Actions

Actions are the basis of scenario expression and interactive capability.

After selecting a role, click the button in the upper right corner of the attributes pane. A menu for adding actions will appear. Clicking the action option in the menu to add the corresponding action to the role. Depending on the type of the role and its current state, the available action options may vary. Model roles can generally add six types of actions: Pose Adjustment, Scatter, Section, Disappear, Link and Color Changes. When the model comes with animations, there will be an Configure Animation action. Attachment and tool roles only have Pose Adjustment and Disappear actions.

Action List: Multiple actions can be added to a role in the same scene, and the action list of all actions for that role will be displayed in sequence above the role’s attribute pane.

Appear

Appear is the initial configuration option of all roles, allowing you to define the position, rotation, and scale of a role when it appears in the scene, as well as the duration of the appearance.

When you add a role to the scene, you can drag and rotate it to adjust its position and rotation. Additionally, you can make precise parameter adjustments to the Appear action properties of the role to further customize its appearance.

You can use the Position and Rotation settings to adjust the initial pose of a role. The Position setting determines the location of the role’s center in the scene’s coordinate system. For more information on position coordinates, please refer to How to understand 3D coordinates in the scene. 

Reset All: The Reset All button allows you to restore the positions of all child objects of the model relative to the parent object.

Scale: The Scale setting is used to adjust the size of the model in the scene. You can still modify this configuration by using pose adjustment action in subsequent scenes.

Appear type: The default Appear type setting is Zoom, which means that the model will appear by gradually scaling up from the center point during playback. If set to Left or Right, the model will move a short distance in the corresponding direction and then stop at the designated appearance position.

Duration: The default duration is 1 second, which represents the length of time it takes for the Appear action to complete, from the start to the end.

Pose Adjustment

When you select Add Pose in the action menu, it adds a Pose Adjustment action. The Pose Adjustment action allows roles in the scene to move along a straight or curved path and change their position, rotation angle, and size through translation, rotation, and scaling.

With the Pose Adjustment action, you can create dynamic effects for roles, including smooth acceleration, deceleration, and uniform motion.

Straight path

The Pose Adjustment action enables a role to move along a straight path.

Here are the steps to add and set the Pose Adjustment action for a role to move along a straight path:

1. Click on the role name in the role list to select the role you want to add pose for.

2. Click the button  next to the role name and select the Add Pose option.

3. Move the role in the scene area to change its position or fine-tune the pose adjustment parameter values in the attribute area, and then set the Duration of the pose adjustment action.

4. By selecting the Transform Type, set the transformation speed of the pose adjustment action.

• • Uniform: The transformation speed of the pose adjustment action remains constant.
  • Accelerate: The pose adjustment action accelerates from a stationary state to uniform motion.
  • Decelerate: The pose adjustment action decelerates from uniform motion to a stationary state.
  • Smooth All: The pose adjustment action first accelerates to maximum speed and then gradually decelerates to a stationary state, making the action change smoother and more natural. This transform type is the default setting for the pose adjustment action.

Curved path

You can also use the Pose Adjustment action to make a role move along a curved path.

Use Curved Path: By enabling the Use Curved Path option, you can create a pose adjustment action for a role along a curved path. This option is disabled by default.

Rotate Along Path: When the Rotate Along Path option is enabled, the orientation of the role will always align with the direction of the path.

Waypoint: Waypoints are the intermediate points along the path. By adding waypoints, you can determine the curvature and direction of the curve, resulting in a smoother curved path. The starting point of the path represents the initial position of the role (from the previous action or the previous scene), while the end point of the path represents the final position of the role in the current scene.

The following are steps to add and configure roles to move along curved path in the pose adjustment action:

1. Click on the role name in the role list to select the role.

2. Click the button next to the role name and select the Add Pose option.

3. Check the Use Curved Path option.

4. Adjust model position, rotation, scale and click Create a Waypoint at Current Location.

5. Repeat step 4 to create other waypoints for the curved path.

6. Adjust the position and curvature of the waypoint to make the curved path smoother.

7. Configure Duration and Transform Type of the pose adjustment.

8. Click the Play button to preview the effect of the pose adjustment action.

9. Fine-tune the settings of the pose adjustment action for the curved path as needed.

Animation

The Animation action refers to a pre-defined action within a model. When a model contains animation, we can configure the animation of the model role in DataMesh Studio, such as setting the playback mode and duration of the animation. 

