The Record Animation feature allows users to record videos of scenario animations. The user can select which portion of the screen will be recorded. The screen capture utility will capture and record all the frames of the animation within the bounds specified by the user and produce an AVI video file as the result which is sharable outside of the software.

To record an animation, browse out to the Time Browser. The Record Animation button will launch the Record Animation dialog. Clicking the Select Area button will grey out the primary screen and provide the user with a selection tool similar to the Snipping Tool. The user can click and drag to select which portion of the screen is to be selected. To get out of the selection screen, press the Escape key. After a selection is made the w: and h: fields will show the width and height of the selected area. The Full Screen checkbox will toggle between the previously selected area and the full screen. Once an area is selected, clicking the Record button will begin the capture.

Once recording has begun the Recording Dialog will appear. The animation is set back to the first time step prior to recording. During the recording process, the time step increment is automated. To stop the recording, either click the Stop Recording button, or wait until the entire animation has played out. At this point the recording will stop automatically.

Video Player

When a recording stops, the Video Player will launch. The Video Player can be used to play back the video which was just recorded.

The Video Player allows a user to view the video which was recorded. Play, Pause, and Stop allow the user to control the playback of the video. The Playback Rate slider allows the user to set the speed at which the video is played back. The Loop Animation checkbox toggles whether the video loops back to the beginning and continues playing when it gets to the last frame. The user can use the time slider to navigate to individual frames.

The File menu has options to save the current video, or to open another video via the Save as.. and Open menu options respectively. If the current video in the Video Player is the result of a recording, the user will be prompted to save the video if they attempt to close the Player prior to saving the file via the Save as… option.