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ANIMATION
SPECIAL
EDITION

• ANIMATOR BASICS
• ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
ANIMATION 101:
SOLIDWORKS
ANIMATOR BASICS
Brian Hill
total animation length.
SolidWorks Animator can create animations for anything from dazzling client pre-
Likewise, the actual time that the anima-
sentations to adding a multimedia experience to your web page. This is the first arti-
tion played on the screen may not be the
cle of a two-part series covering the basics of making your SolidWorks models move. same as the duration that you entered in
the wizard. The duration will be correct
pen a model that you want to animate, and let’s get started. Go to the

O Animation Wizard, which you can access from the Animator menu or the
Animation toolbar. It allows you to create turntable rotations as well as
exploding and collapsing animations of your SolidWorks models (see Figure 1).
when the animation is recorded to a file
(usually an AVI file). The actual speed at
which the animation is played in the graph-
ics window depends on the complexity of
the model as well as the power of the graph-
Rotate model ics card being used on your machine.
After choosing Rotate model from the Animation Wizard and clicking Next, you can
choose whether to rotate about the X, Y or Z axis. These axes refer to the coordinates of your Explode/Collapse
screen rather than the coordinates of the model. The X-axis being a horizontal line across the If the SolidWorks model that you are ani-
center of your screen, the Y-axis a vertical line across the center of your screen and the Z-axis mating is an assembly and you have already
a line coming directly out of your screen (see Figure 2). The preview window will show you added an exploded view to a configuration
how your model will rotate. In SolidWorks 2000, you may also choose Clockwise or of that assembly, the Animation Wizard can
Counterclockwise for the direction of the rotation. be used to animate the exploding or collaps-
The next page of the Animation Wizard allows you to set the duration of the animation as ing of the assembly. From the first page of
well as the start time. You can manipulate the start time of the animation to sequence multiple the wizard, select Explode or Collapse
events accurately. We’ll discuss more about sequencing a little later. For creating your every- and click Next. The second page is the
day simple rotation, set the duration to how long you want the animation to last and leave the same as when animating a rotation. You
Start Time at 0 seconds. If you check Play animation and click the Finish button, you will can set the duration of the animation in
see your rotation animation play in the SolidWorks window. You now have access to the Play seconds as well as the start time. Check
buttons from the animation toolbar, so hit Play and watch your part spin around again. Play animation, and click Finish to
You may find that the animation displayed on the screen is very choppy. SolidWorks watch your assembly explode or collapse in
Animator is probably displaying the animation to the screen at 1 frame per second (FPS). Until the SolidWorks graphics window.
you record your animation to a file, the Animator will default the display in the SolidWorks Do you want to animate an assembly
graphics window to 1 FPS. If you look in the lower right corner of the SolidWorks window, you exploding and then collapsing in the same
will see the FPS that SolidWorks is going to use for the display of the current animation (see animation? That’s not a problem in
Figure 3). This display includes the current frame of the animation (in seconds) as well as the SolidWorks 2000. This is where using the

Figure 1: Animation Wizard. Figure 2: Animation Wizard rotation axes.

