Fractal Architect 3 Help Index

Keyframe Window


Applies to:FA 3DFA 3D-AV

See also: Keyframe Video Animation

Keyframes Window
Keyframes Window

Concepts

Fractal files can hold 1 or more keyframes. Multiple keyframes are used to generate animations or are simply just a collection of nice fractals. Sometimes on the web, these collections are called Flame packs.

Keyframes vs Interpolated Keyframes
Flame files can also hold the output of animation, where each video frame is represented by a single keyframe. (At this point, they are no longer proper keyframes, just a collection of interpolated frames - usage by the application in either case is the same.)

Handling huge numbers of keyframes - Peer Windows
The output of fractal animation can create literally thousands of keyframes. If they are saved to a flame file, its not practical to try and render say 2,000 thumbnails at a time (unless you want to take a long nap hah!). So the Keyframes window supports the concept of batch size, which is the maximum # of keyframes to render and make visible at a time. The default batch size is 25. You can change this, but it will take longer to render the thumbnails.

So, for a large file, you can only look at a portion of the keyframes in the file at a time. A single flame file supports 2 peer keyframe windows (much like splitting a text editor into 2 panes). Each pane can be looking at different portion of the file.

You can drag a keyframe from a window to its peer window to move the keyframe.

Opening the Keyframes Window from a Preview window

Adding, Deleting, or Reordering Keyframes

Adding new keyframes

Do one of the following:

Drag & Drop
Drag from any other window or thumbnail. Drag file from Finder.
Drop it before first thumbnail, after last thumbnail, or between two thumbnails. The keyframes will be added there. Dropping on top of thumbnail will replace that thumbnail with the dropped one.
File > Append Keyframe Flame Files
You can select existing flame files whose contents will be appended as keyframes.
File > New Composite Fractal
Creates a new flame file whose keyframes are assembled from other existing flame files.

Deleting keyframes

Do one of the following:

Click the “-” Button.
Click this button to delete the selected keyframes.
Context Menu > Delete Frame
Deletes the selected keyframes.
Replacing a keyframe
Drag & Drop
Drag from any other window or thumbnail. or Drag file from Finder.
Dropping on top of another thumbnail will replace that thumbnail with the dropped one.
Reordering Keyframes - Drag & Drop
Drag & Drop
Drag from any other window or thumbnail. or Drag file from Finder.
Dropping on top of another thumbnail will replace that thumbnail with the dropped one.

Keyframe Window Controls

Interpolated Keyframes window
Interpolated Keyframes window
Undo/Redo
Undo
Undo last keyframe change. Redo
Redo last change.
Undo All
Discard all changes and reset undo state.
Toolbar Controls
“-” Button
Delete the selected keyframes.
Thumbnail Video Frame Rate
Frame rate for thumbnail video.
Show Preview Video
Create and open the thumbnail video.
Show Peer
Show the Peer keyframe window for this keyframe window.
Animation Panel
Open the Animation panel.
Batch Size
Maximum # of keyframes to be rendered at a time.
Standard Thumbnail Services
Home Button
Open the Preview window for this thumbnail.
Variants Button
Open the Variants editor to play with different random combinations.
Quicklook Button
Show the QuickLook window to see a temporary bigger image.
Text Info Button
Opens a non-editable view of the fractal text description.
Triangle Editor Button
Open the Triangle Editor for the thumbnail.