Animation

For this example, we choose a “Arc Road Segment” from the ‘Smart Roads Components’ section:

We chose the “Cement Mixer” shape from the ‘Commercial Vehicles’ section:

The shape was positioned in the lane as shown below:

We then Left-clicked on the shape, then Right-clicked and chose “Add Non-Collision Path”:

…which produced a red line extending from the shapes CM/center that could be extended in any direction, with another Left-click at its final rest position:

We chose to have the truck shape round the curve and stop where shown:

We didn’t want the truck to leave the roadway (!), so we converted the ‘straight’ line to a “Arc Segment” (choice that is found on lower left side of screen):

The “pathway” line was repositioned in the ‘extreme’ position as shown, and Left-clicked to plant the pathway on the highway:

… as seen here:

 We then Left-clicked on the pathway and the ‘pathway’ properties dialog box appeared at screen bottom.  Note where speeds/mph and directional control can be modified by the User. J

We chose to use 45mph with an ending speed of 0 … seen here:

We then wanted to check how the motion would appear in general, so we picked “3D Options” drop-down menu and chose 2D animation:

…then we picked “play” and watched the truck shape traverse the pathway we selected, to its final rest/stop position.  J

Since that 2D animation run seemed satisfactory, we wanted to examine it in full color 3D.  We selected the 3D animation button off the top toolbar:

We simply adjusted our desired viewing angle, added some evening/dusk light changes, and pressed the PLAY button.   Kewl!!!

To have made this example even more ‘realistic’, during the ‘extreme’ part of the curve, the vehicle properties would have allowed for a yawing motion(!) through out and even resulting yaw tire marks!!    WOW!

The 3D (and 2D) animations are simple to create in VistaFX and supported by understandable, real-world physics.   (and takes no-time to create!)

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