2 Animation Tools

As with static graphics file formats, animated graphics file formats can have many different software applications that read in the same data. Usually all these programs read the file in very similar ways, although sometimes the program may be modified to better suit the data frequently used. This section examines several different animation tools on different operating systems, and discusses the good and bad points of each.

Ratings are given for each tool based on the amount of documentation provided (whether online or offline), the quality of the output, the user interface, how easy the application was to use, and the range of features it supported. An overall rating for each tool is also given. This is not an average of all the other ratings, but how the product appeared overall. These ratings are all very subjective, but are provided in an attempt to classify the usefulness of these tools.

Also included is the cost of the product. The prices all include the cost of shipping (where applicable) to New Zealand.

2.1 Macintosh

The software contained in this section is for a range of Macintosh computers. Some of the software in this section will only work on a Power Macintosh, and others may only work on certain Macintosh machines.

2.1.1 AVI to QT Utility 1.0

As its name suggests, this utility converts AVI files to QuickTime movies. When converting the files, the user can specify what movie format to use; normal movie (with dependencies) and self-contained movie.

A normal file (with dependencies) creates a separate file with the movie information. The movie data remains part of the original AVI file, which is unaffected by the conversion. The movie format provides a useful way to sample available AVI movies because they keep the AVI data file in a different location, such as a CD-ROM disc, without copying the AVI file to the hard drive. However, the converted movie remains dependent on the original AVI file. Also, the movie is not optimised and is not playable on MS-DOS computers.

If a self-contained movie is to be generated, the utility creates a single movie file with all the movie and data information. This means that self-contained movies are efficient, they can be converted quickly, and they require minimal disk space. Also, these movie files can be played using either Video for Windows or QuickTime.

Freeware

Documentation: 75%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 55%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.1.2 DoubleMPEG

This is not a drag and drop application, but instead prompts a user which MPEG to play. DoubleMPEG will play MPEG in double its normal size on your desktop. This software is intended for visually checking the quality of MPEG files at normal playback size. If it is used on MPEG files bigger than 352 288 then your machine will crash, or so the documentation states. Also, this application only runs in 32bit colour mode.

No settings of the animation can be altered (i.e. speed, size, etc.).

There is no user interface, and the whole screen is required for playback.

Postcardware

Documentation: 60%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 20%

Overall Rating: 55%

2.1.3 EasyPlay 2.0

MOV movie files are the only files played by this viewer. The window can be resized during playback to 5 preset sizes. Playback requires the whole screen. Animations can be looped entirely, or a section may be looped.

EasyPlay 2.0 has a catalogue for storing Video collections, which I think is a great idea. The viewer can also be fully controlled from another application by having that application send high level events. Documentation is provided to support this.

Very basic editing is also supported via copy, cut, and paste.

Shareware (US $20)

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 50%

Overall Rating: 60%

2.1.4 Fast Player 1.1

This program was designed to be a fast QuickTime movie player. It contains special options such as Preload movie and No backgrounding. Preload movie loads the movie from the disk into RAM. This gives the greatest performance increase and results in smother playing movies, especially with slow drives and remote volumes. No backgrounding is an option to play movies in their own window. If this feature is turned off the animation requires the whole screen. MOV movie files are the only files played by this viewer .

Flattened movies may also be created for use on non-Mac computers.

There is a limit of 20 open movies. Having several open at once may degrade playback. Windows can be resized in real-time to only normal or double size.

Animations can be looped entirely, or sections of it may be looped. Very basic editing of animations (copy/cut/paste) is supported.

Under no circumstances should you ever "Force Quit" or debugger kill Fast Player; always quit by normal means. QuickTime needs to be shut down properly to avoid a system crash. If Fast Player ever survives an emergency "Force Quit", immediately save all open documents first and then restart.

Freeware

Documentation: 65%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 75%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 75%

Overall Rating: 75%

2.1.5 GifBuilder 0.3.2 

GifBuilder is a scriptable utility for creating animated GIF files. Its input is an existing animated GIF, a bunch of PICT, GIF and/or TIFF files or a QuickTime movie, and its output is a GIF89a file with multiple images.

Options include pixel depth, colour palette, interlacing, transparency, interframe delay, disposal method, frame offset, looping and dithering.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 65%

Ease of Use: 60%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 75%

2.1.6 GraphicConverter V1.7.7/1

GraphicConverter can view FLI/FLC and GIF animations. It is a brilliant viewer for still images of many different formats. It does not convert GIF animations to MooV files, just outputs single frame. Animations can be resized, although not interactively. Animations can be modified with dithering, colouring, rotation, sharpening and many other features. It is reasonably slow, particularly for animated GIF's.

Shareware (US $35)

Documentation: 5%

Output Quality: 70% (for animations)

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 40% (for animations)

Overall Rating: 55% (for animations)

2.1.7 MacAnim Viewer 1.1

This viewer displays GL, FLI, FLC, DL and GIF animation files, and automatically unzips .zip archives in search of animation files. Although the viewer does support GIF files, it does not support animated GIF files (i.e. only the first frame is displayed).

MacAnim Viewer was built presupposing a 68020 and 32-bit QuickDraw, and according to the documentation works best with an 8-bit colour monitor set to display at least 256 colours.

The speed of the animation may be increased or decreased by the user. Likewise the size of the image can be modified by the user to some preset sizes. These features cannot be modified in real-time.

FLI and FLC's may be looped continuously, and may also be expanded into memory if desired.

Diagnostics can be generated as the animation progresses, but cannot be displayed at the same time as the animation. The animation requires the whole screen.

This viewer also contains a comprehensive on-line help, a feature omitted by many viewers.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 65%

User Interface: 80%

Ease of Use: 75%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.1.8 MakeItMooV 1.2

This is a tool for developers who work with QuickTime on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. It is used to give MOV files imported from a PC the correct movie icon.

MakeItMooV does not change any data in the imported movie file; it just changes the file's type to 'MooV' and the creator to 'TVOD', which marks it as a Movie Player document.

Freeware

Documentation: 40%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 30%

Overall Rating: 68%

2.1.9 Martin Hash's 3-Dimensional Animation

This product is reviewed in the "Windows" section, 2.4.6.

Commercial Software (US $199)

Not rated

2.1.10 MoviePlayer 2.0

MoviePlayer 2.0 plays MOV files. Multiple documents may be played simultaneously, although the sound of one will only be broadcast.

Animations can be looped entirely, or sections of it may be looped. Animations can also be played backwards, including the sound track. Windows can be fully resized in real-time.

Information can be retrieved about the MOV file. This includes, file size, duration, duration of current selection, the number of tracks, data rate, and the current and normal screen sizes (in pixels).

In addition to the standard copy/cut/paste editing of animation, this player offers many other features. Tracks can be deleted, enabled or extracted. The poster frame can be set to any Movie frame. Sound and Movies can also be exported and imported. The quality of sound to export can be modified.

Freeware

Documentation: 0%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 85%

Ease of Use: 85%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 85%

2.1.11 MPEG Dropper 1.0b2

This application is a drag and drop only application to play MPEG movies. AppleEvents can be sent to MPEG Dropper 1.0b2 to play an animation.

