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Making Movies in Amira

Instructions for version 3.0 (and above?)

• from David Stokes (created by Wanzhong He)

1. "install" the following scripts by File->Open in the Amira control panel
2. adjust parameters for rotation or zoom, including number of steps and extent
3. set flag to 0 for simply viewing the movement, to "1" for saving the corresponding images
4. the zoom script will work only in orthographic mode, not perspective mode (or visa versa, I'm not sure which)
   • click corresponding button on the right margin of the viewing screen to toggle this mode
   • zoom script will begin at the camera orientation parameters entered in the window. To record the current camera orientation parameters, issue the command "viewer 0 getCamera" in the Amira console. Then copy/paste the corresponding values into the movie-making fields

• recordrotatew.scro: Amira rotation script
• recordzoom.scro: Amira zoom script

Instructions for version 4.12

• from AndreaNans, Stokes lab, NYU Medical Center

To make a simple movie of one data object rotating

1. Left- click on the desired data object (the tab of the data object should have a green color) to select it and then right click on it to bring up a list of options. Go to Animation/Demo and choose ObjectRotate.
2. A blue ObjectRotate tab should appear that is connected to the Data Object.
3. Click on the ObjectRotate tab and a list of options should appear. The rotation axis can be specified by placing a “1” in the appropriate box.
4. The rotation center is very important and usually should be specified as the bounding box center. Click on “use bbox center” to import the coordinates of the center of the data object's bounding box.
5. The number of rotation degrees can be specified below. 360 degrees is the default value.
6. To test the object rotation, use the scroll bar next to Time. It will display one full rotation depending on the number of degrees you specify.
7. When satisfied, right click the blue ObjectRotate and choose MovieMaker. A red MovieMaker tab should appear connected to the Object Rotate.
8. The number of frames can be selected as well as the file output type.
9. Click on Browse to select the filename and type. MovieMaker can output the movie directly to an mpeg, or a set of jpgs, tifs, pngs, or RGB files (sgi).
10. When creating a set of images, the filename should be written in this format:
    

To make a simple movie of one data object translating (in x, y) or zooming (in z)

1. Left- click on the desired data object (the tab of the data object should have a green color) to select it and then right click on it to bring up a list of options. Go to Animation/Demo and choose ObjectTranslate.
2. A blue ObjectTranslate tab should appear that is connected to the Data Object.
3. Click on the ObjectTranslate button and the starting and ending coordinates for the translation are displayed.
4. You need to use the Transform Editor to set the starting and ending points. If you are happy with where the object is starting, leave the start points at 0 0 0. To move it to the end point, left-click on the data object. Then in the lower panel, click on the 3rd button that looks like a hexagon with green spheres. Green spheres should appear on your data object in the viewer window.
5. Now in the viewer window, click on the arrow button and then left-click on the data object and hold down the button. A yellow coordinate system should appear. While holding down the left mouse button, you can translate the data object and place it in the end position. Do not click on any of the green spheres since this will rotate the reconstruction. Only do this if you're interested in translating and rotating the reconstruction.
6. After moving the data object, go back to the ObjectTranslate tab and click Set end point. The coordinates from the viewer will be imported into the boxes.
7. To test the translation, use the scrollbar next to Time. If you're unhappy with the translation, go back to the Transform Editor and click “All” under Reset. This resets any imposed translation or rotation.
8. When satisfied with the translation, the directions for using MovieMaker can be followed from above.

To make a simple movie of more than one data object rotating or translating together

Instructions for creating more complex animations/demonstrations soon to follow..

-- BillRice - 05 Jul 2007