If this option is unchecked, then the model will be
Animations imported without any animations; if this is checked
then the two sub-options will be enabled:
- As Non-editable; the animation will be imported
as-is, and there is no possibility to change the
positions or values of the keys.
- As Editable Keyframes; separate keyframes for
each frame of the animation will be created; this
can take several minutes to complete depending
on the length to the animation and complexity of
the scene.
192 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Exporting Tips for other 3D software

3dStudio Max / Maya:

The VRML exporter from Maya and 3dStudio Max, give incorrect
positions to pivot points in Animation. After being imported, the
animations will run correctly, but the user will not be able to create
new animation based on those pivots.
Lightwave:
When exporting VRML from LightWave, the option PROTO should be
deselected.
Exporting VRML from LightWave may also produce a syntax error with
the creation of two commas, one after the other. Removing one of the
commas will solve the problem.
VRML Binary Format:
Some VRML content developers want to minimize download time for
their customers, so they compress the file using gzip. To work around a
bug in some web browsers, many authors choose to name those gzipped
worlds "foo.wrl" instead of "foo.wrl.gz", the default file name that gzip
generates. After uncompressing the file it should be an ascii format
VRML file.
Using the Scene Converter
193

Chapter 12

Tracking
Calibration

This chapter describes how to use the Tracking Calibration hardware and
software to coordinate camera tracking with 3Designer.
Topics include:
How to use ‘TSPositioning’ (an application supplied by Orad), to
calibrate tracking.
194 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Camera Pose Determination

with TSPositioning
This section contains the following topics:

• Hardware preparations
• Measurements with TSPositioning

Hardware preparations
This is a Pre-Event procedure, to be performed prior to an event. Before
the camera pose is determined with the TSPositioning software, the
tracking and camera hardware must be set up properly. Only the
broadcast camera is used for this method.
In case of a multi camera installation, with several broadcast cameras
present, the Camera pose determination process must be performed for
all cameras in use. Once all the cameras have been configured in the
TrackingSet.cfg file, any camera can be easily selected by choosing its
number in the tracker section of the TSPositioning GUI.
Important

1 The camera on the tripod head should be perfectly motionless while

aiming at landmarks.
2 The camera position on the tripod head should be carefully adjusted
and then left unchanged for the duration of the measurement. If a
shift occurs, the software settings for the mounting shift must also
be changed.
3 The center cross inside the viewfinder is required as a reference
mark for the measurements. It does not need to be positioned exactly
in the center of the viewfinder, but it must remain in the same
location for all the measurements.
 Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
195

4 Ensure you can read the pan and tilt values of the head with
TrackingSet. Using DispCamera Raw, change camera pan, tilt,
zoom and focus and check that the displayed raw data changes
accordingly.
5 Do not move the tripod during or after measurements, as a
recalibration will be required.

Homing the tracking system

You must initially home the camera tracking system.

¾ To home the tracking system:

1 Level the tripod head carefully in both X and Y-axes to zero, so that
the pan axis is nearly perpendicular to the level.
2 Select a point as the home point, (the origin of the X, Y and Z-axes
is the recommended home point, but for example, in a soccer field,
the center circle can be used as a home point.
3 Ensure that the home point can be seen at all times as it may be
necessary to home the camera again.
4 Aim to the home point with the TV camera, and completely zoom in
using the center cross (view finder marker) as a reference point.
5 Lock the pan- and tilt-brakes.
6 Reset the sensor box. All encoder values are set to zero, and you
have homed the camera/sensors.

Measurements with TSPositioning

The following topics are discussed in this section:

• Starting TSPositioning
• Measuring mounting shifts
• Measurements
196 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Starting TSPositioning

¾ To start TSPositioning
1 Double click on the TSPositioning icon on your windows desktop. If
the TrackingSet software is running correctly, the camera number,
name, and type displayed in the Tracker region of the window are
active and not grayed out. In addition, the indicator bar in the
window title rotates, which indicates that tracking data is receiveded
from the encoders. The Tracking Set window appears, as shown
below:

Figure 12-1 Tracking Set Window

Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
197

The following parameters can be specified.

