Introduction
This tutorial provides an introduction to the layout of the ANIMOIDS program. It discusses some options you have at your control to customize your view.

The Taskbar
The ANIMOIDS main menu, toolbar and tab panels appear at the top of the application as shown here:

The Main Menu is the dropdown lists from File to Help.

The Main Toolbar is the row of icons just below the Main Menu.

The Main Tab Panels are controlled by the row of tabs from Start to Characters and Props .

These Main Tabs take you to different tools for use during the animated movie making process.

• Characters and Props is probably where you want to begin. It allows you to build new Animoids (animated characters).
  

• Behaviors allows you to record a set of motions (e.g. walking) and save them for easy reuse when actually making movies.

• Set Designer allows you to layout the Animoids you created in the Characters and Props section. You can set backgrounds for your set as well as assigning Behaviors to your Animoids.

• Movie Scene allows you to put everything together to record or playback a short scene of your movie.

Skill Level
To make it easier to get started, ANIMOIDS allows you to select your skill level (from the ANIMOIDS Main menu):

When you select a low skill level, ANIMOIDS hides some of the least used commands. This makes it easier for you to become familiar with the most important options.

It is recommended that users new to 3D animation in general start at level Novice. At the Novice level, ANIMOIDS also repositions a couple of useful commands to make them easier to find.

You can switch back and forth between skill levels quickly and easily from the Main Menu.

Characters and Props Layout
When you click on the Characters and Props tab you'll see something like this:

This image above shows some features that are not enabled by default. They will be described below.

We have already discussed the toolbar. The next important component is the

Action Panel

This panel is where you'll probably want to start. Some actions appear as Action Buttons, others appear as named actions in a tree. In either case, a singe click will start the action. These actions either directly control the selected Animoid or open a Control Panel (see below) to control the Animoid. Related actions are grouped in folders. Just double click a folder to open or close it. If you want help on individual actions you can select Action Help from the Help menu.

The Action Buttons are color coded to help you understand their behavior.

• A green triangle at the top left of the icon (e.g.     ) indicates that this button controls the current mouse (drag) behavior.

• An orange triangle at the bottom left of the icon (e.g. ) indicates that this button sets up a Pick action that will apply every time you click on an object.

• A blue triangle at the top right of the icon (e.g.     ) indicates that this button acts on the currently selected object.

Users with small screens can free up some space from their Action Panel by deselecting the Button Group Title option from the Main View Menu.

The next important area is the

Control Panel

Most (but not all) actions in the Action Panel open a Control in the Control Panel. Depending upon the size of your screen you can get many Controls in the Control Panel.

All the Controls are floatable. That is, you can grab the bar at the left side and drag the control to reposition it or open it in it's own window. (If you move it into it's own window it can be resized!)

As you open new controls you might lose old ones because of limited screen space. You can reorder the lost control by reactivating the action that originally opened that control.

You can also get rid of the oldest control by right clicking on the Control Panel itself.

The next area might be the most interesting. It's the

3D Canvas Panel

This is where the animated characters appear.

The above example shows three views of your model: front, top and side. This option is disabled by default. You can enable it from the View main menu by selecting the Top and Side Views option.

There are seven areas in this panel:

• The Action Buttons at the top left make up part of the canvas toolbar. They allow some quick and easy mouse actions.

  • The Rotate button starts, stops and resets the entire 3D view.

  • One Auto button   allows the mouse to move either the Camera or your Animoid.
    • When you click on the background and drag you move the Camera:
      • Left click and drag to rotate.
      • Right click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
      • Center click and drag to move back and forward.
    • When you click on a Segment and drag you move or rotate that Segment:
      • Left click and drag to rotate around the local X or Y axis.
      • Right click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
      • Center click and drag to move back and forward.

  • A second Auto button   also allows the mouse to move either the Camera or your Animoid.
    • When you click on the background and drag you move the Camera the same as the first Auto button.
    • When you click on an Animoid and drag you move or rotate that Animoid:
      • Left click and drag to rotate.
      • Right click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
      • Center click and drag to move back and forward.

