Choosing the animation file format

You can choose to save animations to a file in one of the following formats: Audio Video Interleave (AVI, the default), QuickTime, or Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) format. You can additionally choose between compressed and uncompressed files in all of these formats. Additional image size and compression options are available for both AVI and QuickTime format.

This task shows you how to:

Related Topics
Saving animations

Context:

When you save animations in AVI format on Windows systems, you can also compress the file using any codec on your system and you can set the quality level of the file. These options are not available on Linux systems.

Improving playback of VRML animations

Animations in VRML or Compressed VRML format may require further customizations to play back properly on client computers. Several components on the client's computer determine the quality of VRML playback, including the graphics hardware, VRML plug-in software, and the settings selected for the plug-in software. When these components differ from the components on the computer that created the VRML animation, VRML playback on the client's computer can exhibit display problems such as blurry text in the viewport annotations. You can improve client playback of a particular VRML file either by configuring plug-in settings on the client's computer or by creating a new version of the VRML animation with different viewport annotation settings.

  • To customize VRML display on the client's computer, open the settings for the VRML plug-in on the client's computer, and toggle on any antialiasing settings. Enabling antialiasing can help clarify text in a VRML image or animation but can degrade performance.

  • To create a new VRML animation, return to Abaqus/CAE and increase the text size or choose a different font for each of the viewport annotations in the viewport and save a new copy of the VRML animation. For more information about changing the font and type size, see Customizing viewport annotations.

Choose VRML or Compressed VRML format

  1. Locate the animation file format options.

    From the main menu bar, select AnimateSave As; the Save Image Animation dialog box appears.

  2. From the Format options, select VRML, or Compressed VRML format.

    For both VRML formats, Abaqus/CAE deactivates the Selection and Frame Rate fields; you cannot customize these settings for VRML or Compressed VRML animations.

Choose QuickTime format

  1. Locate the animation file format options.

    From the main menu bar, select AnimateSave As; the Save Image Animation dialog box appears.

  2. From the Format options, select QuickTime.

  3. To select additional QuickTime format options, click .

    The QuickTime Options dialog box appears.

  4. In QuickTime Options dialog box, choose one of the following methods to specify the size (in pixels) of the animation image:

    • Click Use size on screen to use the size of the image on the screen. (Abaqus/CAE indicates the current image size in the QuickTime Options dialog box.) This method is the default.

    • Click Use settings below to set the width or height; then enter the value of your choice in the Width or Height field. You specify only one dimension; Abaqus/CAE computes the other dimension to maintain the aspect ratio of the viewports.

  5. Specify in the QuickTime Options dialog box whether your file should be compressed (run length encoded) or uncompressed (raw).

    From the Compression list, select either Raw (24 bits/pixel) or Rle (24 bits/pixel). Rle (24 bits/pixel) compression is a form of run length encoding, which provides lossless compression with no image degradation.

  6. Click OK to close the QuickTime Options dialog box.

    Your options settings are saved for the duration of the session.

Choose AVI format

  1. Locate the animation file format options.

    From the main menu bar, select AnimateSave As; the Save Image Animation dialog box appears.

  2. From the Format options, select AVI.

  3. To select additional AVI format options, click .

    The AVI Options dialog box appears.

  4. In the AVI Options dialog box, choose one of the following methods to specify the size (in pixels) of the animation image:

    • Click Use size on screen to use the size of the image on the screen. (Abaqus/CAE indicates the current image size in the options dialog box.) This method is the default.

    • Click Use settings below to set the width or height; then enter the value of your choice in the Width or Height field. You specify only one dimension; Abaqus/CAE computes the other dimension to maintain the aspect ratio of the viewports.

  5. For Linux systems, specify in the AVI Options dialog box whether your file should be compressed (run length encoded) or uncompressed (raw).

    From the Compression list in the AVI Options dialog box, select Rle (8 bits/pixel), Raw (8 bits/pixel), or Raw (32 bits/pixel). Choosing Rle (8 bits/pixel) compression or Raw (8 bits/pixel) can result in a loss of colors.

  6. For Windows systems, specify in the AVI Options dialog box whether your file should be compressed or uncompressed (raw). If you elect to compress the file, you can select one of the Abaqus/CAE predefined compressors or one of the video codecs available on your system. You can specify the compression quality of the saved animation file.

    1. From the Codec list, select one of the following:

      • Select None - 8 bits/pixel to create a raw animation using a reduced sets of colors. Choosing this option can result in a loss of colors.

      • Select None - 24 bits/pixel to create a raw animation file without any compression.

      • Select one of the video codecs. The Codec list displays every codec that is available on your system.

      Some video codecs include configurable options that enable you to change certain aspects of the video file. When you select a codec that allows this configuration, the Configure button becomes active. You can also learn more about a particular codec by clicking the About button when the codec is selected.

    2. To configure a codec, click Configure and then choose configuration options from the dialog box that appears. Each configurable video codec provides different configuration options; for example, some codecs allow you to control the transparency of the animation or to create a scalable file.

      Note:

      You may encounter problems while saving an animation in AVI format with MPEG-4 codec compression using a Python script. To avoid these problems, you can use the GUI described in this procedure or you can configure the Xvid codec to switch off the encoding status window (Xvid configurationOther optionsEncoder: toggle off Display encoding status).

    3. Drag the Quality slider to specify the compression quality of the file. The highest value, 100, produces the highest quality animation file with the smallest degree of compression.

  7. Click OK to close the AVI Options dialog box.

    Your options settings are saved for the duration of the session.