Parameter Description
Channel The IP address of the Linux platform
where TrackingSet is running.
Number Tracker channel number.
Name Tracker name.
Type The Tracker type.
Calculated Position Calculated position of the camera with
respect to the field.
Pan Axis Twist This parameter describes the tilt and roll
(rotation) position of the camera.
Reset Communication This feature reinitializes communication
with the tracker.
Video Preview Not supported
Save Settings Save the configured settings.
This box describes the X Y Z positioning
Orientation Box of the camera view. There are two
positions you can select by clicking on
the image.
2 The Reset communication button is used to re-establish
communication with the ASR unit.
198 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Measuring mounting shifts

This purpose of measuring mount shift is to determine the position and
orientation of the encoder head. As a camera on top of the head is used to
record the measurements, the physical offset between the camera and the
pan-tilt axis must be measured manually. These values are entered in at
the Adjusting tab in the Mounting Shifts area; see Figure 12-2 Tracking
Set Window, Adjusting Tab Selected.

Figure 12-2 Tracking Set Window, Adjusting Tab Selected

Notes:

• The coordinate system can be switched by clicking the small icon

at the bottom left corner. The current coordinate system can be
viewed in the small drawing on the right hand side of the three
mounting shift values.
• All values are in meters.
 Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
199

• The height offset is measured from the tilt axis to the optical axis
of the camera.
• The offset to the front/back is measured from the pan axis to the
flange of the camera (where the lens is mounted to the camera).
• The offset to the left/right is measured from the pan axis to the
optical axis.

Measurements
The following topics are discussed in this section:

• Entering the Measured Reference Points

• Choosing projection method
• Data acquisition

• Processing
• Adjustments and Controlling the Results

Entering the Measured Reference Points

All measurements are controlled from the Reference Points tab; see
Figure 12-3 Tracking Set Window, Reference Points Tab Selected.
200 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Figure 12-3 Tracking Set Window, Reference Points Tab Selected

 Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
201

The following parameters are displayed in this tab region:

Parameter Description
Reference points Field measurements
Projection
Add Add a landmark
Clear all Clears all entered landmark values
Edit Edit an existing landmark
Reset all Resets all entered landmark values
Calculate Calculate the landmark values entered
Update Model Updates the current model
Load Load a saved model
Save Save model

Choosing a Project Method for Reference Points

After entering the reference points, you use the Project Area of the
Reference Point tab to define the projection method for the points as
explained below.

¾ To define the reference points for the measurement:

In general, there are two methods are available to compute the re-
projected point coordinates:
• Intersecting the optical axis of the camera with a reference plane
• Intersecting the optical axis of the camera with a true 3D terrain.

However, TSPositioning offers the following three modes:

• Plane (XY, XZ, YZ)
• Closest
202 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

• Auto

Plane
Two coordinate axes, and an offset from this plane on the third axis define the used
plane. An example of this is in soccer where the landmarks are usually placed at the
XZ plane, the grass level, where the height is 0.

Closest
Chooses the closest point of intersection between the optical axis of camera and the
field model, for calculations. This method is employed if the landmarks are outside
a field plane (if there is one) and is building a three-dimensional terrain. The height
co-ordinates of the landmarks are not equal to zero. This option would be used, for
example, for ski race hills, golf courses, etc.

Auto
This mode automatically selects between both Plane and Closest options. This mode
detects the landmarks at the FieldModel_measured.xml file that have a height
coordinate equal to, or very close to, zero, and uses the Plane mode for them. Other
re-projected points outside this plane are treated the same as with Closest mode.
In most cases, Closest gives the best results especially if not all points are on the
same plane.