No settings of the animation can be altered (i.e. speed, size, etc.).

At this time there is no user interface for this software, but the author intends to include one in a future release.

Postcardware

Documentation: 45%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 10%

Overall Rating: 50%

2.1.12 MPEG2Decoder

This piece of software comes with the Sparkle 2.4.5 distribution, and is used to convert MPEG files to QT ones. Ten different compression settings are available, namely: Animation, Cinepak, Component Video, Graphics, H.261, Intel Indeo Video R3.2, Intel Raw, None, Photo-JPEG, and Video. "Video" is the default compression setting.

The quality of the resulting QT file can be selected on a scale ranging from Least to Most. The number of frames per second can be chosen from seven preset values. An option is also available for specifying how often key frames should be used (8 being the default). If the Intel Indeo Video R3.2 compression method is being used the data rate can be limited to the number of Kb per second.

Freeware

Documentation: 55%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 75%

Features: 60%

Overall Rating: 65%

2.1.13 MPEG Player 0.3

MPEG movies of any size are supported by this player. Very minimal statistics are output for the animation being played.

No settings of the animation can be altered (i.e. speed, size, etc.).

There is a user interface but it only deals with the statistical output produced by the MPEG being played! A real annoying "feature" is that once you have finished playing one animation, the player has to be quit before loading another one.

Postcardware

Documentation: 50%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 0%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 10%

Overall Rating: 55%

2.1.14 MPEGSplit

This is another piece of software that comes with the Sparkle 2.4.5 distribution, and is used to split a muxed MPEG file (one containing both audio and video) into separate audio and video files.

The user interface is very minimal.

Freeware

Documentation: 60%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 30%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.1.15 MPEG to QuickTime 0.3

This application converts MPEG files to QuickTime versions. The user interface is identical to MPEG2Decoder (discussed above), but I suspect the functionality may slightly differ since this software is slightly older.

Freeware

Documentation: 55%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 75%

Features: 60%

Overall Rating: 65%

2.1.16 Sculpt 3D

Sculpt 3D is a complete, integrated 3D modeling, rendering and animation environment. It features an extensive suite of modeling tools, powerful texturing and lighting controls, and a super-fast raytracing engine that produces superb images and fly-through animations.

Animation features include:

• Fastest ray traced animation on the Macintosh
• Precision camera and target motion
• Fully editable Bezier, NURBS, or B-spline paths
• Ease-in and Ease-out for smooth motion
• Frame skipping
• Rendering of missing frames
• Ultra fast wireframe and shaded previews
• Generates numbered frames or finished QuickTime movies

Commercial Software (US $495)

Not rated

2.1.17 Sparkle 2.4.5

Sparkle plays MPEGs, QT movies and sets of PICTs, and can also convert between them. It is multifinder friendly and, with enough memory, will open multiple documents at once. The QuickTime movie controller is used to control the MPEG viewing.

Animation can be played forwards like normal, or for a bit more variety backwards. Sound is even played backwards! Animations can be looped entirely, or sections of it may be looped. The frame rate and speed can also be modified. Windows can be resized in real-time to several preset sizes.

Lots of different colour options are available for MPEG files. Very basic

editing of animations (copy/cut/paste) is supported. Well documented

off-line.

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 85%

Ease of Use: 85%

Features: 90%

Overall Rating: 90%

2.1.18 Video for Windows Converter 1.1

As its name suggests, this utility converts one or more QuickTime movies into Video for Windows (ie. AVI) format. When converting the files, the user can specify audio and video characteristics for the movies.

The video can be compressed, uncompressed, or directly transferred. The number of bits for output can be 8, 16 or 24 bit, and the frame rate can be set. Audio characteristics include output frequency, the number of bits to use, and whether to use stereo or mono.

Freeware

Documentation: 75%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 55%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.2 Unix

Some of this software will require X windows to run. In most cases this has been stated, however there will inevitably be some omissions.

2.2.1 AERO

AERO is an X-window based tool for simulation and visualisation of rigid-body systems. AERO contains a 3D scene editor for designing simple blocks world scenes. Objects may be placed in space, linked to each other, and forces may be exerted onto them. Gravitation, air resistance, friction and all additional user defined forces are taken into account and set the scene into motion.

In animation mode, the simulation of the scene entered is carried out in real time (depending on scene complexity) displaying 3D wire frames. Also, a flag can be set to generate scene description files for each time point as input files for a ray tracing program, producing photorealistic output.

In both modes, wire frame and ray tracing scenes, the generation of stereo images is possible. In the case of real time wire frames a red-green representation of the scene is rendered, which can be viewed with red-green glasses. For the ray tracing output, a binocular pair of scene descriptions is generated for each time step.

AERO can be used for exploring the physical laws of mechanics and also for generating realistic computer animations.

In addition AERO is capable of creating scene files for the raytracing program POV-Ray out of these sequences. This means you can create fully rendered animation sequences, such as MPEG videos.

Freeware

Documentation: 70%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.2 animate 3.6.3

animate displays a sequence of images on any workstation display running an X server. animate first determines the hardware capabilities of the workstation. If the number of unique colours in an image is less than or equal to the number the workstation can support, the image is displayed in an X window. Otherwise the number of colours in the image is first reduced to match the colour resolution of the workstation before it is displayed.

This means that a continuous-tone 24 bits-per-pixel image can display on a 8 bit pseudo-color device or monochrome device. In most instances the reduced colour image closely resembles the original. Alternatively, a monochrome or pseudo-colour image sequence can display on a continuous-tone 24 bits-per-pixel device.

To help prevent colour flashing on X server visuals that have colormaps, animate creates a single colourmap from the image sequence. This can be rather time consuming. This operation can be sped up by reducing the colours in the image before animation commences.

Animations can be sped up, slowed down and reversed on the fly. Information can also be retrieved about the animation.

Freeware

Documentation: 70%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.2.3 avi2yuv 0.4

avi2yuv is a program to convert MJPEG-AVIs created with the FAST FPS60 or the FAST Movie Machine II with MJPEG extension into the YUV format which is readable by the Berkeley MPEG_ENCODER. avi2yuv will output the frames to stdout so they can be piped into an encoder which can read the input from stdin. Also uncompressed 16 bit hicolor AVIs and 24 or 32 bit true color AVIs can be converted.

Other options include deciding which frames to begin and end decoding at, how to crop the animation, the frame rate to use, obtain information about the AVI, a filename to output sound, and how to scale the file.

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 85%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.4 CmPlayer

CmPlayer is an application for the playback of video and audio data. It is a Tcl/Tk script that requires a cmwish binary (a wish linked with the CMT Toolkit) in order to execute. It can play MPEGs and scripts. The scripts download a file from a location specified in the script, and the file is played in real-time as it arrives.

Window can be resized in real-time, however only if the J300 MJPEG device is being used! Frames can be viewed individually.

