Specifications

Recording video

You may want to save a video file of you simulation for a presentation or simply to be able to show a large

model running in real time. The model view provides the opportunity to save the individual graphics frames

for subsequent processing into a video animation that you can play at any speed you

like.

The function works much like a video tape recorder in the sense that you can push the

red record button any time you like, and what happens in the window is subsequently

saved for further processing. Let's see how it works. Try clicking the record button. A

file manager will pop up and request you to select a location and a naming of the files

you make. The name you select will be appended with _nnn where nnn if the frame

number of each image. You can also select the image type, and jpeg is usually a good choice to limit the

size of the images on the disk.

You will notice that the frame counter lights up, the "Rec" letters flashes, the record button becomes

inactive indicating that you cannot push it twice, and the stop button becomes active indicating that you can

push it.

Everything that takes place in the window will now be recorded. Try spinning the model around a little with

the mouse and notice how the frame counter adds up. Notice that the system is intelligent enough to not

record anything when nothing is happening. This means that you are in no hurry when you have pushed the

Record button. The system only grabs frames when the picture actually changes. This happens either when

you manipulate the picture manually as you did here, or when an analysis is running and producing new

pictures as it proceeds. If you record an analysis with 100 time steps, then you will get 100 frames saved.

When you have 50-100 frames, push the "Stop recording" button. The system will ask you whether you

really want to save the frames. If you answer no, they will be erased. If you save the frames you will be left

with a bunch of image files like this:

The AnyBody Modeling System does not provide a video editing facility to process these files into an AVI,

MPEG or similar video file format. However, many really good and cheap utilities are available for this