Calculating Camera Position and Orientation

¾ To Acquire data:
1 Aim at a landmark with the camera, and completely zoom in using
the center cross (view finder marker) as a reference point.
2 Lock pan-tilt-brakes if necessary.
3 Click Set for the corresponding landmark in the tracking Set
Window.
4 Repeat this process for each landmark.
Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
203

Figure 12-4 Tracking Set Window, Landmarks Acquired

• Four measurements with significantly different pan and tilt-values are

mandatory. Seven to ten measurements are recommended for a flat field
(Plane method).
• The order of the aimed landmarks is unimportant. Click Set for the
corresponding landmark in the Tracking Set Window after each
measurement.
• Aim carefully at the landmarks. Every inaccuracy decreases the overall
measurement accuracy.
204 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

• If the Set option was clicked by mistake, the Reset button deletes the current
pan and tilt measurement. The Set option can be used again for a new
measurement.
• If further points are be added and their coordinates are known, click the
Add button, and enter the coordinates manually.
• The Edit option enables you to edit existing points and labels.

• The Reset all option resets the current measurements for all landmarks.
• The Clear all option deletes all entries.
• The check box at the right hand side of the landmark coordinates determines
if this point is used for the pose determination. While running the final
calculation without a specific landmark, you can test if this landmark and/or
the measurement for it was properly done. A reprojected point is calculated
for this landmark.

Processing
After all measurements have been completed, click Calculate to
calculate the results for the pose determination and the coordinates of the
re-projected points (see the following figure).
Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
205

Figure 12-5 Tracking Set Window, Calculations Complete

The results for the pose determination are immediately displayed in the
TSPositioning application. However, the results for the re-projection are
not displayed.

¾ To use the pose determination results, perform the

following:
1 Click Save to display the Save dialog box.
206 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

3. Type a proper file name with the ending *blk (=blocking). It is

recommended that in the case of multiple measurements, to add further
information to the file name, such as date, place, etc.
4. Check the with measurements check box to store the complete data.

Figure 12-6 Save File Dialog Box, FieldModel_Reprojected.blk

Click the Save Setting button to save all camera information to the
TrackinSet.cfg file.
 Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
207

Setting Zoom and Focus Ranges

Before testing the results of the measurement, ensure that the range of
zoom and focus are properly set. The setting of the lens encoder ranges is
done as follows.

¾ To set the Zoom and Focus Ranges:

1 Display the Ranges tab on the TSPositioning GUI:

2 Check the Update Ranges checkbox.

3 Press the Reset Ranges button.
4 Fully zoom in and out to cover all of the zoom range; set the focus
on minimum and then on infinity to cover the full range.
5 Press the Save button to save the ranges. The ranges are saved in the
file TranckingSetRanges_<hostname>.cfg.
208 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

6 Uncheck the Update Ranges checkbox; the ranges will be

automatically loaded each time the TrackingSet is started.

Making Adjustments

After the camera position and orientation has been calculated several
adjustments need to be done. These adjustments are all done in the
Adjustment tab of the Tspositioning GUI. They should normally be done
by the following order:
• CCD centring
• Focal scale
• Pixel Aspect Ratio
You use the Adjustments tab in the Tracking Set GUI to make the
necessary adjustments:
 Camera Pose Determination with TSPositioning
209

Figure 12-7 Tracking Set Window, Adjusting Tab

Relationship between Virtual and Real Elements

For all of the adjustments you will need to see the relationship between
the virtual and real elements; to do so, perform the following:
• Run 3Designer.
• Create a scene with one tracked camera and a virtual object that is
placed in a position that corresponds to one of the reference points
you measured.
• Activate the internal mixer and use the composited output to see and
fix the shifts between the graphics and the real camera signal.

CCD Centering

¾ To center the CDD:

1 Lock pan and tilt.
2 Zoom in and out several times.
3 While zooming, gently change the X and Y values of CCD offset
until the virtual object does not shift in relation to the real camera
view during the zoom movement.