S O L I D Solutions 2
Start time setting in the wizard comes into play. The easiest way to do various intervals along the path. The Create Path dialog should
this is to create the explode animation using the wizard as mentioned open, giving you the ability to Add Path Point and set the Start
above. When done, re-enter the Animation Wizard and set it to perform Time and Duration for the path (see Figure 5).
a collapse. Think back to the values you entered for the duration of the Click Add Path Point to add the starting point for the compo-
explode animation. Rather than entering 0 for the Start time of the col- nent’s path. Using the Move Component tool from the SolidWorks
lapse, enter the time when your explode was finished. For example, Assembly toolbar, move the component to where you would like the
let’s say you would like your assembly to explode in ten seconds and end of the path to be and click Add Path Point a second time.
then collapse in five seconds. The settings for the explode would be a Enter a Start time and Duration for this path, and click Done.
Start time of 0 sec. and a Duration of 10 sec. The settings for the col- At this point if you click Play from the Animation toolbar, you
lapse would be a Start time of 10 sec. and a Duration of 5 sec. (see should see the component move between the two path points you
Figure 4). have specified. To see your component move along a more com-
If you want to add a pause between the explode and the collapse, all plex path than a straight line, add additional path points between
you have to do is modify the Start time of the collapse accordingly. If your start and end points.
you want your assembly to explode, spin around and then collapse, you
run through the wizard three times—each time adjusting the type of Creating viewpoint paths
animation and Start time accordingly The viewpoint icon in the Animation Manager can be used to
SolidWorks Animator can only work with components at the top level record view orientation changes (pan, zoom, rotate) that you
in the assembly. If you have explode paths defined for subassembly com- would like to incorporate into your animation. These can be used
ponents, these will not appear in the explode animation. The easiest way to simulate a fly-by or a turntable animation. The easiest way to
to work around this is to create another copy of your assembly where you see how this works is to right click on viewpoint, and select
have dissolved all of the subassemblies that you want to animate. Create Path. Click the Add Path Point button to add a starting
point for the viewpoint path. Using the view orientation tools from
Manually adding component paths the VIEW toolbar, zoom in to a portion of your model and add
The Animation Wizard can create simple animations of your another path point. Using the view rotate tool (also in the VIEW
SolidWorks models, but what if you want to make something more toolbar), rotate the view of your SolidWorks model and add anoth-
complex? The Animator enables you to add animation paths manually er path point. Zoom back out, and add a final path point.
to the components in your assembly. An animation path is what the When you play this animation, you will see that the animator
component will follow as the animation is taking place. zooms into a region of your model, rotates the model slightly and
Open an assembly, and find the tab toward the bottom of the then zooms back out. By adjusting the Start Time of this path, you
FeatureManager with a small green camcorder. It is called the can combine this animation path with others in your assembly, so
AnimationManager. If you click this tab, you will see a familiar tree for- you can have two things happening at once. For example, you can
mat with three sections: slowly rotate an assembly while components of the assembly are
❑ viewpoint moving.
❑ list of all the components in the assembly To help you organize the sequencing of all these paths, each
path has a unique path name and lists the time that this portion
❑ schedule
of the animation will take place, in the form of (Start time, End
To start, right click on one of the components listed in the Time) in seconds. At the bottom of the tree in the Animation-
AnimationManager, and select Create Path. Manually creating paths Manager is the schedule. The schedule is a sequential list of all of
with the Animator works on the premise that you manually move the the individual animation paths that have been added to the
component in the SolidWorks graphics window and add path points at assembly components. It can be used to visualize which parts of
the animation come first and which come later.

Editing existing paths

If you need to go back and edit an animation path that you have
already created, right click on the path in the Animation
Manager, and select Edit Path. This dialog allows you to change
the path name, step through each of the path points you have
defined, edit those points or add additional path points and modi-

Figure 3: Animation duration. Figure 4: Sequencing multiple events.

