4D Animations

You can change the animation by clicking the edit animation button in the 4D Simulation Tool Box. To edit multiple task animations, select multiple tasks and then the edit animation button.

There are four different kinds of animation styles that can be applied to tasks.

The Slide In animation reveals or removes the object along a sliding plane, like a cup being filled with water or drained. This animation is great for cast in place concrete columns.

The Expand From Center animation is similar to a Slide In however the object is first visible in the center rather than an extremity.

The Move In animation reveals the entire object and then translates it to the model location. The direction of the movement can be controlled using the Move Button. Objects can be Moved and or rotated not scaled. This animation is great for precast concrete columns.

The No animation specifies that this object appears or disappears instantly in the model location.

Each animation is associated with a given object and the task it is assigned to. To edit the animation for the same object in a different task, use the drop down menu at the top of the page.

Use the Style drop down menu to select the animation style.

The Preview button plays back the animation with any unsaved changes made in this menu.

The Apply button applies any unsaved changes made in this menu the task that is being edited and closes the window

The Apply to Family button saves your changes to all objects sharing a family with the object in the current task.

The Cancel button Discards your changes and closes the window.

Slide in and Expand from center can be controlled using the Animation Direction wheel and the Radio buttons at the top of the menu. The animation direction specifies the direction the plane moves while the object is being revealed.

For a vertical slide in animation the Flip Vertical checkbox toggles whether the animation travels up or down.

To change the direction of the Move in animation use the move button. The Move button opens the refit tool to specify a start position of the Move In animation.

For tasks with multiple objects assigned there are special settings to control how the objects animate as a group.

Both of these options can be used with any animation style.

The Animate Together check box toggles whether the objects in a task are animated as a group or separately. Below is an example of the difference with a diagonal slide in animation. With animate together off (right) the objects each animate individually. With animate together on (left) all of the objects are part of the same slide in animation.

The Stagger Animation check box toggles whether multiple objects animate one after another or all at once. The image to the right shows the same example from above as a stagger animation.

The order of the objects can be changed in the Stagger Order menu.

The Edit Order button opens the Stagger Order menu.

With the Stagger order menu open select your objects in the order you would like them to animate.

The Stagger Overlap text box and slider control the amount of overlap between subsequent animations.

The Finish button saves your selection and close the window

The Reset button resets your selection.

The Cancel button discards your selection and close the window.

Staging Tasks can be used to specify a staging area for objects to appear before they are moved their intended location in the model. When objects are staged they can be set to be arranged in a pile that resembles that of a staging area in a real construction site. Staging tasks are a great way to specify a place for a construction vehicle to grab an object before placing it in its intended location.

Located on the Simulation Task bar, This button creates Staging Tasks.

You must place a Staging Pin directly after creating a Staging Task. Click in the 3D Scene to place your staging pin. Esc will cancel creating the Staging Task. The Staging Pin specifies a location for assigned objects to appear before reappearing in their intended location in the model.

The Staging Area window opens when your Staging Pin is placed. This menu controls how the assigned objects will be staged. By default objects are stacked by rows of 5. The Staging Area window can be reopened by selecting the Staging Pin in the 3D View.

The Row Length textbox specifies the amount of rows direction that rows of staged objects are stacked in.

The Row Direction drop down menu specifies the direction that rows of staged objects are arrayed. If East is selected additional rows appear to the east of the Staging Pin

The Row Stack Direction drop down menu specifes the direction that rows of staged objects are stacked. If Up is selected additional items in each row are stacked upwards with relation to the orgin of each row.

The Disable Stacking checkbox prevents objects from stacking and retains relative arrangment of each assigned object when it is located in the staging area.

The Move button allows you to replace the Staging Pin.

The Apply buttow applies your changes

The Close button cancels your changes.

Objects In staging areas can be refit seperately from their associated models.

Objects in staging tasks will appear in the staging location at the start date of the staging task. At the end of the staging task they are moved to the original location.

If objects are in both staging and construction tasks with overlapping durations a special setting can be used. In this situation Build at Staging Area in the edit animation tab toggles whether the construction animation plays at the staging location.

The construction task must be edited to use Build at Staging Area.

Adding sequence animatinos to tasks allows you to play animations at designated points in your schedule. Multiple animations can be added to the same task. Multitrack animations can be used to animate the same object with multiple tasks.In order to add a sequence animation to a task you must first create a sequence animation in the Sequence animation app. For more information see Sequence Animation.

When the task selected is a sequence animation the this button opens the Choose Animations To Add window instead of adding the selected object to the task.

The Choose Animations To Add window displays a list of all sequence animations in your project. Choose which sequence animations are added to your project by selecting the checkbox next to each sequence animation in the list.

The Ok button adds the checked sequence animaiton to your task.

The Cancel button cancels adding the sequence animations.

The Select/Deselect All checkbox toggles the selection of all sequence animations in the list.

The Show only Selected Animations checkbox toggles whether sequence animations whose objects are not selected in the 3D view are displayed in the list. This options only appears if you have an object selected in the 3D view.

Vehicles and equipment from the content library can be added to many different types of tasks. However in order for an animation to play during the duration of the task the equipment must be assigned to an equipment task. These objects can be added with no animations or an animation can be selected to play during the task. The add to task button is used to add selected content to the equipment task. When selected the Choose Equipment Animations to Add dialog menu appears.

The Choose Equipment Animations to Add dialog menu includes all possible animations for each object selected.

The Default option is in reference to whatever is currently in the animation editor on the selected equipment.

Other options are in reference to all multitrack animations bound to the equipment.

The Show only During Task checkbox toggles whether the associated equipment is visible outside of the duration of the task.

Highlight Colors are displayed when a task is being animated. It is important to control the highlight color of tasks to draw attention to specific details or disable the highlight so that realistic materials are retained when animating.

This is the paint palette. Use this to change the highlight color for the associated element.

When you select a paint palette in the Construction app the Task Highlight Color Window is opened. The highlight color displays when the task is active. Actual highlight colors are only displayed when actual durations are being displayed.

Edits the highlight color.

Toggles whether the highlight color is displayed. Otherwise the model is rendered normally.

When checked the default highlight color is used. This option is only available when changing highlight colors for individual tasks

The General radio button will use the Alpha slider to set the transparency.

The Start/Finish radio button will allow you to make a gradient transparency defined by the values in the text boxes below it.

In the Highlight Tab of the Settings menu, you can set default highlight colors by type of tasks. If an individual task highlight color has been changed and not reset to default using the column in the task table it is not affected by these settings. Use the paint pallet icon to change the default colors for either Planned or Actual.

Master applies a highlight color to all tasks.

Construction applies a highlight color to all construction tasks

Demolish applies a highlight color to all demolish tasks.

The Master Override check box ensures that all tasks use the master highlight color. Otherwise, the Construction or Demolish highlight settings are used for associated task types.

The PvA Late Diff. check box enables a color to highlight late tasks. Tasks are late if the Secondary End Date occurs after the Primary End Date.

The PvA Early Diff. check box enables a color to highlight early tasks. Tasks are early if the Secondary End Date occurs before the Primary End Date.

The Float in Range check box enables a color highlight to tasks whose durations fall within the range set in the associated text boxes.

If the if actual durations are being displayed, the PvA Difference color is used to highlight tasks whose durations deviate from the planned schedule. Objects associated with late tasks are highlighted in the Actual 3D View once the task has begun its planned duration. Objects associated with early tasks are highlighted in the Planned 3D View once the task has begun its actual duration.