1. The last section laid the groundwork for basic WCS scene construction. Let's build on those basics and animate Components within our island scene. Create a new project and name it Flyby. We'll use the Island project as a starting point for our new project, so check Clone an Existing Project.

2. Click the disk button to open the Clone Project file requester. Go to the Island folder and select the Island project.

3. When you click Create & Save, WCS will create a copy of the Island project, called Flyby, in a new Flyby folder under WCSProjects. The terrain elevation file is still in the original Island folder, so keep it in mind when backing up projects to CD.

4. We already have the terrain data we need, so answer No to the Import Data question box.

5. Activate the planimetric view and return the camera to its default camera position.

6. We'll be working with the Animation Toolbar, so let's take a closer look at it. The Record Key Frames button engages the WCS auto key function. All parameters you change are automatically key framed to the current frame. Don't use this without careful consideration of the consequences; it's easy to make unintentional key frames in this mode.

7. When the Record mode is engaged, the Frame Slider turns red to warn you.

8. Next is the Key Frame Group toggle, which keys all parameters in a group when one is keyed. This will make more sense shortly when we create our first key frame. As a rule, it's convenient to key frame in this mode, so turn it on. What's a key frame? Key frames are simply frames where you set parameters. WCS does the rest of the work and creates the frames in between. Let's start by animating our Main camera.

9. Go to the Render Task Mode and open the Main Camera Editor to the Position & Orientation page. Click the Animation Operations button to the right of the Latitude field and select Create Key.

10. The Input Request box will ask for the key frame time and default to the current frame. This is the beginning of our camera path, so Enter to set the first key frame at 0 seconds.

11. The Animation Operations button turns green for all 3 members of the camera position group, since we're in Key Frame Group mode.

12. Key framed parameters are indicated by a red key in the Scene-At-A-Glance.

13. Expand the Main Camera and you'll see that the Camera Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation all have red keys.

14. The Main camera is still active, so Ctrl-click a new camera location northeast of the island.

15. Clear the Elevation field in the request box. The camera will be placed at the current elevation.

16. This time, use the Add Key Frame button on the Animation Toolbar and enter 20 seconds for the new key frame time.

17. The Go to Next Key Frame button is now available beside the frame counter and we can jump between key frames.

18. Click the Play Animation arrow at the right end of the frame slider to play the animation. WCS has taken the start and end camera position key frames we set and filled in the frames in between. Click Play Animation again to stop the animation.

19. We can also drag the frame slider to move back and forth in the animation.

20. Go back to the start of the animation.

21. Let's change the velocity of the camera between the key frames using the Timeline Editor. One way to get there is by making the Camera Latitude active in the Scene-At-A-Glance and selecting the Open Timeline for Active Parameter button on the Animation Toolbar.

22. The timeline is a graph with the variable on the vertical axis, in this case latitude, and time on the horizontal axis. Triangles represent key frames and the active one is highlighted in yellow. Since the latitude graph represents a change in position with time, the absolute value of the slope is the velocity. Rather than having the constant velocity that we have now, we'd like the camera start out from rest, speed up, and slow down to a stop at the end.

23. We could use Ease In and Ease Out on the Camera Editor Position & Orientation page, but Velocity Distribution can't be previewed in realtime views.

24. Instead, change the Tension at the first key frame to 1.

25. Select the last key frame and change its Tension to 1. This will give us a latitude velocity that starts at 0, slowly increases to a maximum at 10 seconds, and slows to 0 at the end of the animation.

26. Keep the changes to set our latitude timeline settings. That takes care of the latitude half of our camera position. Another, and usually easier way to access the timeline is from the Camera Editor. Click the Longitude Animation Operations button and select View Timeline.

27. Repeat the latitude process and change the Tension at each longitude key frame to 1.

28. Keep the changes, save the project, and play the animation. Our camera now slowly accelerates to a maximum velocity midway through the animation and decelerates to a stop at the end.

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