  • The Camera button allows the mouse to move the Camera around the entire set.
    • Left click and drag to rotate.
    • Right click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
    • Center click and drag to move back and forward.

  • The Animoid button allows the mouse to move or resize the selected Animoid.
    • Left click and drag to rotate.
    • Right click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
    • Center click and drag to move back and forward.
    • Hold down the Control key then Center click and drag to resize the Animoid.

  • The Branch button allows the mouse to move the selected Branch.
    • Left click and drag to move side to side, up and down.
    • Right click and drag to move back and forward.

  • The Segment button allows the mouse to move the selected Segment.
    • Left click and drag to rotate around the local X or Y axis.
    • Right click and drag to rotate around the local Z axis.

  • The Point button allows the mouse to move the selected Node Point(s). (This button does not show up for beginners.)
    • Left click and drag to move axially or radially.
    • Right click and drag to move normal to the local axis.

    For the last five buttons, the one with a green border is the one currently selected.

• The Selected Animoid field is a pulldown list that you can use to pick an Animoid for editing. This field shows up only if there is more than one Animoid in the picture.
  This field also shows the name of the Animoid that you select when you click on the Animoid in the 3D Canvas.

• The Selected Segment field is a pulldown list that you can use to pick a piece of the Animoid for editing.
  This field also shows the name of the piece of the Animoid that you select when you click on the Animoid in the 3D Canvas.

• The Action on next Pick field changes as a result of actions you perform in the Action Panel (see above). Some of these actions (orange triangle actions) setup things to do the next time you click on a piece of the Animoid in the 3D Canvas.

• The buttons to the right the Action on next pick field support some additional actions.
  • The Clear button or removes any pick action and any picked points.

  • The Origin button repositions the currently selected Segment to the center of the picture.

• The 3D Canvas itself shows the animated object. Clicking on the object will select (or pick) segments (arms or legs, etc) or points on a segment. What happens when you do that depends on the actions you have selected from the Action Panel.

• The Status field shows the result of the last action. The color of the text in this field is important:
  • If it's black it's probably just confirming that things are OK.
  • If it's blue it's probably telling you that you are trying to do something out of sequence.
  • If it's red it's probably telling you about a serious problem. (E.g. trying to write to a file that's write protected.)

The last area is the

Option Panel

This panel lists the various Animoid Objects you can work with. The types of objects available and how they are used vary depending upon your current task.

As of ANIMOIDS 1.6.04, the Option Panel is disabled by default. Its functionality has been superceded by new actions in the Action Panel. (However, you can still use it by selecting it from the View Menu.)

In the Characters and Props area, the objects are a list of Animoids. Double clicking an Animoid from this tree will replace the current Animoid with the selected one. Dragging the image (or file name) from the tree into the main canvas area (the white area in the center of the application) has the same effect as double clicking on the image - it perform the action attached to the image. The objects in this panel normally display a small thumbnail image of the object as seen the last time that it was saved. Note: if you ever attempt to leave an object that you have edited, the system will prompt you to ask if you want to save changes.

Keeping the Options Panel out of sight makes the initial display of your canvas faster. It also frees up space for use by your canvas.

Three-Button Mouse
ANIMOIDS works best with a three-button mouse. Most operations on the 3D canvas are performed by mouse clicks and drags and ANIMOIDS uses all three buttons for common functions (as described above).

If you have a two-button mouse then hold down the Alt key while you left click the mouse to simulate the Center Mouse Button.

(Some systems also allow you to press both buttons simultaneously on a two-button mouse to simulate the Center Mouse Button.)

If you are a Mac user with a one-button mouse then hold down the Opt key while you click the mouse to simulate the Center Mouse Button. Hold down the Command key while you click the mouse to simulate the Right Mouse Button.

More
Go to the start of the Tutorial.

Try the Basic Motion tutorial.