Here are the steps to configure the animation of a model role: 

1. Select the model role in the Roles pane.

2. Click the button in the attributes pane and select the Configure Animation option.

3. In the attributes pane, you can see all the animation names that the model contains.

4. You can select the animation you want to configure, set its playback mode to Play Once or Play Loop, and modify the Duration of the animation.

Scatter

You can add a Scatter action to any role that contains sub-roles. By default, the Scatter action will expand all primary sub-roles under the role. You can set the scatter effect for all sub-roles in a Scatter action, or you can continue to add Scatter actions for sub-roles that contain lower-level sub-roles, thereby achieving an outward-to-inward sequential expansion effect.

Add a Scatter action

To add a Scatter action for a selected role or child role, click the button next to the role name in the attributes pane. Then, in the action menu, select Add Scatter. This will add a Scatter action to the role or child role, allowing you to configure the scattering effect.

In the Scatter action setting pane, you can choose between two types of scatter effects: Exploded and Axial.

• • Exploded: The exploded scatter effect disperses sub-roles from the center of the model to the surrounding area. By adjusting the Range slider or numerical value, you can modify the magnitude of the explosion. Larger values will scatter sub-roles farther away, while smaller values will scatter them closer.
  • Axial: The axial scatter effect arranges sub-roles in a single direction. By adjusting the Distance slider or numerical value, you can control the spacing between sub-roles. Larger values increase the spacing, while smaller values decrease it. The scatter Direction refers to the direction in which the sub-roles are arranged. Because sub-roles cannot scatter below the desktop, the option to scatter in the downward direction is not available.

Example 1

To achieve the scattering configuration for a monster model and one of its arms within a Scatter action, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the monster model in the scene.

2. In the attributes pane, click the button next to the name of the monster model, and select Add Scatter in the action menu.

3. Configure Scatter Type, Range or Distance and Duration.

4. In the scene area, click to select the right arm of the monster model.

5. In the attributes area, Enable the scatter action for the arm, and set Scatter Type, Range or Distance and Duration.

6. Select the monster model again in the scene area, you can see there is only one scatter action in the action list.

Example 2

To add a scatter the monster model and its right arm in separate scatter actions, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the monster model in the scene.

2. In the attributes pane, click the button next to the name of the monster model, and select Add Scatter in the action menu.

3. Configure Scatter Type, Range or Distance and Duration.

4. In the scene area, click to select the right arm of the monster model.

5. In the attributes pane, click the button and select Add Scatter in the action menu.

6. Configure Scatter Type, Range or Distance and Duration.

7. Reselect the monster model in the scene area, and you will notice that the action list in the attributes area now displays two scatter actions. The first scatter action pertains to the scattering of the entire monster model, while the second scatter action specifically applies to the arm.

Remove the Scatter action

Removing the Scatter action means removing the scatter effect that has been applied to the model, thereby restoring it to its original state.

You can follow these steps to remove the Scatter action:

1. Select the scattered model in the scene area.

2. In the attributes pane, click the button next to the model’s name and select Add Scatter in the action menu.

3. Check the Reset option.

4. After removing the Scatter action, the sub-objects of the model will be restored to their original positions and states.

Section

The Section action allows you to add virtual sections to a model. By adding a section, you can simulate a real cutting operation on the model, which is useful for design and presentation purposes. You can add a section to any node of the model. Additionally, you can configure section effects for other nodes within this section action, including defining the section direction and applying section animation.

Add a section

To add a section to a model, follow these steps:

1. Select the model that you want to add a section to.

2. Click the button next to the role’s name in the attributes pane and select the Add Section option.

3. In the scene area, a draggable and rotatable section body will appear, consisting of three infinitely extended surfaces. You can adjust the position of the section body by dragging it. Any part of the model that the section body passes through will be cut off.

