Background: A moving, 3D model is CPU intensive. And as a result, MechDesigner may not show all steps on your display. Also, commercial video software may miss a frame when recording the screen. The Make Movie dialog-box does not skip any steps of frames.
Use the File menu / toolbar > Make Movie to record :
• | a movie: use the GIF file-type. |
or
• | a number of images, use PNG, JPG, or BMP file-types. |
The images are at equal increments of the Master Machine Angle.
File toolbar > Make Movie |
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![]() Make Movie dialog-box |
Top-Tip - Before you open the Make-Movie dialog-box, click ALT+H to home the model to zero degrees. To open the Make Movie dialog
- or -
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You should see a black box in the Graphic-Area. This is the recording Frame. Usually, you will want to edit the size and position of the recording Frame. To select a typical Frame size, use the: Pre-set Frame Size...
OR, To edit the Size of the Frame:
Top-Tip: When you use a Pre-set Frame Size, to remove the focus from the Pre-set Frame Size... list-box click the Left box. If you do not, you may select a different Pre-set Frame if you use your mouse scroll-wheel. To edit the Position of the Frame:
Do 1-2 again to put the recording Frame in the correct position and to specify its size.. |
File-path and File-Type button
Use the standard Windows® Save As dialog to:
The File-path and File-name show in the boxes. |
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IMPORTANT: FILE-TYPES GIF file-type. Makes a movie in GIF format. GIF files can be very large when the frame-size is large. PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP file-types. Saves one image file for each frame. See Number-of-Frames MechDesigner appends 001, 002, 003, ... to the name of each image. Eg: Hinge-A000.png, Hinge-A001, Hinge-A002, ... "Hinge-A-" & "Number-of-Frames" Top-Tip: Enter a file-name that ends with a letter and not a number. To compile separate PNG images as a movie, I use Avidemux 2.6. - a free tool on the internet. In Avidemux2.6:
You need to import the first image only. Avidemux2.6 automatically imports the other images in the numbered sequence.
MP4, with the x264 codec, is the recommended format for YouTube®. The files are small and without much loss. |
Number-of-Frames
Make Movie... button
When you click the Make Movie button, the model moves the model to the Start Angle and makes the movie. If you think the model does not complete a machine-cycle, please wait file(s) are being saved to your drive. |