Freeware

Documentation: 50%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 75%

2.2.5 MPEG-1 Video Software Encoder 1.5R2

The encoder (mpeg_encode) implements the standard described in the ISO/IEC International Standard 11172-2. The encoder will accept any input file format as long as a script is provided to convert the images to PPM or YUV format. The encoder can be run on one computer (i.e. sequential) or on several computers (i.e. parallel).

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 85%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.6 MpegUtil 1.0

MpegUtil is an analysis and edit program for MPEG-1 video files. One or more input files can be specified, and the program will give a full range of statistics about the files. In addition to analysis, the program can perform simple editing operations: file concatenation, clip extraction, B and P frame removal.

The information generated includes a listing of all the frames and Groups of Pictures (GoP) contained within the input files. For frames, this includes their type (I, P, B) and their frame index in the file. For GoPs this shows the Gop start and end in the file, and whether they are Open, Closed, or have the Broken link set. This listing is given in both decode (the order of frame appearance within the file) and display order.

A summary of various statistical information is generated, this shows: frame width and height, pixel aspect ratio, picture rate/bit rate per second, count of frames (I, P, B and total frames), Gops (Closed and Open), average byte size and compression ratio of I, P and B frames etc.

In addition, some limited MPEG-1 conformance checks are made, this includes checks on the type of frames at GoP start and ends in both decode and display order, and checks on the correctness of frame temporal reference counts.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.7 MPEG Blocks Analyser 1.0

This MPEG Blocks analyser (mpeg_blocks) operates by playing a video stream in one window, while another window displays the block type and motion vectors for each block in the current frame. It shows size statistics on the different frame types and how each macroblock was coded. The program also shows the decoded image so the user can see the effect of these coding parameters.

The ISO/IEC CD 11172 standards have been met.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.8 MPEG Video Software Decoder 1.0

This decoder (mpeg_bits) takes as input an MPEG stream and presents graphical feedback on the distribution of bits in the stream, on a macroblock-by-macroblock level. mpeg_bits also provides a simple user interface to generate specifics files that can be used by mpeg_encode to re-encode a stream, modifying the encoding on a macroblock-by-macroblock level.

This tool does not support system layer streams. The ISO/IEC CD 11172 standards have been met.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: Not Rated

User Interface: Not Rated

Ease of Use: Not Rated

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: Not Rated

2.2.9 MPEG Video Software Decoder 2.3

This decoder (mpeg_play) is implemented as a library that will take a video stream and display it in an X window on an 8, 24 or 32 bit deep display. The main routine is supplied to demonstrate the use of the decoder library. Several dithering algorithms are supplied based on the Floyd-Steinberg, ordered dither, and half-toning algorithms that tradeoff quality and performance. Neither the library nor the main routine handle real-time synchronisation or audio streams.

The animation can also be looped continuously.

The ISO/IEC CD 11172 standards have been met.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 20%

Ease of Use: 75%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.2.10 MPEG Video Statistics Gatherer 2.2b

This tool (mpeg_stat) outputs statistics including; the composition and order of frames, total number of bytes, number of frames, average frame size and bit rate, compression rate, number of macroblocks, number of macroblocks skipped, duration, width, height, required display speed, real Q-scale information, detailed motion vector/cbp information and constrained parameter checking.

The ISO/IEC CD 11172 standards have been met.

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 85%

Overall Rating: 85%

2.2.11 Mv2mpeg

mv2mpeg is a simple command line only tool to convert a SGI-movie-file into an MPEG movie.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 90%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.2.12 XAnim

XAnim is a command line only application that can display animations of various formats on systems running X11. XAnim currently supports the following animation types:

• FLI animations
• FLC animations
• IFF animations. The following features are supported:

Compressions 3,5,7,J(movies) and l(small L)

Colour cycling during single images and animations

Display Modes: depth 1-8, EHB, HAM and HAM8

• GIF87a and GIF89a files

single and multiple images supported

GIF89a animation extensions supported

GIF89a animation extension support

• a kludgy text file listing gifs and what order to show them in
• DL animations. Formats 1, 2 and partially 3
• Amiga PFX(PageFlipper Plus F/X) animations. TEMP DISABLED
• Amiga MovieSetter animations
• Utah Raster Toolkit RLE images and anims
• AVI animations. Currently supported are

IBM Ultimotion (ULTI) depth 16

JPEG (JPEG) depth 24

Motion JPEG (MJPG) depth 24

Intergraph JPEG (IJPG) depth 24

Microsoft Video 1 (CRAM) depth 8 and 16

SuperMac Cinepak (CVID) depth 24

Uncompressed (RGB) depth 8

Uncompressed (RGB) depth 24

Run length encoded (RLE8) depth 8.

Editable MPEG (XMPG) depth 24

• QuickTime Animations. The following features are supported:

Uncompressed (RAW) depth 4,8,16,24 and 24+

Uncompressed (RAW) Gray depth 4 and 8

Apple Graphics (RLE) depth 1,8,16 and 24

Apple Graphics (RLE) GRAY depth 8.

Apple Animation (SMC) depth 8 and GRAY 8

Apple Video (RPZA) depth 16

SuperMac Cinepak (CVID) depth 24 and GRAY 8

Component Video (YUV2) depth 24

Photo JPEG (JPEG) depth 8 and 24

Supports multiple video tracks

Supports animations with multiple codecs

Supports merged and separated resource forks

• JFIF images. NOTE: use XV for single images. This is more for animation of a sequence of JPEG images
• MPEG animations. Currently only Type I Frames are displayed. Type B and Type P frames are currently ignored, but will be added in future revisions
• WAV audio files may have their sound added to any animation type that does not already have audio, by specifying the .wav file after the animation file on the command line. Currently only the PCM audio codec is supported
• Any combination of the above on the same command line

XAnim also provides various options that allow the user to alter colour maps, playback speeds, looping modes and can provide on-the-fly scaling of animations with the mouse.

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 90%

Overall Rating: 90%

2.3 DOS

This section is devoted to software that will run under DOS. Software that runs under Windows can be found in the "Windows" section, 2.4.

2.3.1 Autodesk Animator Public Domain Player 1.0

FLI's, GIF's, and Autodesk Animator scripts can be loaded with this player, however animated GIF's do not appear to be supported. FLI's can be viewed by each frame and the animation speed may be altered. The size however cannot be modified.

Freeware

Documentation: 0%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 40%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 40%

Overall Rating: 60%

2.3.2 AviRip 3.0

This command line only application converts AVI files to MPEG's. The AVI files may be 8, 16 or 24 bit uncompressed files with non-streaming audio. The colour depth of AVI files will be automatically detected, and sequences of the same colour depth will generated. The available sequence files may be DIB's, TGA's or RAW's.

Several options are available for the conversion process, including the promotion of 8 bit RAW files to 24 bit sequence files (some viewers only handle the 24 bit versions). Conversion can commence and stop at any frames in the sequence. If a sequence is too dark it may also be lightened.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.3.3 CMPEG 1.0

This is a command line only utility that converts a series of images into an MPEG sequence. The input formats automatically detected are PPM, TGA, and RAW. The maximum image size is approximately 512 320, if 640Kb RAM is being used. MPEG sequences are generated containing I, P and B frames.

