| ThingMaker Documentation Chapter 7) Windows and Palettes

| Animation Editor Settings Sheet The Animation Editor Settings Sheet is used to edit the sequence of images that make up an Animation. You can also use the Editor to add frames to a single image and turn it into an Animation. This Settings Sheet holds the Frame Sequence Editing Tray. You can make changes to your Animation sequence in this Tray. Two options edit the alignment (registration) of frames in a sequence. You can view the Animation in a separate Window and you can turn Onion-skinning on or off.

Onion-skinning
Onion-skinning lets you line-up individual frames relative to the current Frame. When you check the box labeled "Onion-skin," the Scene will display the previous frame as a ghost image "beneath" this frame.

View in separate window
You can adjust Frame alignment in the Scene Window as above, or you can display the Animation sequence in a separate window. Check the option, View in separate window to open. You will see the current Frame. If you turned Onion-skinning on, the Onion-skin ghost image will be visible. You can adjust the current Frame's alignment in this window just by clicking and dragging.

Preview
The Playback Button in the Animation Editor lets you view the Animation. If you are working in View in a separate Window mode, the Animation will play there. If that Window isn't open, pressing the Playback Button in the Animation Editor will play the specific Animation you have selected and any other animated objects in the current scene, but you won't be able to interact with the Things in the scene. To do that, you must use the Scene Window Play Button.

Working with Frames
The Animation Editor let's you manipulate the frames that make up an Animation. It also let's you removed frames, or add frames to a sequence.

Adding Frames to a sequence
You can add additional frames to existing Animation sequences by dragging a Thing containing those frames from the Gallery to the Editor Settings Sheet.

To do this, you will first have to import the graphic or graphics you want to use into the Gallery.

Once you have these new graphics imported as a separate Thing, select the Thing that you want to work on and open the Editor Settings Sheet. Click and drag the Thing with the new Frame(s) from the Gallery to the frame Sequence Editing Tray in the Editor. A yellow arrow will appear indicating where the Frame(s) will be inserted (see below). Release the mouse and the Frame(s) will be added to the sequence.

ThingMaker always imports graphics into all three states of a Thing. When you drag a Thing from the Gallery to the Animation Setting Sheet Editor of another Thing, ThingMaker takes the frames from the Default State of the Thing you are adding. If you want to use frames contained in the MouseOver or MouseClick States of a Thing, you should first create a new Thing containing just those frames. You do this by dragging the Media Icon from that Thing's Setting Sheet to the Gallery or Scene. This will create a new Thing containing those frames in its Default State.

Changing the order of Frames in a sequence
The order of the frames in a sequence can be modified by clicking and dragging a Frame to a new location in the Frame Sequence Editing Tray. As you drag the Frame, a yellow arrow appears showing you the Frame's new position.

Duplicating Frames
You can duplicate a Frame in a sequence by holding down the Control key and clicking and dragging the Frame to another location in the Frame sequence. The Editor will leave the original Frame where it was and put a duplicate image in the new location.

Removing Frames from a sequence
Frames can be removed from a sequence by clicking and dragging the Frame to the Trash Can in the Settings Palette. The Trash Can will highlight and open, release the mouse, and the Frame will be deleted.

Turning a Frame into a Thing
You can copy a Frame from an Animation sequence and turn it into a separate Thing in the Gallery or the Scene. Simply drag the Frame from the Frame Sequence Editing Tray to the Gallery or the Scene Window.

Changing the Timing of Frames
The overall speed of an Animation can be adjusted using the Speed slider on the Basic Setting Sheet for the Animation.

Use the Speed slider, if you want to adjust the rate at which all of the frames appear; however, if want to change the time that one or more individual frames appear on screen relative to the other frames in the sequence, then you have to adjust the timing for the individual frame or frames.

To adjust the timing of an individual frame, click on the frame Sequence Editing Tray. A numerical field appears above the Frame. It shows in milliseconds, the length of time the frame is on-screen when the speed slider is set to normal. Changing this number will change the length of time that the frame is displayed.

This value represents time in milliseconds when the Speed Slider is set to Normal. If the Slider has been moved, all times are adjusted. The value will only represent the relative time on screen.

