Module: Rotate ()

Description:

The Rotate module can be used to animate the local rotation of a spatial data object, which is done by changing the object's transformation, as opposed to manipulating the virtual camera. This allows you to rotate multiple objects in the scene independently, which is especially important for animated demonstrations.

The most efficient way to create a Rotate module is to right-click on a spatial data object and select it from the Animation / Demo entry in the popup menu.

Using the module is quite simple: just specify a rotation axis as well as a center of rotation, and then use the time slider to animate the rotation. The center can be computed automatically as the center of the object's bounding box. The rotation axis can be specified by attaching an additional plane module and using the normal vector of that plane as the axis.

Connections:

Data [required]
The Data port connects the module to the spatial data object that is to be rotated.

Normal Plane [optional]
The Normal Plane port connects the module to an optional planar module for defining the rotation axis. You may simply right-click on the blue Rotate icon in the Project View and select Normal Plane from the popup menu to create such a plane. Once you have defined the orientation of the plane using e.g., its trackball manipulator, you can use the normal as the rotation axis by pressing the Use plane normal button.

Time [optional]
Port Time allows the user to synchronize with other modules, e.g. for using Movie Maker.

Ports:

Time

The time slider is used to animate the rotation. Press the play buttons on the left or right of the slider to play backwards or forwards, or click anywhere on the slider to jump to the respective time step. By right-clicking on the slider and selecting Configure you can change the slider increment in order to adjust the speed of the animation. (Please note that this increment value will have no effect if the Rotate module is driven by some other module like Movie Maker or Demo Maker.) For more details please refer to the Time port documentation.

Axis

Specify the X, Y and Z components of the rotation axis vector. The vector will be normalized automatically. E.g. values of 0 1 0 will rotate the object around the Y axis of its local coordinate system. You can also set the values of the rotation axis by attaching a Normal Plane and pressing the Use plane normal button.

Center

Specify the X, Y and Z coordinates of the center of rotation. This can be set automatically to the object center by clicking on the Use bbox center button.

Action

Use plane normal: if you have connected a planar module via the Normal Plane connection, you can set the rotation axis to the normal vector of that plane by pressing this button.
Use bbox center: if you have connected a spatial data object via the Data connection, you can set the center of rotation to the center of the object's bounding box by pressing this button.

Rotation [deg]

Specify the amount of rotation in degrees, e.g., 360 degrees for one full rotation. Note that, when the unit management is activated within , this port can also display radian values.

Options

explicit redraw: switching this toggle on will cause the module to explicitly call a "viewer redraw" command whenever the value of the time slider and rotation is changed.

Further links
Script Module documentation for script programming.