S O L I D Solutions 3 S O L I D Solutions March/April 2000

fy the Start time and Duration of the anima- you only have the ability to add paths to video compressor to create (compress)
tion path. components that are in the top level. and play back (decompress) the data.
If you would like to edit an existing point In SolidWorks 2000 you can add multiple These video compressors are
in a path, click the Next or Previous but- paths per component. Let’s say, for exam- sometimes referred to as CODECs,
tons in the dialog, until the component is at ple, you would like a component to move to which stands for
the point along the path that you would like a set location, pause for a few seconds and COmpressor/DECompressor. There are
to edit. Set the Action pull-down menu in then move to another location. After adding countless numbers of AVI CODECs
the Edit Path dialog to Update Current, the path for the first portion of the move- available for download on the web, and
and reposition the component on the screen ment, right click on the component in the each uses a different series of
as necessary. When you are satisfied with AnimationManager and select Create Path algorithms for the compression of the
the new location for the component, click again. Use this path to define the second animation frames. Because the CODEC
Apply. Similarly, you can delete the current part of the motion of the component, and set is used to create and to play back the
path point or add additional path points the Start time, such that this path won’t animation, it is essential that the
among existing ones. start animating until a few seconds after the machine you use to view the AVI file
Some things to think about when manu- first one is complete. has the same CODEC as was used to
ally creating and editing path points for create the AVI. For this reason, it is
components: Recording usually best to stick with one of the
❑ The Animator will observe the current your animation default compressors installed with your
mating scheme when animating When you are comfortable with the way operating system. Most CODECs allow
components in an assembly. If you have your animation is playing in the SolidWorks you to specify a Compression Quality
a component that is fully constrained, graphics window, it is time to create the fin- setting as well; higher values translate
there is no way that you can move it ished product, the AVI file. To record your to higher quality images, but with
with the Move Component tool, so animation to an AVI file, click the Record increased file size.
there is no way to add path points. You animation button from the Animation tool-
may have to suppress some of the bar. This will open the Save animation to file
mates in your assembly to get the dialog box, allowing you to specify the follow- AVI tips
movement that you want. Note that the ing options you would like for your AVI file: Some things to keep in mind when speci-
only instance where this does not apply ❑ Renderer. You can choose the fying your AVI options are:
is when performing an explode/collapse SolidWorks screen or, if you have ❑ Unless you are using the PhotoWorks
with the wizard. purchased PhotoWorks, the PhotoWorks buffer and have explicitly defined an
❑ The animator takes advantage of buffer for your animation. When using Image Size, the resulting AVI file will
dynamic assembly motion. If you have the SolidWorks screen as the renderer, be the same size as your SolidWorks
other components mated to the the Animator will simply use the colors graphics window. The larger the AVI is
component you are moving, these that appear in the SolidWorks graphics on the screen, the larger the file size
components will move accordingly window. If you use the PhotoWorks will be. Therefore, it is usually best to
when you animate the motion of this buffer as the renderer, the animation reduce the size of the graphics window
component. will take much longer to generate (as it before creating the AVI.
has to use PhotoWorks to render each ❑ Don’t go crazy with too many frames per
frame), but it will take advantage of all second. Most feature length films shown
the benefits of PhotoWorks (shadows, in the theater are shot at roughly 24 to
texture maps, reflections, etc.). 30 fps; anything higher and the human
❑ Frame information. You can set the eye can’t really distinguish the
fps for your animation. Basically, the difference. Keep in mind that the more
more frames per second you have in frames you have in your animation, the
your animation, the smoother it will longer it will take to generate (especially
appear when it is played on the screen. if you are using PhotoWorks as your
❑ Image size and aspect ratio. These renderer) and the larger the size of the
options become active only if you are resulting AVI file will be. In most
using the PhotoWorks buffer as your situations you can get decent results
renderer. Using these options, you can with settings in the range of 15 to 20 fps.
explicitly define the physical size (in
See part II of this publication for a more
pixels) of the AVI file that is output.
Figure 5: Sequencing advanced look at SolidWorks Animator,
multiple events. ❑ Video compression. After clicking including how to stretch and deform parts,
Save, the final dialog you will how to animate a cut-away view and how to
As mentioned above in the Explode/ encounter is Video Compression. This work faster.
Collapse section, SolidWorks Animator can allows you to specify the video Brian Hill is a Certified Technical Support
only work with components that are at the compressor to be used to create your Engineer at SolidWorks Corp., in Concord,
top level in the assembly. Look in the AVI file. The AVI file format is a Mass. He can be reached at
AnimationManager, and you will see that compressed video format that requires a [email protected].

S O L I D Solutions 4
 SO LU T I O N S I I
ADVANCED
Advanced Animator Techniques
Fading is easy with a mouse on the right path
Brian Hill

This is the second part in a two-part series on working with the SolidWorks Animator. “Animation 101: SolidWorks
Animator Basics” discussed some of the basic principles of the SolidWorks Animator and offered several examples of how
to make simple animations using the Animation Wizard and manual path creation.

ave you ever wanted to animate a cut-away view of your Color, select Change Color, and assign an assembly component