Adjusting Focal Scale

1 Zoom in to the reference point with the virtual object and center the
object in the middle of the camera view.
2 Lock the pan and move the tilt only.
3 While tilting, change the focal scale value until the virtual object
does not shift during the tilt movement.
210 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

4 Repeat stages 1 –3 for different zoom values. If you find that for
different zoom values you need to use substantially different focal
scale values it means that the lens calibration file is not accurate for
this specific lens.

Adjusting the Pixel Aspect Ratio

1 Zoom in to the reference point with the virtual object and center the
object in the middle of the camera view.
2 Lock the tilt and move only the camera pan.
3 While panning, change the pixel aspect ratio value until the virtual
object does not shift during the pan movement.

Use the Adjusting tab to adjust the camera and lens parameters and to test the
quality of the measurement.

Adjusting the Axis Offset

Because of slight movements of the tripod head (instable ground, movements of
tripod head, bang against tripod etc.), the orientation of the tripod head and camera
could change. In this situation, you should use the Axis Offset area in Adjustments
tab of the Tracking Set GUI to adjust the pan, tilt and roll of the tripod head (see
Figure 9-7 above).

This procedure must be repeated with each cameras used. As every camera is
configured at the TrackingSet.cfg file, each camera is easily selected by choosing
it’s number at the tracker section of TSPositioning.
 MapCube Integration
211

Chapter 13

MapCube
Integration

It is possible to integrate 3Designer with the MapCube Media. Please

consult MapCube documentation for MapCude installation and operation
instructions.
MapCube scene may be saved in 3Designer format, and imported as
assets into 3Designer.

Example Workflow
In this example we will take a simple map from MapCube, save it in
3Designer format, and then import as an asset.
1. Define mapped area in MapCube
212 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

Use the Inquire Box tool to define the area that is to be exported.
Define additional layers and place labels if required.
2. From the File Menu, select Export, then Export Map…

3. Inside the dialog box (see overleaf), you can take the mapping
coordinates from the Inquire Box (1), define the image size (2),
select the 3Designer export format (3) and export the map (4).
It is recommended that for texture size, you use a resolution that is
to a power of two, i.e. 1024 x 2048, 128 x 512, as this will be loaded
more efficiently by the renderer.
MapCube Integration
213

4. Upon selecting ‘Export’, you will be required to define the map

name and image format for the map texture. It is recommended that
you select from tga, jpg, bmp, png and tif formats for full
compatibility with 3Designer.

5. After clicking ‘Save’, the map will be exported

214 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

7. A new 3Designer asset will now be available for use in

g:\MAPCUBE

8. The asset file (which has an extension .cgc) can be used directly in
3Designer, simply by dragging the asset into the hierarchy, the
DesignView, or the Asset Strip.
 MapCube Integration
215

Exporting a Terrain Map

Using the MapCube Media Software, it is also possible to incorporate
elevation as part of the model for exporting.
1. To use an elevation map (DEM layer), you must also enable this
layer from the layer menu, and place it beneath the main map layer
216 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

2. You can then enable the elevation from the Properties menu

3. Your map will now be rendered with the appropriate elevation

information.
MapCube Integration
217

4. Select the area of map that you wish to export using the Inquire tool.

5. Select File > Export > Export Map, then enter the settings that you
wish to use for the map.
218 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

To take the map coordinates from the Inquire tool, select (1), enter
the size of the image to be exported (2), enable the export settings
for “Make World File(s)”, “Export Terrain Model” and “Export to
3Designer” (3), and finally export he model (4).
6. Import the model in the same manner as before, but now when you
rotate the model, you will be able to see the elevation data
incorporated into the map
 MapCube Integration
219

Assigning a Bookmark to the MapCube Assets

Also, you can make a new bookmark for the MapCube directory, so that
all MapCube assets are automatically available from with the 3designer
GUI.
1. Open the Preferences for the Asset Strip; in the Bookmarks window,
right click, and select “New Bookmark”

Assign the bookmark a name (in this case MapCube)

2. Select the path to the assets; click on the browse button by Root
folder and use the explorer window to brose for the MapCube
directory. When you are happy with the selection, click on OK, and
then close the preferences to apply the changes.
220 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

3. A new heading will be added to the asset strip combo box

All exported MapCube scenes will now be available as assets from

this bookmark.