4. Configure the section in the attributes pane.

You can configure section as follows:

Section Animation: Three types of Section Animation are available for selection, including Along X Axis cut in/cut out, Along Y Axis cut in/cut out, and Along Z Axis cut in/cut out.

Section Point: The position of the point where the three faces of the section body intersect.

Section Part: The direction in which the section body rotates along the three axes.

Preset: To quickly select the section direction, you can choose Preset. The eight blue cubes in the Preset represent the model, and the yellow part represents the cut-out position. The cubes in the Preset are associated with the model. When you adjust the angle or rotate the model, the cubes in the Preset will also rotate accordingly.

5. Click the Preview button to check the section action effect and adjust according to the effect.

When adding a section action to a role, all its child roles will be affected by the section. If you want to preserve the shape of the child role, you can remove the section action from the child role to avoid being affected by the section action of the parent role.

The steps are as follows:

1. Select the child role from which you want to remove the section effect.

2. Open the Enable option in the Adjust Section settings, then check the Reset option and select None in the Section Animation settings.

Remove a section

To remove the section action and restore the role to its initial state before the section, follow these steps:

1. Select the role or the child role containing the section action.

2. Click the button next to the role’s name in the attributes pane and select Add Section from the action menu.

3. In the Adjust Section settings in the attributes pane, check the Reset option.

4. Configure the Section action throught the settings of Section Animation, Section Point, Section Part, Preset and Duration.

5. Click the play button to preview the effect of removing the section and make section adjustments as needed.

Link

When previewing a scenario or playing it in DataMesh One, you can easily navigate to the target scene by clicking on a model or sub-object that has a Link action associated with it. 

Note: If the target scene is deleted, the Link action will be invalid. 

To add a Link action to a model or sub-object, follow these steps: 

1. Select the model or sub-object that needs to add a Link action.

2. Click the button next to the role’s name in the attributes pane and select the Add Link option.

3. In the Link Settings in the attributes pane, uncheck the No jump option, and then select the Link scene in the Link Settings.

4. The model or sub-object selected in the scene area will have a hot zone box, which can be dragged to set the interactive range.

The hot zone is an area in which a mouse click allows for navigation or interaction. When an object is selected, the scene area displays a default hot zone box around the selected object, encompassing it. The hot zone box is in the shape of a rectangular prism, and each of its six faces has a cone-shaped handle at its center. These cone-shaped handles can be dragged to adjust the size of the hot zone.

Disappear

The Disappear action refers to the animation effect of a role disappearing in a scenario. By adding a Disappear action, the role can achieve the effect of disappearing in a specific scene of the scenario.

The steps to add a Disappear action to a role are as follows:

1. Select the role that needs to add a disappear action.

2. Click the button next to the role’s name in the attributes pane and select the Add Disappear option. At this point, the role in the scene area will be in a semi-transparent state, indicating that it has disappeared.

3. In the Adjust Disappear setting in the attributes pane, select the Disappear Type. You can choose from four styles: None, Zoom, Right, and Left.

Color Changes

The Color Changes action is an animation effect that enables a role to change colors during the animation. It can be applied to any node of a model, whether it’s the entire model or specific sub-objects. When you add the Color Changes action to the entire model, the color changes will be applied to the currently selected model role and all its sub-objects, allowing for dynamic and visually appealing color transformations.

Here are the steps to add a Color Changes action:

1. Select the role to add the color changes action to.

2. Click the button next to the role’s name in the attributes pane and select the Color Changes option.

3. In the Color Changes settings in the attributes pane, set Color, Transform Type, and other parameters.

Transform Type

None: The color of the role will directly change to the specified color without any special animation effect. 

Gradient: The color will gradually transition over a period of time, creating a smooth and gradual change in color. 

Flash: The color will rapidly alternate between the original color and the specified color within a certain time frame, creating a blinking or flashing effect.

After adding the Color Changes action, during the scenario playback, when the role performs the action, its color will change according to the settings.