H assembly or fade out an assembly component to see inside a

complex model? Have you even wanted to animate a color
change of an assembly component or stretch and deform your
color to the part (see Figure 1). This color will take precedence over
the color that you have assigned to the entire part at the part level.
The next step is to create an animation path that controls the
SolidWorks models? Did you know that you could do all of these transparency of the component. To do this, click on the Anim-
things and more using the SolidWorks Animator? Curious? Read on! ationManager tab near the bottom of the FeatureManager,
right-click on the component on which you would like to control
Animating transparency and color the transparency and select Create Path.
This first, and perhaps most useful, technique that we will dis- With the Create Path dialog open, add a path point using Add
cuss is animating the transparency of an assembly component. Path Point. Keeping the Create Path dialog open, switch back to
Have you ever worked with a complex assembly and wished that the FeatureManager and access the component color properties
you could get that darn com- for the component again
ponent out of the way so you (right-click Component
could see the complex Properties, Color). Click on
motion of parts inside your Advanced button and slide
model? Using the Solid- the Transparency slider all
Works Animator you can do the way to the right. OK all of
just that. the component property
Through the SolidWorks dialogs and click Add Path
Animator you have the abili- Point a second time in the
ty to control the color of Create Path dialog. Select
assembly components the start time and duration
(including their transparen- for the fade-away and click
cy) as defined by their Done. Click Play on the ani-
assembly-level Component mation toolbar and there you
Properties. Note that this have it (see Figure 2).
control only exists at the Remember that this only
assembly level. The Ani- Figure 1: Changing assembly component instance color. works for assembly compo-
mator does not have the abil- nents that have their color
ity to control colors at the specified as an assembly
part level. Using this exam- component color. This tech-
ple, we will cover how to animate the outer shell of this cordless nique will not work if the assembly component color isn’t assigned
saber saw so that it’s fading away in color properties. to the component that you are animating.
For the animator to have control over the color properties (color, Note that you also can use the same technique to have an assem-
transparency, etc.) of the shell of the saw, you need to assign an bly component fade from one color to another. Instead of adjusting
assembly component color to the part. To do this, right-click on the the transparency for the second path point, simply change the
component in the assembly, select Component Properties, select color. This technique is great for showing something heating up or

S O L I D Solutions 5
 SO LU T I O N S I I ADVANCED

Figure 2: Animation transparency.

to draw attention to a particular component the depth of a cut or the value of a dimen- and click Add Path Point a second time.
in the assembly. sion. In order to animate a cut-away view of (See Figure 3)
As mentioned in “Animation 101: Solid- this assembly we will have to insert a The finishing touch in the animation is to
Works Animator Basics”, if you have pur- dummy part into this assembly. This hide the planar surface in the dummy part.
chased the photo-realistic rendering add-in dummy part is a part that does not contain To do this, simply right-click on the surface
PhotoWorks you can create fully rendered any solid geometry; it contains only a planar in the FeatureManager tree and select
animations that incorporate the photo-real- surface. Once the dummy part has been Hide. Now when you play the animation of
istic effects possible with this package. inserted, position it in front of the assembly this dummy part moving through the
Some of these features include: shadows, using the Move Component tool. assembly (with the surface hidden) it will
reflections, refraction, and different material Next, while still editing the main assem- appear that you have created an animated
textures. If you would like to incorporate bly, select the planar surface from the assembly cut.
the fading component technique into an dummy part and create a sketch on it that Note that SolidWorks allows you to define
animation that uses PhotoWorks to render you would like to use for your assembly cut. the Feature Scope of assembly cuts. This
the animation, make sure you have Apply Using this sketch, insert a blind assembly feature allows you to choose which compo-
SolidWorks properties for render cut (Insert, Assembly Feature, Cut, nents get cut by the assembly cut and
checked under Photo-Works, Options, Extrude). Set the depth of the cut such which components are ignored. In this
Materials. This will force PhotoWorks to that it comes close to the model, but example, the desired effect was to see the
use the SolidWorks colors (and transparency doesn’t actually cut the assembly. It is components that were inside of the engine
settings) in the rendering. For this to come important that this cut come close to the block. To prevent these components from
out as well as you want, you need to make model, but not actually cut the components. being cut, they were removed from the
sure your Solid-Works part colors resemble At this point we now have a dummy part Feature Scope list of the assembly cut.
the colors of the material that you would in the assembly that has a negative volume The reason why this technique worked is
have assigned in PhotoWorks. in front of it. Using the SolidWorks because the SolidWorks Animator performs
Animator, we can move this component a limited rebuild on the assembly during the
Animating a cut-away view through the assembly and have it cut generation of the animation.
Rather than fading a component away by through whatever geometry we want. To do
animating its transparency, another method this, simply right-click on the dummy part Stretch that part!
of opening it up is to animate an assembly component in the AnimationManager tab Using the same limited rebuild that was
cut through your model. and select Create Path. To create the path mentioned in the previous section you can
Before we can work on creating the ani- points for the component click Add Path dynamically change the shape of assembly
mated cut-away view of this model, we Point, which will add the starting point. components that are defined in-context.
need to understand some of the limitations Then, using the SolidWorks Move The assembly that will be used in this
of the SolidWorks Animator, which is Component tool, move the dummy part example is a small foam dart gun. Note the
designed to animate the motion of compo- closer to the model so the assembly cut black rubber band toward the top of this
nents in an assembly. The animator, howev- (that was set to a blind distance in front of assembly (see Figure 4). This rubber band is
er, is not designed to dynamically change the surface) is cutting through the assembly defined in the context of the assembly (top-