Several motion estimation algorithms and matching criteria can be chosen by the user. Quantisation matrices are used to produce the output, and these too may be modified by the user.

Decoding output can be generated in detail, summarised, or not generated at all.

The number of pictures per second can be selected from 8 preset values.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70 %

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 75%

2.3.4 DL-CONVERTER 2.1

DL-CONVERTER comes as part of the DL Viewer 2.5 package, and converts DL files from version 1 to version 2. It is created by the creators of the DL format. The screen output is in Italian, however is reasonably easy to comprehend.

Freeware

Documentation: 3%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 65%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.3.5 DL-CONVERTER 2 to 3

This comes as part of the DL Viewer 2.5 package, and converts DL files from version 1 to version 2. Like DL-CONVERTER 2.1 it is created by the creators of the DL format. The screen output is in Italian, however is reasonably easy to comprehend.

Freeware

Documentation: 3%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 10%

Ease of Use: 65%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.3.6 DL Viewer 3.5

Created by the creators of the DL animated graphics file format, this viewer views DL files. The default animation speed can be set to four preset settings on-the-fly or at another time. DL files from version 2.0 are automatically converted, and a conversion utility (DL-CONVERTER) is supplied for converting from version 1.0. Support is provided for Sound Blasters.

The colour palette can be modified for the background, status bar, windows, and cursor, my modifying the RGB intensities. The animation speed can be increased, decreased, set to the maximum or minimum speeds, or returned to the default setting.

Shareware (US $30)

Documentation: 68%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 85%

Ease of Use: 90%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 85%

2.3.7 DMPEG 1.1

This is a command line only MPEG player that does not fully meet the MPEG video standard. I, P and B frames (not D frames) are accepted, and the frame size can be up to at least 352 288.

Several dithering options are available for 8 bit displays, namely an ordered dither, Floyd-Steinberg and grayscale. There is also a selectable colour-space. VGA, Truecolour SVGA's and many Super-VGA's (including VESA) are supported.

The size of the animation cannot be modified, either interactively or non-interactively. The speed of an animation can be altered by setting a delay value. This value is not synchronised to a timer or vertical raytrace, and the speed difference appears insignificant.

Freeware

Documentation: 75%

Output Quality: 70%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 68%

2.3.8 FlickPlay 0.79

This player loads and plays both FLI and FLC animation files in all SVGA supported modes.

Shareware

Not rated

2.3.9 FLISee 3.0

FLI and FLC files can be played with this viewer. The facility exists for multiple FLI's to be played consecutively.

The size of the animation cannot be modified, either interactively or non-interactively. The speed also cannot be altered.

The user interface is not of a high quality.

Shareware (US $10)

Documentation: 70%

Output Quality: 70%

User Interface: 20%

Ease of Use: 70 %

Features: 45%

Overall Rating: 65%

2.3.10 GLplay 6.085

This command line only viewer plays GL files. It does not appear to display colours, and the documentation is inadequate.

The size of the animation cannot be modified, either interactively or non-interactively. The speed also cannot be altered.

Freeware

Documentation: 5%

Output Quality: 60%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 30%

Overall Rating: 55%

2.3.11 MPEG Split 0.1

Included as part of the VMPEG package, MPEG Split will split an ISO11172 system layer stream into separate video and audio compression layers. If the multiplexed stream contains more than one video or audio stream, only the first of each is extracted.

Freeware

Documentation: 60%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 0%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 5%

Overall Rating: 60%

2.3.12 QuickFLI

This command line only viewer plays a list of FLI files. User interaction however is required (pressing the "Space" bar) between each FLI. FLI files can be looped continuously if desired.

The size of the animation cannot be modified, either interactively or non-interactively. The speed also cannot be altered.

The animation is nicely output, however the viewer is very limited in its functionality.

Freeware

Documentation: 5%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 20%

Overall Rating: 65%

2.3.13 QuickView 1.03a

QuickView 1.03a has a nice user interface, whilst also allowing command line options. It can view AVI, with many different Codecs, with sound though a SoundBlaster or PC speaker. The sound can be either uncompressed or Microsoft ADPCM compressed. The user also has the option of adapting the quality of the sound to the speed of their system. Other animation formats supported are CEL, FLI, FLC, GIF89a (most extensions) and run-length encoded BMP's, PCX's, PIC's and TGA's. The sound can in either a VOC or WAV format, and sound can be enabled or disabled.

Animations can be looped continuously for a set number of times, or until a key is pressed.

AVI animations can be viewed at twice the normal magnification, and can be of 4 different qualities; TrueColour, HiColour, 256 colours or Grayscale. AVI's can be started at any frame, and all individual frames can be viewed.

The animated GIF support lacks quality and is reasonably chunky.

Animations are very smooth and are displayed at a reasonable speed.

A minimal amount of file information is also available. The animation size can generally only be modified by altering the screen resolution, however as mentioned previously, AVI files can be viewed at twice the normal magnification.

Shareware (US $12)

Single Private Registration (US $35)

Single Commercial Registration (US $60)

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 90%

Ease of Use: 85%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 88%

2.3.14 RawRip 3.0

This command line only application takes an 8 or 24 bit RAW file and creates a DIB, TGA, or RAW sequence.

Several options are available for the conversion process, including the promotion of 8 bit RAW files to 24 bit sequence files (some viewers only handle the 24 bit versions). Conversion can commence and stop at any frames in the sequence. If a sequence is too dark it may also be lightened.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.3.15 SmartVid 1.02.006

This command line only tool is a codec independent, bi-directional video file converter which converts between AVI and MOV animation formats. It simply copies the data streams, without attempting to decompress the images. The only audio format accepted is PCM (8 or 16 bit), since this is the only format supported by both MOV and AVI.

The audio/video interleaving rate is maintained during conversions.

The use of colour palettes is not supported.

The only streams that can be converted are those of audio and video. All other streams will result in the tool halting. Copyrighted AVI files (i.e. the Copyright flag is set) will also not be converted.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.3.16 Trilobyte FLICK & Groovie Player 0.7

This viewer views FLI and FLC files.

Shareware

Not rated

2.3.17 Video for DOS 1.7

This is a command line only motion video cross-compiler for creating FLI, FLC and AVI files from DIB, RDI, BMP, RLE, TGA, PCX, FLI, FLC, AVI and RAW files.

Hilite promotion is used for colour quantisation, which is scalable adaptive with a histogram base.

There are many different options that can be altered; playback speed, start/stop frames, compression, keyframe interval, backwards, ping pong, mirrored, flipped, resize, colour card, dithering and luminance.

Freeware

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 85%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.3.18 VMPEG 1.2a

The full MPEG-1 video standard is supported by VMPEG, which includes I, P and B frames of arbitrary size. System layer files are played, and the audio is discarded, in this high speed player.

VGA and a variety of SVGA's are supported, along with four display options:

• 4 4 ordered dither normal size (8 bit)
• 4 4 ordered dither double size (8 bit)
• grayscale (8 bit)
• true colour (24 bit)

The animation window cannot be resized at all.