Adjusting the alignment of Frames
When you adjust the relative on-screen position of frames in a sequence, you are adjusting the alignment of the frames. Typically, when multiple images are playing in sequence, you want to establish a coherent pattern for them, so the sequence makes visual sense. In other words, you might want to give each image a specific location relative to the other and to maintain that relative position throughout the sequence. So, for a set of circles where the center color changes, you set the circles' location and only their centers would change.

ThingMaker let's you adjust the relative alignment of any Frame whenever the Editor is open and a Frame is selected. The selected Frame will be displayed in the Scene Window. For the most part, when you import several graphics at a time, you will find that they are all aligned to the same position; the top-left hand corner of each frame is in the same location. If not, click and drag that image in the Scene, and you will actually adjust the alignment of that frame relative to the other frames in the sequence. While adjusting the alignment, Onion skinning (see above) provides feedback on the frame's relative position in the sequence.

You can adjust the alignment of the frame by clicking and dragging it; alternatively, you can move the graphic using the Arrow Keys on the keyboard. Use the Page Up and Page Down Keys to move through the frames.

For these keys to work, the Editor Window needs to be open and you need to click in the Scene Window.

When the Editor Settings Sheet is open, ThingMaker switches to a frame Edit mode. Other Things in the Scene Window cannot be selected if this Tab is selected. To switch out of this mode, click on either the Basic or Detail Tabs.

Alignment Editor
If an object appears to jump when States change (when you move the cursor over it or click on it), you should use the Alignment function to adjust the relative position of the Media in that State. This function is similar to the Alignment option available in the Animation Editor, but in the Animation Editor you are working on individual frames of the Animation. In the Alignment Editor, you are able to work on all the frames in the Thing's current State. Alignment always displays an Onion-skin view of the elements that comprise the Thing.

Alignment is only available as a function in MouseOver and in MouseClick.

View in separate window
Setting this option displays a separate Window where you can adjust the alignment of the Media for each state of the Thing.

Image Settings Sheets
Single images have Settings Sheets that closely mirror the Setting Sheets for an Animation. In fact, the Editor and Alignment Settings Sheets are the same for both images and Animation. Because an Image Setting Sheet gives you an Editor tab, you can turn an image it into an Animation by adding frames and turn an Animation back into a single image by removing frames, as well.

Image Basic Settings Sheet
The Basic Settings Sheet for an image shows only a preview of the image. No other options are available.

Image Detail Settings Sheet
The Detail Settings Sheet contains the following:

Display for full duration of frame
This parameter does for an image what the Play to end of sequence parameter does for Animations. The duration is the timing entered for the frame in the Editor. (See "Play to end of sequence" under Animation Detail Settings Sheet in this Reference.)

Transparency options.
These are the same as those found in the Animation Detail Settings Sheet. (See "Transparency controls" under Animation Detail Settings Sheet in this Reference.)

Image Editor Settings Sheet
See "Animation Editor Settings Sheet" in this Reference.

Image Alignment Settings Sheet
See "Animation Alignment Settings Sheet" in this Reference.

Sound Settings Sheet
The Sound Settings Sheet is used to set parameters for sound. With it, you can specify the number of times a sound will play and whether the Thing will play the whole sound before the state changes.

When sounds are imported into ThingMaker you can specify whether to compress the sound or not to compress it. We recommend that you compress all audio to reduce the size of your Things. A Settings Sheet Icon indicates that sound is compressed.

Play
Lets you specify the number of times the sound will play.

- Continuously
  This means the sound will play repeatedly until the Scene ends or the object changes State.
- Times
  This means the sound will play the number of times specified in the box and then it will stop.

  Times refers to the number of times the sound will play in the State for which it is defined, only. When a Thing switches out of the State and then reverts to the State, the parameter resets and the sound again plays the number of times specified.

  Play to end of sound
  When this option is set, the sound will play to the end, even if the Thing switches to another state. When this option isn't set, the sound stops playing as soon as the State changes.

  Preview
  Pressing the Preview Button lets you hear the sound without having to play the Scene. When you press play, the Button changes to a Stop Button. Click the Stop Button when you want to end the playback.

  Compressed Sound Icon
  Indicates that the sound was compressed when it was imported into ThingMaker. If you want a sound that is not compressed, you must import the sound again, and uncheck the Compress option in the File Open dialog.

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