Line Animation Object

  • Published on Jun 12, 2024
  • 2 minute(s) read
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The Line Animation objectcan be used draw lines to create animated arrows.

In the Objects tab, double-click on the line animation icon, click it and drag into the edit area. This will take you the the line animation properties window.

General

General settings tab: 🔎︎

Use ctrl+left click to add a line point or right click to edit the animation:

  • Add - Add a new line.
  • Scale - Set the width and height of the line edit area.
  • Line width - Set the drawn width of the line.
  • Arrowhead - Check to add an arrow to the start of the line.
  • Arrowtail - Check to add an arrow to the end of the line.
  • Arrowhead size - Increase/decrease the size of the arrow.
  • Render lines - Check to draw lines in the line animation.
  • Scale line widths - Specifies whether the line width should scale with the size of the object. If unchecked, the line will have a constant size.
  • Preview animation - Check to animate the line with its properties.

Motion

Motion tab:🔎︎

  • Do not animate, draw lines instantly - Skip the animation and display the entire line immediately.
  • Animation speed
    • Fixed speed - The animation should move with a fixed number of pixels per second.
    • Fixed animation time - The movement should take a fixed time to complete.
    • Relative to object time - The speed to complete the movement should take a proportion of the total time of the object.
  • Speed calculation method - This relates to how the object should operate when there are several line branches.
    • Shortest branch - Each level gets drawn at the same time. The shortest line on each level will determine the level's speed. Longer lines on the same level will speed up.
    • Average speed - Each level gets drawn at the same time. The medium line length on each level will determine the level's speed. Longer lines will speed up, shorter lines will slow down.
    • Longest branch - Each level gets drawn at the same time. The longest line on each level will determine the level's speed. Shorter lines on the same level will slow down.
    • Fixed speed - Lines are drawn with the same speed. Shorter lines will be finished before longer lines.
    • Adjusted - Lines will adjust their speeds so that all branches in the line animation finish at the same time.

Data

Data tab:🔎︎

  • Connect Data - Read the line coordinates from a data connected text file.
  • Connected to external text file - Toggle data connection.
  • Data is
    • Line source - The text should be interpreted as line source
Example:
NAME Line 1
MOVETO 10,100
LINETO 30,10
LINETO 40,40
LINETO 50,50
LINETO 60,5
  • Data is
    • XY coordinates - The text should be interpreted as coordinates of the form X,Y.

Example:
Name Line 1
10,100
30,10
40,40
50,50
60,5

Advanced

Advanced tab:🔎︎

Click the Compile button to check for errors:

  • Line source - Line source is a sequence of text commands that constitute a description on how to draw the line animation.
  • MOVETO X,Y - Move the cursor to the specified coordinate without drawing.
  • LINETO X,Y - Move the cursor to the specified coordinate while drawing a line.
  • SPLIT - Start a new line branch from this position.
  • ENDSPLIT - End the line branch (that was started with the previous split)
  • IF <variable> EXISTS - Will check if the specified variable is declared and if so, execute the clause until the next ENDIF. This allows you to setup context- or position-based directions.
  • ENDIF - Ends the if clause.
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