Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Click to select the
channel and graph.
Displacement = 4 units
Click to show or
hide the channel.
T
The vertical scale represents the
displacement in the 3D window.
Figure 9.12
will toggle the display on or off. Click all the eye icons except the “X Location” channel. If
the name “X Location” turns black and the channel in the graphical display disappears, click
the LMB on the name. With only the eye icon for “X Location” active, only the channel for
the location of the cube along the
x-
axis is shown (Figure 9.12).
Now note the vertical and horizontal green lines in the graphical display; these are cur-
sors. The vertical green line is the same as the cursor in the timeline window. The horizon-
tal green line cursor provides a visual location for the vertical scale at the LHS. This scale
represents the value for the action. For instance, with the “X Location” channel displayed,
the values represent the displacement along the
x-
axis of the 3D window. Examine the “X
Location” channel in the graphical display. The red line has two short yellow lines attached
to it. Each yellow line has a dot at the center and a dot at each end; these yellow lines are
called handles. We are looking at a Bezier curve and the yellow lines are called control
handles—the control handles are used to change the shape of the curve. I mentioned this
type of curve before, and will come back to this topic later.
As previously stated, the location of the vertical green line of the cursor represents the
frame number of the animation. You will see it aligns with the frame numbers across the
bottom of the window, and at the lower end of the line, a green box holds the frame number.
You can click on this line and scrub through the animation the same way as you can in the
timeline window. Like all windows in Blender, with the cursor located in that panel, press-
ing the number pad + and - keys will scale the panel up or down.
Let's get back to the red line (“X Location” channel). The red line shows that from frame
1 to frame 25, there is no displacement of the actor from the midpoint. From frame 25 to