Freeware

Documentation: 70%

Output Quality: 75%

User Interface: 5%

Ease of Use: 65%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.4 Windows

This section contains software that operates on Microsoft Windows 3.1, 3.11 or 95. Not all of this software will operate correctly on all Windows platforms.

2.4.1 3D Choreographer 2.0

This is a commercial program produced by AniCom. The following is information retrieved from their WWW site.

While keeping the same ease of use which won it the WIN 100 award for 1995, version 2.0 adds several new features. You can create original 3D characters by replacing the heads of the actors with those of your own design. This unique feature allows you to attach either photos or drawings to the bodies of 3D actors. Imagine an animation of your boss giving out bonuses, a company logo duelling its competitor's logo or your child's head on a charging triceratops. Make inspired political cartoons with battling politicians shaking the Capitol building.

All 3d Choreographer characters come with an extensive action library so the characters you create can already run, jump, swim, or dance. You can dynamically flip between bitmaps to simulate head movements and facial expressions. Of course, 3d Choreographer still has a large variety of pre-made characters and actions. The user can quickly and easily create custom characters and sophisticated animations. These animations can be rendered as FLCs or with 16 million colours using 24 bit AVI files.

Commercial Software (US $149)

Not rated

2.4.2 Animator Pro 1.3a

Animator Pro 1.3a is the award-winning PC software for 2D animation, developed commercially by Autodesk. It is a complete desktop solution for professionals needing diverse 2D animation tools for the PC. Animator Pro includes many new features including scalable antialiased fonts, International Character sets, a JPEG reader, improved performance under Windows, and a POCO Program (Show'm) for creating animated presentations. Animator Pro 1.3a features include:

• 8 bit paint tools - brushes, shapes, lines
• Automatic repetition of paint sequences over time
• Inks - Transparent, Scrape, Tile
• Palette manipulation tools
• Resolution independence (animations up to 1200x1200)
• Programming language (POCO) to create and control AAPro
• 8 types of animation:
  • Traditional Cel Flipbook
  • Colour cycling
  • Titling (Scalable Fonts/Antialiased/Postscript Type 1)
  • Tweening (polymorphic, no fries)
  • Animated Sprites along editable paths
  • Optics effects
  • Transition effects
  • Automated Script generation and playback

Commercial Software (US $595)

Not rated

2.4.3 Autodesk Animator, Studio for Windows

This is a commercial program produced by Autodesk. The following is information retrieved from their WWW site.

Running under Windows 3.1, Autodesk Animator Studio is a 24-bit Truecolor animation, paint, and sound system that enables you to create interactively with video and audio, paint and animation, and sound and titling tools in limitless combinations to achieve stunning effects.

With Autodesk Animator Studio, you can turn your dreams into finished productions - much like plugging a VCR into your imagination. Offering all the tools you would find in a movie production facility, Autodesk Animator Studio is ideal for videographers, animators, graphics and presentation professionals, game producers, and others who need to create top-quality digital video.

Autodesk Animator Studio software features an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use Windows interface that gives you quick access to a full range of tools for frame-by-frame drawing or time-based painting operations. Those tedious touch-up jobs are now simple with the product's Record and Redo features. You can build your animations using the software's impressive library of scanned images or paint directly on .AVI-compatible video captured using Microsoft Video for Windows. You can even enhance your productions with animated sprites or special optic effects. And with the Multiple-Level Undo feature, you can experiment until you achieve the exact effect you want.

Commercial Software (US $795)

Not rated

2.4.4 Canyon's Movie Toolkit 1.20

Canyon's Movie Toolkit converts MOV, AVI or WAV files to MOV, AVI or WAV files.

Freeware

Documentation: 0%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 50%

Ease of Use: 80%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.4.5 GIF Construction Set for Windows 1.0

This is a powerful collection of tools to work with multiple-block GIF's. It can create and view animated GIF's. The delay between each GIF can be modified , as can whether the GIF is transparent, its transparency colour, whether to wait for user input, and how to rename the GIF.

GIF's can be looped, and the image location can be modified. An option is available on whether to store the GIF if an interlaced format, and whether or not to use the local palette.

Shareware (US $25)

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 65%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.4.6 Martin Hash's 3-Dimensional Animation

This is a commercial program produced by Hash Incorporated. The following is a summarised version of their WWW page.

This program includes complete sculpting features, powerful animation tools and rendering. Advanced features like inverse kinematics, ray-tracing, image mapping, and modeling of complex organic and mechanical objects is included. The patch-based technology makes it easy to create natural, fluid-moving characters, scenery, and props. Specifically designed for classic character animation, the click and move interface and powerful motion tool gives you the control that is required to tell your story. Direct patch raytracing preserves the quality of your creations and eliminates problems associated with polygon based systems.

Since MH3D is geared toward character animation, it gives you the ability to build libraries of actions and characters that can be reused over and over. Its cross platform compatibility of operation and files make MH3D an excellent choice for studios with multiple types of systems.

A large feature list is also given, and this is displayed below:

• No more polygons! Model and render with flexible patches.
• Curved lines move easily to allow for quick manipulation.
• Complete selection of real-time tools combined with point-and-click sculpting makes object creation easy.
• Sculpt over a Template.
• Start from a Library of example characters.
• Integrated interface, with easy turning, zooming, and navigation features.
• Multitasking.
• You create keyframes and the computer makes the in-between frames, automatically drawing the animation for you.
• patch-based animation allows smooth, flexible movement.
• Complex movements are simplified; unique spine motion offers lifelike bouncing and twisting.
• Complete skeletal and muscle control features.
• Inverse Kinematics (IK) for building skeletal based motion
• The Decal Module which now includes the ability to apply Custom textures and object Attributes to individual patches
• Rotoscoping.
• Create scenes with characters, lights, camera, and props on a stage, with you as director.
• Character animation with lip-synch made easier than ever before.
• Connect separate body parts together with skin for seamless joints.
• Automatic camera tracking.
• Fast Preview rendering.
• Ray tracing for visually realistic results.
• Glass with Refraction and Caustics.
• Wrap images around objects, including bump, transparency, reflection, diffuse, specular, ambient, mirror, and cookie-cut maps.
• Controllable, targetable, colored lights with colored shadows.
• Mirrors with adjustable settings.
• Textures you define, modify, save and reuse.
• Multiple levels of antialiasing for animation or film.
• 32-bit, variable resolution rendering.
• Real-time colour animation playback.
• Alpha buffer rendering for combining computer animation with live action.
• Integrated Time-based Materials Editor.
• Decaling for precisely gluing images that stick to the surface.
• Stride length to prevent a character's feet from slipping as it walks.
• Action Overloading - applying layers of Actions to a character so that it can "walk", "talk", and "clench" its fists simultaneously.
• Stride Length - helps a character's feet and an automobile's tires stop slipping.
• Integrated Interface - adjust your Actions and see the changes in Direction immediately.
• Flat Shading - helpful in getting Decals just right while shuttling back and forth to a paint program.
• Gouraud Shading - see Quick Renders faster and smoother.
• Phong Lighting - see those Quick Renders with specular highlights.
• Bound Rendering - Quick Render or Ray Trace only a portion of the screen.
• Flatten - unroll a segment before applying Decals.
• Action Range - choose only a range of frames, Hold, and Wait, from an Action in the Action List.
• Faster Interface - prepared for real time 3D hardware accelerators also makes non-assisted operation faster.
• NT Support - runs on different NT machines, including: Alpha, MIPS, Pentium, etc.
• Unattach - disconnect "attached" points while modeling.
• Insert Control Points - automatically adds control points to those hard to get to splines.
• Global Axis Translates - option to move control points in world space instead of screen space.
• Skeletal Frames - save and open single Skeletal keyframes.
• Perspective Modeling - option to model while viewing the object in perspective.
• Multiple Windows - have two action windows, or set up three modeling windows in a traditional tri-view layout.
• Dragable Panels - put the panels anywhere you want on the screen or hide them completely.
• System Colour Dialog - uses your platform's standard 24-bit colour dialog to choose and change colours.
• Simplified Operation - tools changed to operate in a more "standard" fashion.
• Save Interface State - choreographs maintain their window's layout for next use.
• Faster Rendering - Ray Tracer and Quick Render both substantially faster.
• Transparency Averaging - another form of transparency calculation now extended to all objects.
• Rotoscope facial movement in Muscle with sequenced backgrounds.
• Proportional Zoom - finer zoom control in Direction.
• Centered Turn - turn about the local coordinate system.
• TV Safe and Title Safe indication.
• Cross Platform operation simplified.
• Better memory utilisation.
• Image Maps are antialiased.
• Hybrid Keyframe/Path animation - get the best of both world's with "Fixed Frame Control Points" on Paths.
• Frame Control of Animation Maps - so that image maps can cycle, skip frames, hold, wait, or "ping pong".
• Morph Along Path - a Character can distort its shape to fit the Path its on as it moves along.
• Vector Drawing - another drawing option for speed.
• Hide Paths in Direction for better visibility.
• Fixed Kinematics Lengths - makes kinematics even more valuable.
• Kinematics Anchoring - to lock masses in space while adjusting the rest of the Character.
• Motion Capture - directly supports Polhemus motion capture sensors.
• Nested Hide - hide more points when some already hidden.
• Displacement and Fractal Maps
• Edge Transparency
• Uniform Normal Face Control
• Long file name support

Commercial Software (US $199)

Not rated

2.4.7 Microsoft 3D Movie Maker

This is a 3D Movie Maker developed by Microsoft for children 8 years old or higher. Facilities include:

• Setting the scene with 12 incredible 3-D locations and covering the action with tons of cool camera angles.
• Casting your star roles from more than 40 actors, and dressing them in all sorts of colourful costume combinations.
• Amazing special effects let you squash actors flat or stretch them skinny. And with over 25 actions, you can make your actors run, sneak, laugh, scream, dance, fall down, fly, and even karate kick!
• Hundreds of outrageous sound effects and music for every mood to choose from-you can even record your own songs and spoken dialogue with your friends.
• Putting your name in lights! Design your own animated 3-D logos, scrolling credits, and other exciting special effects for the movies you make!

Commercial Software

Not rated

2.4.8 MPEGPLAY 1.00

MPEG files can be played by MPEGPLAY with the choice of 12 dithering options. Individual frames can be advanced and animations can be resized on-the-fly. They can also be resized to fit a window or to just play at the actual size.

The documentation covers a very basic look at the User Interface, but it does go into detail about MPEG.

Freeware

Documentation: 50%

Output Quality: 70%

User Interface: 70%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 65%

Overall Rating: 70%

2.4.9 NET TOOB 2.51

AVI, MOV, MPEG and MPEG-1 files can be played, and if other drivers are installed for other audio and video files they can be played too. Animations can occupy the full screen, be in a window at its "normal" size, or be magnified to twice its normal size. The animation can also be looped continuously or played once and quit.

The speed of the animation can be altered by changing the number of frames per second to 8 preset values. Each frame can also be viewed individually.

An additional extra is that and media file can be used as a screen saver.

Support is provided for a Sound Blaster.

The non-registered shareware version is very nagging, and continuously reminds the user they have not registered.

Shareware (US $14.95)

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 70%

User Interface: 80%

Ease of Use: 70%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.4.10 SmartVid 1.02.006

This tool is a codec independent, bi-directional video file converter which converts between AVI and MOV animation formats. It simply copies the data streams, without attempting to decompress the images. The only audio format accepted is PCM (8 or 16 bit), since this is the only format supported by both MOV and AVI.

The audio/video interleaving rate is maintained during conversions.

The use of colour palettes is not supported.

The only streams that can be converted are those of audio and video. All other streams will result in the tool halting. Copyrighted AVI files (i.e. the Copyright flag is set) will also not be converted.

Freeware

Documentation: 85%

Output Quality: 80%

User Interface: 50%

Ease of Use: 85%

Features: 70%

Overall Rating: 80%

2.4.11 SoftF/X

SoftF/X combines powerful modeling, super-fast rendering and incredible broadcast-quality special effects in an intuitive, Windows-standard environment. Build models with millions of polygons. Choreograph complex animations with pre-made templates or with our comprehensive library of path and behaviour tools. View your

model and the placement of textures in real time with the OpenGL preview. Add special effects like waves, ripples, glows, halos, morphing, fog, explosions, shattering, and soft shadows. Then render your animation in record time and output to disk or tape.

Animation features include:

• Easy-to-learn, intuitive interface, completely Windows-standard
• Linear Tweening, Spline Tweening and Quaternian Tweening for keyframe-based movement, rotation and scaling
• Skeletal animation with both interactive frame-by-frame posing and keyframe modeling
• Morphing of model geometry and all attributes (colour, maps, shaders, etc.)
• Interactive zoom, pan, tilt, dolly and tracking controls for all Cameras
• Interactive or numeric Camera lens control with commonly used presets (35mm, 50mm, 100mm, etc.)
• Interactive or numeric control of spotlight cone and soft-shadow edge width
• Interactive real-time wireframe preview controls
• Real-time preview without precalculation delays
• Real-time preview of animated special effects (squeeze, squash, spring, warp, etc.)
• Multiple cameras
• User-customisable bounding boxes for even faster previews
• Built-in animation templates for flying logos, walk-throughs, etc.
• Numeric entry options for all interactive controls
• Move, Rotate and Scale all Actors interactively or numerically
• Follow Attached, Follow Offset, Follow On Path, Follow by X-, Y- or Z-Axis for coordinated
• movement
• Look-At, Track, Mimic, Align to Path for coordinated rotation
• Interactive spline controls for realistic accelerated motion along paths
• Timeline editing
• Animated ground plane
• Dynamic fluid surfaces (ripples and oceanic waves)
• Assign and Edit animated Special Effects quickly and easily
• Exportable animation scripts for distributed rendering
• Direct-rendering support for the DPS Personal Animation Recorder
• Third-party special effects plug-in support

Commercial Software

Not rated

2.4.12 SoundTrack

SoundTrack is an editing tool that allows sound to be added to AVI video files. Sound files can be cut, copied, pasted, deleted, overdubbed, and mixed, and then attached to the video.

