Using Animations
You can replay an Animation again after the Simulation ends to investigate the results of a simulation, as long as the results of the simulation have been stored in your Modeling database. By default, Adams View only stores the last simulation you performed. You can either manually store a particular simulation, or you can set Adams View so that it automatically stores all your simulations. Learn about Saving Simulation Results.
You can play animation frames forwards or backwards, speed them up or slow them down, pause and continue an animation, rewind to an earlier frame, continuously play an animation in a loop, or play only a certain portion of the entire sequence of frames. The following sections explain how to control the playing of your animations.
To learn about recording animations see Recording Animations.
Playing an Animation
When you play an Animation, Adams View plays every frame by default. You can rewind an animation and play the animation at various speeds as explained in the table below. During fast-forward and fast-backward play modes, Adams View plays only every fifth frame.
The table below explains the options available on the Animation Controls dialog box for playing an animation.
To play an animation: | Select the tool: |
|---|---|
Forwards | Play-forward tool  |
Backward | Play-backward tool  |
Fast-forward mode | Play-fast-forward tool  |
Fast-backward mode | Play-fast-backward tool  |
Tip: | To run an animation using defaults, double-click the Animation tool  . |
Stopping an Animation
You can pause an Animation at any time instead of waiting for it to complete.
To stop an animation, do one of the following:
■On the Animation container of the Main toolbox or the Animation Controls dialog box, select the Pause tool
■
. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .)
. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .) 
.■Press the Esc key.
Rewinding an Animation
After an Animation has ended or stopped, you can rewind it to the beginning of the animation. When you rewind an animation, Adams View returns to the first frame calculated during the simulation, and not to the initial design configuration. You can also rewind or advance one frame at a time. Learn about displaying specific animation frames.
To rewind an animation to the first frame:
■On the Animation container on the Main toolbox or the Animation Controls dialog box, select the Rewind tool
■
. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .)
. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .)Skipping Frames During an Animation
When you don't need to see every frame of an Animation to get an idea of how your model behaves, you can skip frames. For example, you can skip every other frame or skip every fifth frame. While skipping frames can help speed up an animation, it can also cause you to miss events that occurred in your simulation. By default, Adams View does not skip any frames when playing an animation.
To skip frames while playing an animation:
■On the Animation Controls dialog box, enter the number of frames to skip in the Frame Increment box. For example, enter 5 to have Adams View display only every fifth frame.
Playing a Subset of Frames
You can choose to play only a subset of the complete sequence of frames in an Animation. By default, Adams View plays the complete sequence of frames. You can set the interval to view based on time or frame number.
For example, if you performed a simulation from 0.0 to 10.0 seconds and asked for output every 0.1 seconds, Adams Solver records data at 101 steps or frames. It creates an animation frame every tenth of a second for ten seconds plus one at time 0.0. To only view the animation between 3.0 and 5.5 seconds, set the start time to 3.0 and the end time to 5.5. To achieve the same effect by specifying the frame number, set the start frame to 31 and the stop frame to 56. Remember that frame 1 corresponds to time 0.0.
To play frames associated with a time interval:
■On the Animation Controls dialog box, and then do one of the following:
■Set the last option menu to Time Range, and enter a start time and a stop time. Adams View replays those frames whose time is within the specified range.
■Select Frame Range and enter a start frame and a stop frame.
Repeating an Animation
By default, Adams View plays the specified sequence of frames once. You can replay the animation as many times as desired.
To specify the repetition for an animation, do one of the following:
■On the Animation Controls dialog box, in the Cycles text box, enter a whole number representing the number of times you want Adams View to play the animation. Adams View automatically rewinds the animation before each replay.
■On the Animation container in Main toolbox, select Loop. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .)
.)Displaying Specific Animation Frames
Adams View provides you with several options for playing specific Animation frames. You can play one frame, display each frame one at a time, or display a frame associated with a particular time.
To display a frame from an animation, do one of the following:
■On the Animation Controls dialog box or the Animation container on the Main toolbox, click and drag on the slider until you reach the number of the frame you want to display. (To display the Animation container, select the Animate tool .)
.)■On the Animation Control dialog box:
■From last option menu, select Frame.
■In the box that appears to the right of the option menu, enter the number of the frame you want displayed and select Apply.
To display the frames of an animation one at a time, do one of the following:
■On the Animation Control dialog box, select the:
■Forward Frame tool 
to advance one frame.
to advance one frame.■Backward Frame tool 
to rewind one frame.
to rewind one frame.■From the Animation container on the Main toolbox, select the:
■Forward Frame tool 
to advance one frame.
to advance one frame.■Backward Frame tool 
to rewind one frame.
to rewind one frame. To display a frame from an animation associated with a particular time:
1. On the Animation Control dialog box, from the last option menu, select Time.
2. In the box that appears to the right of the option menu, enter the time closest to the frame you want displayed.
3. Select Apply.
Resetting the Model View
After you've animated your model, you need to set Adams View to modeling view to make any changes to your model.
To return to modeling view, do one of the following:
■Close the Animation Controls dialog box.
.Replaying Animation of Simulation Results
You can replay an Animation of the last Simulation. Replaying an animation displays the results much faster than if you simulate the model again and watch the frames update as the solution calculates results. You can also replay an animation of a saved simulation.
How Adams View replays your simulation depends on whether or not you have finished the simulation and reset the model back to its initial design configuration.
■If you have run a simulation, or part of a simulation, but not set the model back to its initial configuration, when you select to replay the animation, Adams View animates the model up to the last simulation step and leaves your model there.
■If you reset your model back to its initial configuration, when you select to replay the animation, Adams View automatically sets the model back to the initial design configuration when the animation is complete.
To replay an animation of simulation results:
■From either the Simulation container on the Main toolbox or the Simulation Controls dialog box, select the Animation Replay tool 
.
.