Vehicle Animation

An advanced construction simulation requires that vehicles and equipment can perform operations at specific times in the schedule. Fuzor allows users to demonstrate this methodology using Vehicle Animations.

Keyframe Animations are made with Construction Equipment using Fuzor’s Keyframe Animation Tool. The Keyframe Animation Tool is located at the bottom of the Element Properties when construction vehicles are selected.

All parts with rigged animations appear in the Element Properties window. You can quickly switch between each animation component by selecting these parameters.

Control separate animations by selecting different components of the vehicle. For example, to control the rotation of a tower crane jib select the jib of the crane.

Depending on the part of the vehicle you are animating different options appear in the Keyframe Animation tool. Components under Rotation (Fuzor) in the Element Properties have Radial Sliders. Components under Translation (Fuzor) in the Element Properties have Linear Sliders.

The Linear Slider controls an animation that can move along a straight path or extend along a vector.

The Radial Slider controls animations that can rotate or move around an axis.

Both the textboxes and Sliders can be used to control the animation and are synchronized. The value in the textbox cannot exceed the Max Val or fall below the Min Val.

Keyframes are displayed in an array. Keyframes can be edited separately to compose the animation. Click on a Keyframe to edit it. The Refit widget will appear allowing you to move the vehicle during the selected frame.

The slider below the array controls the progress through animation timeline. The keyframe closest to the time is selected. Additionally, when a keyframe is selected the slider will change accordingly. The duration of each transition between keyframes is displayed below the associated keyframe. To edit the duration of a particular transition double click the displayed text.

The Grab Object button prompts you to select an object to be grabbed at the current frame.

The Release Object button prompts you to select an object to be released at the current frame.

the Insert button adds a copy of the selected keyframe directly after the selected frame.

the Reset button resets the sequence back to the first frame.

The Add button adds a copy of the last keyframe to the end of the sequence.

The Move Animation button transforms the vehicle in all Keyframes.

The Move Object button prompts the user to select a grabbed object to be moved in that animation.

The Join Path button prompts the user to select a Vehicle Animation Path to join the animation too.

The Loop checkbox toggles whether the animation is looping. The associated radio buttons control the speed of the looping animation.

Removes the current frame.

Plays the animation.

Opens the animation manager.

Resets the animation times to default when then are assigned to tasks.

Understanding the special tools that are available when creating vehicle animations will help users create animations more acurautely and at a faster pace.

The Toggle Animation Helper checkbox changes whether the ghost image of vehicles appears to show other frames in the animation.

The ghost image shows all previous frames in the animation as semitransparent gestures. This allows you to see how you would affect the animation when moving the entire animation. Additionally, the ghosts can be used to select a particular frame.

The Enable Views checkbox toggles whether the orthographic views are enabled when the vehicle is selected.

The Propagate Changes checkbox toggles whether vehicle animation changes are propagated forward in subsequent frames. This is useful for editing previously created animations.

When animating vehicles driving on uneven surfaces you may have great results with the built in physics system. By default, Fuzor vehicles will adjust its pitch to account for slopes. However, this same system can produce unwanted results, it is best to know how to control the physics system.

The Physics system can be disabled on a frame by frame basis.

Toggles the vehicle physics in the associated frame or during the entire animation.

When the physics of a vehicle is disabled you can use the refit tool to refit the vehicle along all axis or even suspend the vehicle in the air. This is more tedios for simple animations but may yield more realistic results when dealing with very uneven surfaces. Additionally this system is a great way to ensure that a vehicle is always in the same floor of a multilevel building when an animation begins regardless of what levels have been constructed.

Other models can be grabbed and released by Fuzor vehicles from the content library. If an object is grabbed during a keyframe, its position is dependent on the vehicle until a keyframe that is released in.

When the Grab Object button is clicked you must select an object in the 3D View to be grabbed. You can press ESC to cancel this action.

Once grabbed, an object can be moved by selecting the object in the 3D View. multiple grabbed objects can be moved with multi-select.

Once grabbed, an object can be dropped with the Release Object button. When there are multiple grabbed objects, you must select the object you wish to release in the 3D View.

When releasing objects, you are also prompted to select a drop type. To grab or release multiple objects hold the shift key when selecting them.

The Original drop type drops the object back at its original location.

The Current drop type leaves the object where it was placed.

The Custom drop type prompts you to pick a custom drop location.

The Cancel button cancels the operation.

The Auto Grab and Release Enabled checkbox toggles whether animations are automatically generated for grabbed objects. This is only available for specific cranes.

The Choose Animation Options menu appears directly after objects are selected for automatic grab or release. This menu controls how the auto grab animation will be generated.

The Combine Animation checkbox toggles whether additional nodes are created if the animation uses multiple parts of the vehicle. For example, if unchecked a Tower Crane animation will have separate animations for a hook moving horizontally or vertically.

The Duration specifies the amount of time the animation should take. This applies to the time stamps associated with keyframes in the Keyframe Animation Tool.

The Point Grab radio button toggles whether point grab is activated. When activated the grab point is calculated based on the point on the object that was selected rather than the bounding box of the object.