The record option records everything in the selected area so we recommend that you switch off screen savers and do not use other applications while recording.
Note: Recording an animation can take some time depending upon the speed of your computer and the length and complexity of the animation.
- Having prepared an animation, click the Record button in the Vehicle Tracking Animation dialog. The AVI Options dialog is displayed.
- Use the Browse button to specify the File Name. The File Name field is read only. By default Autodesk Vehicle Tracking creates the AVI file in the same directory as the drawing file. If the drawing file has not been saved then it creates the file in your current directory.
Length in seconds is the duration of the resulting AVI movie. This is set by default to the real time length which is also shown in the adjacent text.
Frames per second is set, by default, to 3. Increasing this value give s you smoother movie but it will take longer to generate and the file size will be larger. Depending upon the design speed, you may also need to reduce your storage interval. We do not recommend a setting lower than 3 since this results in a jerky playback.
Tip: A rule of thumb is that your frame rate should be less than the design speed divided by the storage interval. You may wish to adjust the storage interval in order to allow a higher frame rate.
- Normally we suggest that the Capture window be set to Window. This omits the CAD system window, including caption, frame, CAD toolbars and docked controls and edit windows. Bear in mind that for best results, the AVI file should be played back at the same size as it is recorded and typical playback monitors may have much smaller screen area than a typical CAD system. The option Entire CAD window includes the host CAD system controls and Full screen includes everything visible on the screen.
- Click OK. The Video Compression dialog is displayed.
- The Compressor drop down lists all the compression codecs installed on your computer. Select the one you wish to use and click OK to start the AVI writing process, or Cancel to cancel the changes and return to the Animation dialog.
Tip: We recommend the use of the
XviD video compression codec which is supplied with
Autodesk Vehicle Tracking. This codec is extremely fast and efficient and produces high quality results of a size that can be emailed.
If you do not use the XviD codec, there are a number of others supplied as standard with Windows not all of which can be used to create compressed video, some permit playback only. Various codecs are supplied as standard with Windows which may be used to create video files, including Cinepak Codec by Radius, Microsoft Video 1, Indeo Video 5.1 & Intel Indeo Video 4.5.
- Some codecs are configurable (the configure options are codec dependent) and in these cases the Configure button and/or the Compression Quality slider will be enabled as soon as you select a codec.
- Click OK to confirm and generate the AVI file. Do not make changes to the screen at this stage as they will all be recorded.