D3PLOT 22.1

Reading Static Images and Movies

Reading static images and movies

Static image

Read an image file to display as a background image behind a model instead of a solid background colour.

The formats we support are the same as we are able to write, see Capture .

Scaling Options

If the image dimensions do not match the graph window dimensions then the image can be scaled to fit or it can be tiled.

Below is an example background with the model overlayed on top.




Movie (video file)

Read movies in one of the following formats:

MP4 (.mp4)
AVI (.avi)

We support all movie formats that we are able to create, namely MP4, bitmap AVI, and MJPEG AVI. Some AVIs need extra codec to be read in successfully, an error message will tell you that the codec is not supported and you will need to install the appropriate codec in order to read the movie.

Movie Options

Movie Options allow you to choose the start frame and state as well as the interval for both the movie and the simulation analysis. This can be particularly useful when you try to synchronize the movie with the simulation analysis. See Matching for how this can be done.

Scaling Options

If the movie dimensions do not match the graph window dimensions then the image can be scaled to fit or it can be tiled.

Movie (static files)

Read a series of files with the same name and extension in a format of <name>nnn.<ext>

E.g.

d3plot001.jpg, d3plot002.jpg, d3plot003.jpg.....d3plot010.jpg

D3PLOT will search for all qualified images and read them together. D3PLOT will then display them in the order as they're numbered as you play the simulation.

Movie Options

You can control the start frame and interval the same way as you do with movie frames, and aligh them with analysis data, too. See Matching for how this can be done.

Scaling Options

If the image dimensions do not match the graph window dimensions then the image can be scaled to fit or it can be tiled. This will be applied to all images once you've set it.

Further playback options

File reading options allow you to stipulate the start, increment and end frames to be read from the file. Each animation frame with have a single file frame displayed behind it, this allows you to choose what that should be.

Alignment with analysis data controls which frames from the analysis will be used. This is equivalent to using the main Anim > Set states popup to define the states to be displayed, and will modify the master animation display status accordingly.

Playback method controls whether background animation data is streamed from its source, or stored in memory (cached).

  • Streaming decompresses each frame as and when it is required, so only requires storage for a single frame per window. This may be a little bit slower, although generally AVI files will decompress at a rate of 60 frames per second or better, but it require little memory.

  • Caching decompresses all frames into an initial storage buffer, and then replays from this buffer. This is very fast, but if you have a significant number of frames in your background file you can end up running out of memory. This may be a suitable solution for a movie built from "static files", since they are likely to be few in number but relatively slow to decompress; however it is not recommended for MP4 or AVI files.


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