27. Playback Tab

With the Playback Tab you can control the playback of your recorded simulation. The maximum duration of the simulation is controlled from the Settings panel in the ribbon menu.

27.1. Read only mode

When the current time slider is set to a value different than time 0 or the first frame, the whole model is set to read only mode. This is indicated by an orange frame around the playback interface widget. The purpose of the read only mode is to avoid accidental changes in a recorded simulation. To use a specific time/frame of the recorded simulation as a new initial state, press the New Initial State button. This will discard the current recording, using the current transformation and velocities as a new initial state.

27.2. Interface

• Current Time/Frame: This show either the current time in minutes:seconds:thousands or the current simulation frame. Clicking the text will toggle between the two. Double clicking will allow you to enter the current time/frame.

• Time/Frame slider: With the slider you can set the current time in a recording. This will update the state (transformations) of the model in the model view. At time/frame larger than zero the model will be in read only mode and the playback interface will indicate this with an orange frame.

• Recorded length: The gray bar will show you how far the recording has progressed. Moving the slider to the end will show you the time/frame.

• Max duration: This show the maximum recording length of a simulation. This can be set in the simulation settings or double clicking will allow you to change the duration.

• Toggle time/frame mode: Switch between displaying the simulation in time (seconds) or frames.

• New Initial State: This button is enabled when the current time/frame is larger than zero. Pressing this button will use the state (transformation, velocity, constraint violation/speed etc.) at the current time as the new initial state.

• Speed: A scale value to determine whether the rendering of the simulation should be done in slow motion or speedup compared to real time. If the Real Time flag is disabled, this value will be ignored.

When entering the current time or the max duration, the following formats are accepted:

10:20.030	10 minutes, 20 seconds and 30 thousands
10:20	10 minutes, 20 seconds
20.030	20 seconds and 30 thousands
20	20 seconds

If frame is displayed in the Playback tab, integer values are accepted only for current time and max duration.

• New Initial State: Pressing this button will use the current state as a new initial state and any recording will be discarded.

• Scripting Enabled: Pressing this button will toggle the scripting functionality in the current document.

27.3. Playback control

• - Jump to the beginning of the recording.

• - Go to the previous frame. Hold the Shift key to step 1% of max duration or the Ctrl key to step 5% of max duration.

• - Start a playback of the recording.

• - Go to the next frame. Hold the Shift key to step 1% of max duration or the Ctrl key to step 5% of max duration.

• - Jump to the end of the simulation.

• 

• - Toggle between looping playback or single shot.

27.4. Using the mouse wheel

When the Playback Tab has focus, and the mouse pointer is hovering over the time slider, you can use the mouse wheel to step through a recording.

• Hold the Shift key to step single frames

• Hold the Ctrl key to step 5% of max duration.

• Without Shift or Ctrl, 1% of max duration will be stepped.

27.5. Keyboard Shortcuts

You can also use Keyboard shortcuts for controlling the playback.

27.6. Recording

The playback tab will also be active during a recording of a simulation. However, only the current (recorded) time will be updated. Stopping a simulation is done from the Simulate button in the ribbon menu.