In this article you learn how to create animations and export them as movies using the VR stories module.
In this article you learn how to create animations and export them as movies using the VR stories module.
VR provides a great environment for exploring 3D and 4D data, and sharing this environment using the Collaborative VR module in arivis Pro VR is the best way to let multiple users enjoy the same benefits of depth perception which makes VR such an asset. However, Since it is hardly practical to equip a complete auditorium with VR headsets at present, creating movies that can be easily added to presentations is probably the next best thing. Since VR provides a great way to navigate through datasets and encourages exploring viewpoints that may me be difficult to conceive using screen based 3D viewers, it is also a great environment to create such animations for export.
The VR Stories module in arivis Pro VR provides the tools needed to create animations directly in the VR environment for export as movies.
The VR Stories module provides several options for creating animations. The first of these is whether to record a continuous or step by step recording. In continuous recording the user starts recording and the software automatically and continuously records the user's actions. This method is in some sense easier as there is no need for the user to actively interact with the recording process except to terminate the recording when finished. However, this method functions best if the user has already prepared what they want to show in some detail to avoid having to start over again each time a hesitation or mistake spoils the recording. therefore, some rehearsal is highly recommended.
In contrast, the step by step recording requires that the user actively records each transition step much like the storyboard works in arivis Pro. This is a little more laborious, but gives the user plenty of room to explore and refine each step in the animation to ensure the best results.
VR Stories can include changes in position and scaling of the volume, position of the clipping tool, opacity changes, changes in rendering mode, and object visibility. However, they do not include object segmentation or isosurface modifications, and generally the creation of manual measurements. If we want to record such things it may be best to use screen recording software to capture what is shown in the arivis window, which mirrors what the user sees in the glasses.
The main advantage of creating animations over just recording the screen is the ability the generate higher resolution movies than what we may be capable of displaying in the headset.
As mentioned in our VR introduction page, one key aspect of creating a useful and comfortable VR experience is the ability to render high quality renderings very rapidly through the headset. This is the main reason that arivis VR requires a desktop GPU based rendering. But even with powerful desktop GPUs some compromises must be made to render quality and resolution to guarantee a fast frame rate, more so for large datasets (typically anything larger than 1000x1000x1000 pixel equivalent). But while a high frame rate is clearly important while the users is wearing a headset, once an animation is recorded we can usually afford taking a little more time to generate a movie of higher quality from the animation when the user is no longer wearing the headset. If using screen recording software there is no option to generate higher quality movies than what is visible in the headset. However, exporting animations as movies does provide the option to generate higher resolution renderings.
Recording an animation in VR, especially when in continuous mode, is quite similar to recording footage using a hand-held camera. The continuous recording smoothes out the movement by sampling the position every second, but care should be taken to minimize head movements when recording.
Also, because the VR experience is generally quite fluid, adept users can tend to navigate rather quickly through their datasets, and while this feels very natural with the headset on, it can leads to animations that are much too fast for an outside viewer to follow. Therefore, when recording animations it is recommended to:
To create an animation in continuous mode, start by opening the tools menu. Go to the Recording tools and select the CONT option. Then, use the trigger to start recording. Record your animation then press the A button to finish recording.
Creating an animation in step-wise mode is very similar, in that we start by clicking the trigger button and still use A to terminate the recording, but we must also press the trigger for each additional keyframe.
The quality setting is most important for large volumes, ut generally has a big impact on the processing time. The quality setting goes from Very Low to Very High and each increase in quality level results in both an increase in the quality of the video render and the processing time needed to produce the video file.