Sequence Animations

Sequence animation refers to the playback of an animation based on a build up (or depletion) of the display of object data on screen. It  is an efficient way of viewing time/sequence controlled data. The most common type of data that has a time attribute are mine openings. So, in the case of an underground mine, a sequence could be attached as an attribute to wireframes so as to indicate the order in which the rock will be removed. This progression or regression can be viewed by selecting which field contains the sequence data and at what rate you would like to view the change.

In the mine planning environment, sequencing data is typically generated by scheduling software, but, in practice, any numeric field can be used to order animation frames. Adding or removing mining blocks (represented by e.g. block model cells, wireframes or string outlines) according to a sequence attribute allows you to visualize the mining sequence for a mine plan within the defined mining period (time interval e.g. year, life of mine). For Example, if the sequence values represent weeks (i.e. 1 = week one, 5 = week five) you could have your application display a week every second by assigning a rate of 1.

Your application currently supports the setup and playback of animations according to a sequence field for points, strings, wireframes and block models.

This sequence animation can be configured and played entirely from within the 3D window. The animation can be recorded to an AVI or WMV video file using the standard simulation recording functions.

To configure a sequence animation:

  1. Display the object's 3D Properties either using the Sheets or Project Data control bar context menu, or by double-clicking the 3D object in any 3D window.

  2. Activate the General tab.

  3. Define the Sequence Column and Sequence Options parameters.

    The Sequence Column contains the numeric values to be played back in sequence. The other parameters control how this is done.

To play back a sequence animation of a single 3D object:

Once a Sequence Column and Sequence Options have been defined, you view a playback of the data animated according to the sequence found:

  1. Display the Sequence Control control bar for the object (right-click on the required object and select Sequence Controls. See

  2. Specify the From and To points of the animation, the rate and step size (this can be seen as altering the 'resolution' of the animation, that is, the number of frames from start to finish) for the animation.

  3. Play, stop and rewind the animation.

To playback a sequence animation involving multiple objects:

  1. In the Sheets control bar, select (tick the checkbox) next each object that is to take part in the animation.

  2. Activate the Report ribbon.

  3. In the Animate group, click the Time Properties button to display the Simulation Time Properties screen.

  4. Define the Time Scale parameter, click OK. Higher values increase playback speed.

  5. Using ribbon tools, Play, Pause and Stop the animated playback.

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