NAME

hwSpinner - animate a list of child objects

PROPERTIES

DEFAULTS

DESCRIPTION

The hwSpinner class is probably the most complicated class in all HoverWare; it contains code which can spin its children along a variety of complicated paths. It can be used to animate objects, text, lights, or even the camera.

Each of PosType, DirType, UpType, ScaleType, and TransType can be one of the following integers:

HW_SPIN_CONSTANT

keep this parameter at a constant value

HW_SPIN_LINEAR

linearly interpolate this parameter between 2 values

HW_SPIN_SMOOTH

smoothly interpolate this parameter between several values

The default for each of these is "undefined", which means that parameter will not be modifed by this hwSpinner object. The PosParams, DirParams, UpParams, ScaleParams, and TransParams properties will be interpreted differently depending on the *Type params. Here is the table:

HW_SPIN_CONSTANT

*Params not used

HW_SPIN_LINEAR

Interpolate between two 3-dimensional positions (for PosType/PosParams) or two scalar angles (for DirType/DirParams or UpType/UpParams) or two 3-dimensional sizes (for ScaleType/ScaleParams) or two Transparency values (for TransType/TransParams). Note that only objects that allow a Transparency property will be affected by TransType/TransParams/TransTimes settings.

HW_SPIN_SMOOTH

Interpolate the position, direction vector, up vector, size, or transparency smoothly between several 3-dimensional values specified in the *Params array. For HW_SPIN_SMOOTH, the *Times arrays may be used to vary the timing between segments of the smooth interpolation; there should be the same number of entries in the *Times array as there are vertices in the *Params array. The number in the *Times array corresponds to the percentage (between 0 and 100) of the CycleTime at which the specified Pos/Up/Dir/Scale/Trans value will be exactly the *Params value. An example will make this clearer.

The PosType/PosParams/PosTimes values modify the position of its children in modelling coordinates. The DirType/DirParams/DirTimes values modify the direction the children are facing, relative to the vector {1,0,0}. The UpTime/UpParams/UpTimes values modify the "up" vector of the children, relative to the vector {0,1,0}. The ScaleType/ScaleParams/ScaleTimes values modify the size of the children (NOTE: If all three scale values (X,Y, and Z) are not identical, graphics performance may be diminished). The TransType/TransParams/TransTimes values modify the Transparency of the children (NOTE: only the first, X, value of the curve is used for the Transparency).

The Lifetime is the first and last time, in seconds, that this hwSpinner and its children are visible. By default, HoverWare calculates the number of seconds since hwInit was performed, and this is the time which is used by the hwSpinner object. See hwTimer for ways to alter the passage of time.

The CycleTime specifes how many seconds it takes for this hwSpinner object to recycle back to the beginning; the hwSpinner object will make (Lifetime[1]-Lifetime[0])/CycleTime cycles through its animation.

The Offset is a simple scalar value to add a specified number of seconds to the current time while this hwSpinner object is being displayed.

The Delay is a delay, in seconds, between each child's position in the animation, and can be used to make the children chase each other along the path.

A C source code example is not provided, as managing these things in C is just too complicated for this man page.

OBJECT FILE EXAMPLE

    # Spin the camera around in a circle, looking at the origin
    # The camera spins faster for the first half of the circle
    hwSpinner {
        PosType = HW_SPIN_SMOOTH
        PosParams = {
             0,0,-6,
             6,0, 0,
             0,0, 6,
            -6,0, 0,
             0,0,-6
        }
        PosTimes = {
             0,         # At time 0%, be at 0,0,-6
             10,        # At time 10%, be at 6,0,0
             20,        # At time 20%, be at 0,0,6
             60,        # At time 60%, be at -6,0,0
             100        # At time 100%, be at 0,0,-6
        }

        DirType = HW_SPIN_SMOOTH
        DirParams = {
             0,0, 1,
            -1,0, 0,
             0,0,-1,
             1,0, 0,
             0,0, 1
        }
        DirTimes = {
             0,
             10,
             20,
             60,
             100
        }

        CycleTime = 5.0
        Children = {
            hwCamera {
                Pos = {0,0,0}
                Dir = {1,0,0}   # Make it correspond to hwSpinner
                                # direction
                Up = {0,1,0}
                Perspective = True
                Planes = {0.1,12}
                Field = 45
            }
        }
    }

SEE ALSO

hw