Menu : EXTRACE

Command: Render:Turntable

Shortcut : None

This command computes multiple images from the scene as a batch process. The scene and model are the same in every image, but the eye point moves around the object. In other words, the command creates an animation sequence of the object rotating around its center.

A batch process is a job given to the computer that it completes in the background. You may continue to work on the computer but you may notice a slight reduction in response, especially with Windows NT machines.

After executing the command a parameters window appears requesting, the image name and size. The size is usually different from the size of the window on the screen but the proportions of the new sizes should be the same as the original sizes. For example, if you originally chose a size of 400x600 then new sizes of 600x900 or 800x1200 would be suitable. Turntable animations can take a lot of calculation time and storage space so don’t make the picture too large.

In addition, you will be asked for the delay before starting the computation. This way, you may start computing the picture at night without bothering interactive work on your workstation.

You may start several batch processes during the same session to create versions of the same scene. Avoid running several ExTrace batch processes at the same time. Otherwise all the computer time may be spent managing the processes, and no actual picture computation is done. Assign different starting hours to each batch process, so as not to overload the machine.

In addition, the program asks for the number of Frames / Turn. This indicates how many images are to be calculated for one complete turn around the model. The higher the number the smoother the final animation but the longer the calculation will take and the larger the animation file will be.

Once the images are ready, they will be stored in a separate directory in the File Window. Select the movie directory in the File Window, and use the FILEÞFiles:Convert command to create the movie.

Note: The Turntable command is only available for Windows NT and SGI workstations with IRIX 5.3 or higher.