S O L I D Solutions 6
 Figure 3:
Adding path
points to
dummy part.

down) so that it will always grow to cover (stretching) as the pull-ring is pulled back. This move the camera rather than the truck?
the distance between the yellow pull-ring technique can be used in many situations Looking through the camera, the image will
and the blue body of the dart gun. where a component needs to change size dur- be the same: as you run toward the truck it
We can see this in the SolidWorks window ing an animation. Note that this technique is will appear that the truck is getting closer
by dragging the yellow pull-ring away from limited to parts that are defined in the context and closer. No one really has to know that
the body of the dart gun using the Move of the assembly. Equations will not update the truck never moved.
Component tool. Note that after moving the between frames of an animation; only in-con- This same effect can be applied to your
pull-ring, there will be a rebuild icon in the text relations will update. SolidWorks models if for some reason you
FeatureManager tree. If you hit rebuild at cannot or do not want to move them with
this point you will see that the rubber band Simulating movement the Move Component tool. If you look at the
elongates to solve the in-context relation Task: You need to animate a toy truck top of the AnimationManager tab of any
that its sketch has with the rest of the assembly driving around the screen. SolidWorks part or assembly file you will see
model. Problem: The mating scheme in the that there is a viewpoint icon. This icon
Using this in-context part to our advan- assembly prevents the truck from being allows you to add animation paths to the file
tage, we can use the SolidWorks Animator moved with the Move Component tool. that control the view orientation (pan,
to create a component path for the pull-ring, Solution: Simulate the movement! zoom, rotate) of the model. To animate the
one that pulls it away from the model. To do Let’s step away from your computer for a view of the toy truck, and to give the illu-
this, right-click on the pull-ring component moment and imagine that you are in charge sion that it is driving straight at you, simply
in the AnimationManager tab and select of filming a TV commercial for a new truck. right-click on the viewpoint and select
Create Path. To create the path points for The producer has requested that the next Create Path. Using the Zoom In/Out tool
the component, click Add Path Point, shot needs to have the truck speeding from the View toolbar, zoom out and away
which will add the starting point. Then, straight at the camera and passing it on the from the truck model so it appears to be far
using the SolidWorks Move Component tool, left. The easiest way to film this shot would in the distance, and add a path point (by
move the pull-ring to its final position and be to firmly attach the camera to the ground clicking Add Path Point) for the begin-
click Add Path Point a second time. and have someone drive the truck straight ning of the animation. Next, using the
When the animation is played, the in-context at you as you stood behind the camera and View Orientation tools, zoom into the
part (the rubber band) updates between each filmed the shot. Fearing for your life, you model so it appears larger in your screen,
frame so it appears to be getting longer come up with a better alternative: why not and add a final path point. Click Done and

S O L I D Solutions 7
 SO LU T I O N S I I ADVANCED
play your animation. Note that it appears
that the truck is driving straight toward
you. By adding additional path points to
this animation path that combine both
zoom and view rotation you can make the
truck appear to drive straight toward you,
turn around, back up, or anything else you
can imagine (see Figure 5).

Working faster
Creating a long complex animation can be
a time-consuming task. Here are a few tips
that should help you get to that final prod-
uct faster:
• Take small steps. If your animation
involves several different events that all
happen at different times, it is usually
easiest if you work in small steps. For
example, if your animation is going to
be 20 seconds long, try working in five-
second intervals. Finish each five-
second interval, making sure that all of
Figure 4: In-context part updating. your animation paths are synchronized
correctly, before moving on to the next
five-second interval.
• Save PhotoWorks for the end. If you
are going to be using PhotoWorks to
render the frames of your animation,
don’t use it every time you want to test
your animation to see how it is
progressing. When you use PhotoWorks
in the animation it has to render each
frame individually and while this
certainly produces a beautiful result, it
is usually a time-consuming process.
• When testing your animation, try
creating several rough-test AVIs to
make sure that everything is
synchronized correctly. These AVIs
should be made at a low Frame Per
Second (FPS), so they can be quickly
generated and evaluated. The more
frames per second in your animation
the smoother the final result, but the
longer it takes to generate the AVI.
Brian Hill is a Certified Technical Support
Engineer at SolidWorks Corp. in Concord,
Mass. He can be reached at
Figure 5: Simulating movement with view orientation. [email protected].

S O L I D Solutions 8 MKSAR1100