The Visibility animations sub-panel contains settings that are related to visibility animations.

The visibility animations sub-panel consists of 3 parts: the visibility animation tools (top and bottom), the visibility sequences list (center left), and the visibility animation properties (center right). 

The visibility animation tools

The visibility animation tools can be found above and below the visibility sequences list. These controls are, from top to bottom, left to right:

• Add visibility animation to existing sequence button - This control is used to add a visibility animation to the indicated sequence.
• The Existing Sequence selector pull-down - This control is used to select an existing sequence for the purposes of adding a visibility animation to the sequence.
• Remove Visibility animation from selected sequence - This control deletes the currently selected visibility animation in the visibility sequence list.  A sequence may be selected by clicking its name in the "Visibility Sequences" list.   If the selected sequence contains more than one type of animation, only the visibility animation portion of the sequence is deleted.

The visibility sequences list

The visibility sequences list on the visibility sequences sub-panel displays a list of all sequences which contain visibility animations. The sequence properties on the right hand side of the page apply to the currently selected sequence in this list.  A sequence may be selected by clicking on its name in the list.  Existing sequences may be added to or removed from the list using the visibility sequence tool controls at the top and bottom of the panel.

The visibility animation properties

The visibility animation properties are located on the right-hand side of the page. The visibility animation properties apply to the currently selected sequence in the visibility sequences list on the left-hand side of the page. If no sequence is selected, the sequence properties are disabled and will not respond to mouse clicks.

From top to bottom, left to right, the sequence properties are:

Selected Sequence Label

The selected sequence label displays the currently selected sequence from the visibility sequences list on the left. The options below this label apply to the currently selected sequence.

Object Visibility Track List

The Object Visibility track list displays a list of all detected dts objects. The "Enable" button next to each mesh name is used to mark the mesh object as having a visibility track for the currently selected sequence. Mesh visibility tracks that are set on the highest detail level version of a mesh will also play back on the other versions of the same mesh in different detail levels; provided that the exporter's mesh naming convention has been followed. See Setting Up DTS Shapes in Blender for more information on the mesh naming convention that must be used for multiple Levels of detail.

Selected Object label

The selected object label displays the currently selected object from the object visibility track list to its left. The properties below this label apply to the currently selected object in the object visibility list track list.

IPO Type selector pull-down

The IPO Type selector pull-down is used to select the type of Blender IPO curve that will be used to drive the visibility track for the selected object in the Object Visibility Track list.  This type can be set to either "Object" or "Material". The IPO Type affects the choices available in the IPO Channel and IPO Object selector pull-downs below it.

IPO Channel selector pull-down

The IPO Channel selector pull-down is used to select a Blender IPO channel from a Blender object or material (depending on the IPO Type setting). The selected channel is sampled to determine the object's visibility state on each frame of the animation.  A value of 1.0 for the IPO curve is 100% opaque while a value of 0.0 for the curve is 100% transparent.

IPO Object/Material selector pull-down

The IPO Object/Material selector pull-down is used to select a Blender object or material (depending on the IPO Type setting) from which to sample an IPO curve for the currently selected visibility track in the Object Visibility Track list. This pulldown is populated with a list of all Blender objects or materials from the current scene. In future versions of the exporter, this pulldown will probably be filtered to show only the objects or materials that have a Blender IPO curve defined for the selected IPO Channel. 

See Also:

• DTS Animations - Mesh Visibility Animations
• Tutorial 6 - Adding a visibility animation