Film Loop Setup – General Options

The Film Loop Setup wizard is used to create animation files of data that has been opened into SMS. This wizard is invoked by choosing the Film Loop option from the Data menu. When the wizard is successfully completed, the animation is generated according to the specified options and then displayed in the Play AVI Application (PAVIA). Controls exist within that application to play, stop, and step the animation. When an animation is stopped on a frame, the frame’s image can be copied to the clipboard using the Copy button. The pavia.exe file is a separate application and can be copied to other computers to display existing animations on computers that do not have SMS installed. This is useful for displaying animations during a presentation or sending the animation to another individual or entity. You do not have to close the pavia application before creating another animation in SMS, but you will not be able to create an animation with the same file name as an opened animation.

The General Options page allows you to specify a file name and an animation type. To play an existing filmloop, choose the Open Existing Filmloop option. Otherwise, a new film loop file will be created.

The file to create or open can be changed by clicking the Browse button. The following film loop types are available:

• Scalar/Vector Animation. To use this option, you must have opened a dynamic solution file. This will show how contours and/or vectors change with time by displaying a sequence of images, one for each time step.

• Flow Trace. To use this option, you must have an available vector data set, such as velocity. This animation randomly distributes particles throughout the domain and shows their path through time.

• Drogue Plot. To use this option, you must have an available vector data set, such as velocity, and you must have created points and/or arcs in a Particle/Drogue coverage with the Map module. This option is similar to the Flow Trace, except that particles are initially placed at feature points and at each vertex of feature arcs in the selected coverage.

• Multiple Views (SMS 8.1 only). This option creates an animation of a single time step from one rotated view to another. A viewing path is created with any number of bearing/dip pairs.

• Plot Window (SMS 9.0 only). This option allows you to animate a plot window, such as how a functional value across an observation arc changes through time.