Using Maps in 3Designer

The map is treated in a similar way to other objects in 3designer, but has
some additional geometry options available. As can be seen from the

hierarchy in the image above, there is a different icon , that

represents the MapCube object geometry. Clicking on this icon, or the
Geometry tab will take you to the geometry options for the map.
MapCube Integration
221

The table overleaf describes the different functions of the MapCube

object editor.

Field Description
Complexity Specifies the resolution of the rectangle that
contains the map texture
Elevation File Specifies the elevation data file to be used
Ground Base As the imported maps can contain elevation
data, it is possible to set the position of the
objects’ normal accordingly
Normal - means that 0 level will be set to sea
level
FitToMin – the 0 level will be the lowest point
of the map
FitToMax – the 0 level will be the highest point
of the map
FitToMid – the 0 level will be in the middle
position, between lowest and highest points of
the map

Upper Left Displays the lngitude and latitude of the top left
point of the imported map
Lower Right Diplays the longitude and latitude of the lower
left point of the imported map
Max / Min Altitude Displays the maximum and minimum altitudes
used in the map
222 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE
 Index
223

INDEX

CyGSuite 3Designer.. ......................................9

A accessing.............................................47
Accessing CyberGraphics Maker ...................47 main screen .........................................47
Animated textures ..........................................95 video output .........................................56
Animation ........................................................ 9
along a path .......................................164 D
changing keyframe properties............152 Defining
defining ......................................148, 150 animation ................................... 148, 150
in math functions................................144 Definitions
setting parameters .....................154, 167 math functions ...................................141
timeline ..............................................148 Digital Disk Recorder (DDR) ........................167
window...............................................156 DVG-10..........................................................14
Authoring......................................................... 9
E
C Editing
Changing cone.....................................................85
keyframe properties ...........................152 cube.....................................................83
Color parameters ...........................................92 disk ......................................................85
Copying and referencing object properties...120 line/tube ...............................................85
Crawl See ticker sphere..................................................82
Creating groups............................................122 text object ............................................88
CyGSuite torus/cylinder .......................................84
overview................................................ 7 Exporting
CyGSuite Control............................................. 8 parameters .................................. 10, 136
224 3DESIGNER USER GUIDE

External data Operators

in math functions................................144 math functions ................................... 141

G P
Groups .........................................................122 Parameters
creating..............................................122 animation................................... 154, 167
color .................................................... 92
I geometry ............................................. 82
Internal data light.................................................... 100
in math functions................................144 math functions ........................... 141, 144
Internal reference...........................................10 texture ................................................. 95
creating..............................................138 Pinboard ........................................................ 60
placing objects on................................ 62
L tools..................................................... 67
Light parameters ..........................................100 Primitives
object bar............................................. 66
M using.................................................... 67
Main screen ...................................................47
Managing T
object hierarchy .................................112 Text Generator ............................................ 128
Math functions................................................10 Text Styles
definitions list .....................................141 managing........................................... 130
examples ...........................................144 Texture parameters ....................................... 95
Menu Ticker Objects.............................................. 130
edit.......................................................50 Tickers
file49 editing the ticker ................................ 131
tools .....................................................52 Timeline
view .....................................................51 animation........................................... 148
Multiple Animation Timelines .......................156 Tools
Pinboard window ................................. 67
O primitives ............................................. 67
Object hierarchy
managing...........................................112
 Index
225

U Geometry tab.......................................82
Using the editors Light tab.............................................100
Color tab ..............................................92 Texture tab ..........................................95
editing a cone.......................................85
editing a cube.......................................83 V
editing a disk ........................................85 Video output...................................................56
editing a line/tube.................................85 Visibility status .............................................115
editing a sphere ...................................82
editing a text object ..............................88 W
editing a torus/cylinder .........................84 Workflow ........................................................11
editing the ticker.................................131