Effects and Animations

Please note that this section mostly deals with ARDI-VE and the advanced visual effects you can apply to 3D models in that client.

ARDI - in particular ARDI-VE - includes a range of animations and effects that can be placed on your models.

These are added using a XML-based language. You can find specifics of the language in the ARDI Effects Reference.

You can edit the effects yourself by visiting the Detail: Effects, Options and Scripts page for your asset and choosing one of the Effects Applied Inside options.

Each effect appears as it's own line of XML. An XML line looks like the line below…

<effectname parametername="value"/>

Each effect has a unique name, and usually has one or more parameters to choose from.

For example, the effect you would use to make an object spin around on the spot is….

<spin speed="5"/>

This makes the asset spin at 5 degrees per second.

There are some Standard Effect Properties that allow you to control when an effect is active and the object it is active on.

Linking real-world or historical data to the effects is done via bindable attributes and Binding Expressions.

We will continue with the car example we looked at in Complex Models.

In this case, our car has several tyres and we would like them to spin.

<spin speed="5" enabled="[Running|1]" appliesto="blades"/>
<spin speed="[Speed:%:0:20]" appliesto="blades"/>

The appliesto command on both of these examples limits the effect to only appear on the blades of the fan, rather than the body as well.

Example 1 shows a fan that stops and starts based on the Running property. When Running is 1, the fan will spin at 5 degrees per second.

Example 2 shows a fan that changes it's speed depending on the speed property of the asset. At 100% speed, the fan spins at 20 degrees per second. At 0% speed, it will be stopped.