Create an animation from series of stills

Issue

You want to create an animation from a series of stills.

Solution

First, prepare the content as described in related document TS63584. After you have prepared the content, perform the following procedures to create the animation.

Create the IFL file

1. In Autodesk VIZ 4, on the View Menu > click Viewport Background, or in 3D Studio VIZ 3 or 3i, on the View menu, click Viewport Image > Select.
2. In the Viewport Image dialog box, under Background Source, click Files.
3. In the Select Background Image dialog box, browse to the location where the animation files were stored (see related solution).
4. Select the first image of the sequence you want.
5. Select the Sequence option, and then click Open to accept the selection.
6. In the Image File List Control dialog box, change the Options settings and select the Include Image Path option.
7. Click OK to accept changes and close the Image File List Control dialog box.
8. In the Viewport Image dialog box, click OK to end the command.
   
   Note: The IFL file created is a text file that contains a list of all images to be used in the animation. You must repeat the procedure for every range of images you want to include in the animation.

Merge existing IFL files

1. Using a text editor, such as Microsoft® Notepad, create a new text file and save it using the name you want with the .ifl file extension (for example, animation.ifl).
2. In the text editor, open the IFL files created in the first procedure and copy and paste this content into the new text file created in step 1 of this procedure.
   
   Be sure to paste the files in the sequence in which you want to create the animation.
   
3. Save and close the text file after pasting all of the content.

Use the RAM Player  

1. On the Rendering menu, click RAM Player.
2. In the RAM Player, click Open Channel for channel A.
3. In the Open File, Channel A dialog box, browse to the IFL file you created in the "Merge existing IFL files" procedure.
4. Select the IFL file and click Open.
5. In the RAM Player Configuration dialog box, select the resolution settings you want and click OK to accept the changes and create the animation.
6. In the RAM Player, use the playback controls to preview the animation.

Save the animation file

1. In the RAM Player, click Save Channel for channel A.
2. In the Save File, Channel A dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the animation file.
3. From the Save As Type list, select the file type.
4. Name the animation file and click Save to accept the changes.
5. In the Video Compression dialog box, configure the options you want and click OK to accept the changes and create the animation file.