Kinemac - Support - Stage window




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The Stage window
The Stage window is where you display your animation. Use this window to arrange the objects composing the scene, and to move the cameras which shoot the scene. You can also drag files, folder and iTunes songs onto the Stage window to accompany your animation.
• Drag files onto the Stage You can drag files and folders onto the Stage window to easily create new objects like images or movies mapped onto rectangles or cubes. You can drag images, movies, audio, text, svg, 3ds and obj files to import them into your animation. In detail:
	• Drag Image files You can drag image files like jpg, tiff, png, pdf, psd, targa, bmp, gif... Kinemac automatically will create a rectangle with that picture mapped on both the sides. You can later animate this rectangle as your wish. If you drag more than 2 pictures per time, or a folder containing more than 2 pictures, Kinemac will create a parallelepiped with those pictures mapped on its faces. For example, if you drag the folder "DVD Case" as shown in the picture here aside, containing 4 image files, Kinemac will create a parallelepiped with those images and images size. Kinemac will apply the "DVDFront.jpg" image onto the front surface (because the file name contains the word "front") and will apply the "DVDBack.jpg" image onto the back surfaces, the "DVDLeft.jpg" image onto the left surface, the "DVDRight onto the right surface and the "DVDTop.jpg" onto the top and the bottom surfaces. In a while you created a DVD case with those images. You can quickly select an object on the Stage and drag an image/movie file from the Finder onto the surfaces of the object to apply that texture onto that surface. Likewise you can drag a color from the color palette onto the surface of an object selected on the Stage to assign that color to that surface. Also, to apply a texture to a surface you can open the "Inspector:3D Mapping" panel and drag an image file onto the "Image" wells. To delete a texture, just select the image well and press the "delete key".
	• Drag Movie files You can drag movie files like mov, avi, mpeg, mp4, smil, vob, 3gp, animated gif, flash animations, and more. Kinemac automatically will create a rectangle with the movie mapped on both sides. You can later animate this rectangle as your wish. If you drag more than 2 movies, or a folder containing more than 2 movies (or/and images), Kinemac will create a parallelepiped with the movies mapped onto its surfaces. You can place and resize the movie map onto the surface at your wish. Double click on the movie well on the Inspector:Surfaces/Textures panel to open the Texture Option window. Modify origins and size of the movie texture using the sliders.
	• Drag Audio files You can drag audio files like aif, mp3, wav, mid, midi, m3a, m4a, au... or a song from the iTunes songs list onto the Stage window or onto the hierarchical Sprites list and Kinemac will create a soundtrack in the Sprite window. You can horizontally move and resize the sprite in order to synchronize the soundtrack with your animation. Also, you can set volume-fade effects in any point of the soundtrack creating key frames to the "Volume" parameter and assigning a volume values to each key-frame. You can add as many sounds/songs you need and your machine allows. Kinemac will play them as well as a multitrack player.
	• Drag Text files You can drag text files like rtf and rtfd. You can create these files with a common text editor application like TextEdit or Word. The rtf files are text files containing any kind of font, size, style, color, shadow, paragraph format... The rtfd files are rtf files containing images. Drag these files onto the Stage window or the Sprite list and Kinemac will automatically create a 2D Text object. Then you can animate and/or scroll this object as your wish (scroll to Top, Bottom, Left or Right). You can even create 2D text from scratch using the built-in text editor (call the menu item "Objects:2D:Text"). Double click on the Text Object in the Stage window to edit the text. See the 2D Text page to know more.
	• Drag SVG files You can drag SVG files made with Illustrator and get an extruded object (e.g. a 3D logo) or a revolved object (e.g. a bottle). SVG are Scalable Vector Graphic files containing 2 dimensional vectorial drawing, like the EPS. So, for example, you can create your logo or any other 2D drawing with Illustrator, and save it as SVG format (leave the "Keep Illustrator Modification Functions" check-box unckecked). Then drag the SVG file onto the Stage window and you will get your 2D drawing extruded. If you drag the SVG file onto the Stage holding down the Alt key you will get a revolved object. You can vary the depth of the extrusion (Z axis) clicking on the object then dragging the mouse vertically holding down the Command & Option keys. You can resize the objects even dinamically while the animation is playing assigning key frames to the size parameters. If your logo cannot be imported into Kinemac, go back to Illustrator and select the logo. Then call the menu Object:Path:Simplify and set "Curve Precision" = 100%. Leave the other parameters unchanged. Then save it again as SVG and drag it onto the Kinemac stage.
	• Drag OBJ (WaveFront) and 3DS files You can drag .OBJ and .3DS files containing complex 3D models made with other applications. You can apply image and movie textures to any surface of the model (if defined separately), as well as colors and surface attributes.
• Selection Just click on an object in the Stage window to select it. If the object is nested within a group, click on the object holding down the Option key to select it. If the object is nested within a group and you click on it without holding down the Option key, you will select its root parent group. Double click again on the object until you select it through its parents chain. If the object you want to select is behind another object, click on your object holding down the Control key to exclude the closer object from the selection. Kinemac makes a difference between the modifier key during the selection (clik) and during the drag. Therefore, when selecting an object in the Stage window, please firstly click on the object without holding down any modifier key (excepted the two here above, if you need - Option and Control), then later, without releasing the mouse button, if you need to press some modifier key (e.g. the Command key to resize the object), press the modifier keys, and drag. We are programming new and easier ways to select the objects on the stage using different tools. • Translate an object Click on the object without holding down any modifier key then drag it horizontally (X axis) and vertically (Y axis). Also press the Shift key if you want to constrain the translation along one axis only. To translate the object along the Z axis, click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Option key and drag the mouse vertically. Please note that the object doesn't change its size. It simply goes closer or far from your point of view (if you are using the default camera). • Rotate an object Click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Control key and drag it horizontally (rotate the Y axis) and vertically (X axis). Also press the Shift key if you want to constrain the rotation along one axis only. To rotate the object along the Z axis, click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Control & Option keys and drag the mouse horizontally. • Resize an object Click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Command key and drag it horizontally to modify its X size and vertically to modify its Y size. Also press the Shift key if you want to constrain the resize along one axis only. To resize the object along the Z axis, click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Control & Option keys and drag the mouse vertically. To resize all the 3 dimensions (X, Y and Z) proportionally, click on the object without holding down any modifier key then hold down the Command & Control keys and drag the mouse horizontally. • Pan and resize an image/movie texture upon an object surface Select the object on the Stage window then open the "Textures" window. Set Area to "Crop" and assign the origin and size to the texture on that surface.