Commercial Software

Not rated

2.4.13 Starlet Movie

Starlet Movie is a 2-D animation program that can be used to create business presentations, sales and training videos, screen savers; anywhere digital video is needed. Starlet Movie uses a combination of vector-oriented drawing, professional image processing, and interactive animation capabilities, to produce AVI movies.

All you have to do is load the image files you want to animate into Starlet Movie. The filmstrips can then be used as a storyboard to specify the animation's path. You can navigate objects using other frame images as reference. Designing interactive buttons, branches, cycles, and sound effects is as easy as click and drag.

When you want to create your own animation from scratch, Starlet Movie includes a full-featured drawing, paint and image processing program with sophisticated features that are easy to use. Finished animations can be distributed with the included runtime module, or saved as a Windows .AVI movie.

Commercial Software

Not rated

2.4.14 Video Express Viewer

Video Express Viewer is a multimedia viewing tool which allows users to watch endless volumes of video clips from the Internet, intranets, CD-ROMs and hard drive in a scalable window, including Full Screen.

Features include:

• Supports multiple motion video formats including Video for Windows, MPEG, QuickTime for Windows, MJPEG, and animation
• Video position control, including fast forward, fast reverse, and frame by frame access
• Auto-configures to leading web browsers - such as Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, America Online, CompuServe, etc. - so viewing begins automatically after downloading video files
• Easy-to-use control panel with convenient hot keys to immediately select a feature
• Supports high-end video playback performance using video decoding hardware
• Password protection
• Supports software playback - no additional hardware is required
• Animated interface with unique flyout feature panels
• Smooth, natural motion playback with synchronised sound up to 30 fps
• Scalable playback window, including "Full Screen" playback
• Built-in support for "streaming" video over the Internet and intranets with new drivers soon to be released by Microsoft
• High/low display resolution detection for optimised control panel appearance
• Plays motion video viles from the Internet, CD-ROM, hard disk drives, intranets and network servers
• User-definable sound effects
• Elapsed time display
• Set default location of playback window on desktop
• Audio mute and volume control

Commercial Software (US $29.95)

Not rated

2.4.15 Video for Windows

This is the original AVI player produced by Microsoft for the AVI file format. QuickTime and Autodesk Animator animations can be converted to AVI format. Prerecorded clips can be edited and combined using VidEdit (the editor included with the Video for Windows package). WaveEdit, BitEdit, and PalEdit are also included to aid in AVI creation.

Many different compression options are available.

The animation can be started at any location, and individual frames can be viewed.

Documentation: 80%

Output Quality: 90%

User Interface: 80%

Ease of Use: 85%

Features: 80%

Overall Rating: 90%

2.4.16 VMPEG 1.7 Lite

The full MPEG-1 video standard is supported by VMPEG, which includes I, P and B frames of arbitrary size. System layer files are played, and the audio is discarded, in this high speed player.

VGA and a variety of SVGA's are supported, along with four display options:

• 4 4 ordered dither normal size (8 bit)
• 4 4 ordered dither double size (8 bit)
• grayscale (8 bit)
• true colour (24 bit)

Animations can be continuously looped, and certain frames can be skipped if desired (e.g. skip all B frames or B and I frames).

Lots of audio options including sample rate, precision and volume are available. The window can be resized on-the-fly to almost any size.

Freeware

Documentation: 90%

Output Quality: 85%

User Interface: 85%

Ease of Use: 90%

Features: 75%

Overall Rating: 90%

2.5 SGI

2.5.1 Animator 7.0

This is an integrated environment for 3D modelling, animation and rendering. Animation features included are:

• Basic Animation - Define animations using keyframes, motion paths and CV's.
• Action Editor - Set and adjust actions using an interactive graphical display of parameter curves.
• Cut, Copy & Paste - Point and click editing of animations of hierarchical objects.
• Time View - Adjust timing relationships (key frames) using a graphical user interface.
• Animation Preview - Play back animations in wireframe or rendered flipbooks.
• Sprite Previewer - Play back backgrounds with one or more sprite animations to fine tune their interaction with each other and with the background.
• Set Motion - Set and adjust an object's or camera's orientation along a motion path.
• Randomiser - Randomly animate multiple objects such as bubbles or flocks of birds.
• Image Planes - Rotoscope over backgrounds by creating multiple planes that can be animated, zoomed, tracked, assigned depth and stenciled.

Not rated

2.5.2 GIG 3DGO

The basic 3DGO program features a solids modeller with text and five primitives: ball, cone, cylinder, cube and torus. With freeforms, you can interactively create extruded, rotated solids or freeform patch objects. Freeforms also are a fast, flexible, and intuitive method for creating and editing essentially any solid form. Feedback is excellent; the results of profile edits are updated instantly in multiple views.

Keyframe animation in 3DGO includes object transformations, light sources, cameras, and some object attributes, such as colour. The animation module provides function curve and sequence editing for both transformation and deformation channels as well as control of acceleration and deceleration.

Not rated

2.5.3 PowerAnimator 7.0

This program incorporates Character Builder, software that lets users create and animate life forms. Features include making cheek muscles that move under taut skin, finger webbing, and creating joints and wrinkles. Minute control can be specified over how skin tucks between joints.

CompuHair is another technology that lets you grow hair and fur that looks and moves like real hair, not plasticine or shiny metal. It can be styled, coloured, curled, or even just hang out and blow in the breeze.

Character's can even be made to have their whole face talk. The audio track can be scrubbed back and forth to fine-tune 3D facial expressions and poses. Multiple channels of animation can be viewed simultaneously - lip movements, eye bulges, forehead wrinkles, or tail wagging - from any point in 3 space.

Human actors can be plugged into MotionSampler 3 and the user can watch them drive 3D characters in real-time. Actors can be calibrated on the fly while they dance or kick-box onscreen. Movements can also be exaggerated by using a dataflow interface to apply filters to each motion sensor.

There are many other features incorporated with this tool. The animation features include:

• Basic Animation - Define animations using keyframes, motion paths and cv's.
• Action Editor - Set and adjust actions using an interactive graphical display of parameter curves.
• Cut, Copy & Paste - Point & click editing of animations of hierarchical objects.
• Inverse Kinematics - Position articulated
• characters in full 3D with point, orientation and aiming constraints that can be animated.
• Time View - Adjust timing relationships (key frames) using a graphical user interface.
• Animation Preview - Play back animations in wireframe or rendered flipbooks.
• Sprite Previewer - Play back one or more sprite animations and fine tune their interaction with each other and with the background.
• Set Motion - Set and adjust an object's or camera's orientation along a motion path.
• Randomiser - Randomly animate multiple objects such as bubbles or flocks of birds.
• Image Planes - Rotoscope with multiple planes that can be animated, zoomed, tracked, assigned depth and stenciled.
• Dynamics - Simulate physical phenomena such as torque, wind, gravity, friction, air turbulence, and collisions.
• Expressions - Animate using mathematical relationships.

