# Introduction

## Requirements

In order to use the AnimMate graphical user interface for MGED, you will need access to BRL-CAD Release 5.0 (or above). In addition, this tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the UNIX operating system and with MGED, BRL-CAD's multi-device geometry editor.

## Scope of this tutorial

Creating animations with BRL-CAD involves several steps, including:

- Determining key parameters
- Interpolating between key parameters
- Creating animation scripts
- Computing frames
- Post-processing (eg. recording frames on videotape)

This tutorial shows you how to use AnimMate in the first three steps of the animation process. The appendix briefly explains how to use the BRL-CAD raytracer to generate the images specified in the animation scripts you create.

To learn more about the last two steps of the animation process, or for more detailed information about how the animation scripts work, you should consult Animation Techniques in BRL-CAD by Lee A. Butler and Christine Murdza.

## Setup

The first few sections of the tutorial will use the moss-world geometry database, which is included with the BRL-CAD distribution. If the BRL-CAD source is located in the "/cadsrc" directory, then you should put a copy of the moss-world file into your working directory, and then open the database with MGED:

    %> asc2g < /cadsrc/db/moss.asc > moss.g
    %> mged moss.g

Now, within the MGED interaction window, the following command will call up AnimMate's main menu.

    mged> animmate

When the main menu is posted, you are ready to begin animating.

Next Section: Object Animation

Index