Not rated

2.5.4 SoftImage Creative Environment 2.65

Softlmage consists of six modules for modelling (Model), animation (Motion), dynamics (Actor), character animation (Character), materials editing and rendering (Matter), and display and utilities (Tools). All these modules share a consistent user interface. Switching instantly between modules is as simple as mouse-clicking on the desired module in the title bar or using a keyboard equivalent.

The Model module provides the ability to create detailed models using a variety of splines, patches, metaballs, and polygonal entities. Splines may be revolved, extruded, or skinned and the results merged and zipped together to form complex objects. Model's editing tools are numerous and include spline extraction and deformation. Proportional or weighted point and cluster editing offer a degree of control over Bspline geometry that makes the lack of NURBS less sorely missed. A particularly useful editing form is the lattice. This is a user-defined 3D volume of points that may be used to reshape patch or polygonal geometry.

Matter combines materials specification, mapping, and rendering into a single module. It supports local and global 2D and 3D image mapping, alpha channel masking, and mixing of relative levels of texture, bump, reflection, and transparency mapping. Animations and single frames may be hardware-rendered or rendered to disk using wireframe, hidden-line depth cue, or raytracing. Although it lacks some of the intricacies of other materials editors such as a shader language, Matter's tools are well adapted to the process and capable of producing complex and striking imagery.

The animation process in Softlmage is distributed over three modules Motion, Character, and Actor that work together to provide forward and inverse kinematics, skeletal animation, and dynamics functions of outstanding variety and sophistication. Essentially any geometric form, surface attribute, or camera or lighting variable may be easily and precisely animated.

Motion, Softlmage's keyframe animation module, supports editing by function curve or interval for each animation variable. Function curves are used to represent all animated attributes, and Motion's function curve editing tools provide excellent control over keyframes, motion paths, and motion segments. Motion's expanded list of constraint functions coupled with the ability to activate and deactivate them for specific sequences is extremely useful for creating motion that is both exact and realistic looking. It also accepts input from multiple external devices. Up to 256 channels may be input for real-time capture of motion or audio data. This results in raw function curves that may be mapped to animation parameters and further adjusted to achieve the desired motion.

Motion also provides Wave and Flock animation through its Effects menu. Wave is used to create animated circular, planar, and spherical wave functions for attachment to scene objects, causing them to ripple or sway. Flock animation consists of a variable particle system where source and destination 3D meshes are used to define the motion properties and massing of multiple copies of a user-specified object.

Character is a new module designed to speed the process of creating character animation. Its symmetry and propagation controls allow the user to manage multiple cyclic sequences that may be reflected bidirectionally across an object. The Actor module further frees the animator from the tedium often associated with producing complex sequences. Parameters such as gravity, collision, or wind as well as physical properties such as density and elasticity may be specified before running a simulation, which automatically generates the motion paths for the scene objects.

The Tools module combines utility programs for file and project management with a still-frame and flipbook viewer, an autotracer, a basic compositor, and scanner access. Additional utilities include import and export of numerous bitmap and geometry file formats, output to film recorders, and record/frame grab using an Abekas video recorder.

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2.5.5 TDI Explore 3.0.1

Explore's most outstanding attributes lie in its modeller, 3Design, which offers sophisticated NURBS and polygonal modeling, and in IPR (Interactive Photorealistic Rendering), a unique application that allows interactive adjustments to object materials and lighting to be instantly viewed using selected scene views. Furthermore, it features its own custom surface-description language, which expands IPR's capabilities even further, thus providing exhaustive control over all surface material

attributes.

Explore's structure, which consists of stand-alone modules, though well adapted to a systematic approach, strictly compartmentalises the animation process. For instance, though the user may view a hardware render of the current scene in any window from any interactive module (such as 3Design, Mapper, or Anim), there is no provision for either preview rendering or final rendering of the scene from within these modules. To produce a render, the user must save the script from the current interactive module, invoke the Render module to produce an image, and then invoke the Display module to view the result. In spite of this, Explore is responsive, modules load quickly, multiple modules may be loaded and executed simultaneously, and model and animation files work seamlessly with all modules.

The TDI modeller, 3Design, offers a range of 2D and 3D primitives as well as sophisticated NURBS and polygonal modeling. 3Design's tools constitute a modeller of excellent functionality. Curves may be offset, arrayed, joined, cut, or projected onto an existing object or surface or extracted from an existing object. Furthermore, they may be extruded, lofted, revolved, or swept along multiple paths, forming 3D surfaces. Editing tools are equally complete and provide a useful mix of tools to shape, cut, subdivide, join, attach, and group both NURBS and polygonal geometry.

Models previously saved individually or as groups are then loaded into the Anim module where all interactive motion scripting, lighting, and the camera are created and modified. Anim allows animation along a curve, shape interpolation, shape deformation, and skeletal animation. Animation is accomplished using curves that are subdivided into one or more components, one for each trajectory. Function keys, which pop up the camera view, graphs window, and hierarchy window, speed motion-path editing and enhance feedback. This combination provides precise control over simple motion such as that of an object's scale or rotation as well as over complex motion such as the motion of dozens of animated surface colour and texture attributes.

Motion scripts created in Anim may be loaded into the Mapper application. Here the user combines various paint, rendered frames, and scanned images to create image maps for texture, bump, or transparency mapping. These are applied to each object using projection methods such as planar, spherical, or cylindrical projection. Mapper allows the interactive preview of projection type and map position, which is displayed on each object's geometry. Additional control is provided for a number of output channels, tiling, and masking.

Specially rendered animation frames loaded into the IPR module may be viewed and interactively edited to modify all scene materials, textures, and lighting. Simply mouse-clicking over the desired material brings up a detailed list of all material attributes for that object. When any attribute is changed, the object is instantly updated to reflect the change. This includes reflection, refraction, and shadow qualities. IPR also provides multiple libraries of pre-defined materials (many with animated attributes) and a playback device for preview of animated textures. Finished IPR frames may then be raytraced to produce finished animations or still frames.

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2.5.6 Vertigo 9.5

Vertigo provides the most complete support of the RenderMan specification available in a commercial modeling and animation product. This includes access not only to shaders but also to accurate lights and cameras. Furthermore, it allows the majority of RenderMan variables to be animated.

Any number of cameras may be saved and used with the Camera Cuts tool, which provides a shot list for each camera. You can also use this tool to indicate easily which cameras will record specific ranges of the current animation. This is invaluable for speeding the production of transitions for compositing sequences.

The interface combines both interactive and Iris Workspace, which lets you drag and drop animation scripts and launch Vertigo Animator; this also simplifies ASCII text editing of motion scripts or deformation effects.

Vertigo's animation supports keyframe animation of objects, textures, bump maps, lights, and cameras. Each animated scene member has a spline motion curve, for which you can control continuity, tension, and bias. Motion scripting, which is useful for creating inverse kinematics or for simulating movement based on real-world parameters, is provided via Vertigo's Functional Channels module. With this module, you can apply mathematical or conditional formulae to any functional channel.

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