Overview

The Mannequin Editor is set of high level tools to help you manage the complexities of interactive animation.

For a detailed introduction of the Mannequin Editor, please see this page.

1. Menu Bar

File

Previewer

Tools

2. Fragments/Sequences/Transitions Pane

This pane has three tabs at the bottom, with which you can switch between three panes, the Fragments pane, the Sequences pane and the Transitions pane.

Fragments

The Fragments pane consists of two parts: the Fragment List and the TagState list.

This pane lists all fragments in an animation database (and its sub-databases). It is used to find & create fragments, change fragment tags, as well as creating and editing fragmentIDs.

It is typically used in combination with either the Fragment Editor (to edit fragments) or the previewer (to preview sequences).

It can be accessed by clicking on the "Fragments" tab at the left side of the editor.

For tutorials that go through some of this functionality, check out Mannequin Editor Tutorial 1 - Preview Setup, Fragments and Saving and Mannequin Editor Tutorial 2 - Tags & Previewing.

The next sections will go through the parts of this panel from top to bottom:

Fragment List

Fragment Tree

Shows the list of fragments, sorted by fragmentID.

Some things to note about this tree view:

• The fragmentIDs are the root folders.
• The fragments are the entries with a movie film icon.
• Tags sometimes also appear as folders, this depends on the Sub Folders option.
• Fragments without tags show up as options for "<Default>".

The currently 'edited' fragment is shown in bold. This is the fragment whose tagstate is displayed below, and it is the same fragment which is the main fragment currently displayed in the Mannequin Fragment Editor.

Note that this is a different fragment than the currently selected one! (see screenshot above).

• Left click a fragment to select it.
• Double click a fragment to 'edit' it: open it in the Mannequin Fragment Editor and show its tagstate below.
• Left-mouse drag and drop a fragment onto a scope in the Previewer to automatically create FragmentID & Tags Keys to select this specific fragment.
• Right-mouse drag and drop a fragment to duplicate it.
• Right-click on a fragment and select "Copy Selected Text" to copy its tagstate.
• Use Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V on a fragment to duplicate it.
• Use Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V on a tag folder to duplicate all fragments within that folder. For example here is what happens when we copy everything within 'standing' onto itself:
• Use Ctrl+C/Ctrl+Shift+V on a tag folder to duplicate all fragments within that folder while changing specific tags. The following window will pop up, in which you can change tags:
  This is what happens when we copy everything within "standing" and change the stance tag from "standing" to "kneeling":
  

Function Buttons

TagState

This shows the tagstate (both global tags and fragtags) of the currently edited fragment, which is the boldface fragment in the fragment list.

Here you can edit this fragment's tagstate. An empty or unchecked tag means the tag is not set on the fragment.

Sequences Browser

The Sequences browser is used to select the sequence you would like to open in the Mannequin Previewer.

It simply lists the files in the default sequence folder, described in the article on sequence files.

To access the panel, click on the tab Sequences at the bottom of the mannequin editor.

Use double click or the Open button to open the selected sequence.

Transitions Browser

The Transition Browser is used to list all the transitions in a certain animation database (and its sub-ADBs).

It is used in combination with the Mannequin Transition Editor.

It can be accessed by clicking the Transitions tab at the bottom of the mannequin editor.

See Mannequin Editor Tutorial 3 - Transitions.

Function Buttons

3. Fragment Editor/Transition Editor/Previewer/Mannequin Error Report

In the pane on the right you can open four different tools within the Mannequin Editor: the Fragment Editor, the Transition Editor, the Previewer and the Mannequin Error Report.

Fragment Editor

The Fragment Editor is used to edit fragments (multiple at a time).

It can be brought up by:

• clicking on the Fragment Editor tab at the bottom of the mannequin editor.
• double clicking a fragment or selecting edit in the Mannequin Fragment Browser.
• selecting Edit Fragment from the right-click menu of a fragmentID key (in the Mannequin Previewer or other editors)

For details on the tracks, see Mannequin Track Properties.

For specific details on editing clips, see Mannequin Animation Clip Properties.

For more, see Mannequin Editor Tutorial 1 - Preview Setup, Fragments and Saving.

Transition Editor

The Transition Editor is where you edit specific mannequin transitions.
It is typically used together with the Transition Browser.

Is is accessed by clicking the Transitions tab at the bottom of the mannequin editor.

See Mannequin Editor Tutorial 3 - Transitions.

Previewer

The Previewer is used to edit and view Sequence Files, or simply to test a sequence of fragments without even saving it to a file.

It can be accessed by clicking the "Previewer" tab at the bottom of the mannequin editor.

See Mannequin Editor Tutorial 2: Tags & Previewing.

Mannequin Error Report

This panel displays the result of validation on the currently opened setup.

It is one of the panels at the right of the mannequin editor. To access it simply press the "Error Report" tab at the bottom.

Every time you open a preview setup validation is done on that setup. If any errors are found, the error report will pop up to the front automatically.

Error/Warning List

This area shows the list of errors/warnings the validation found.

Double click a line to select that fragment in the Fragment Browser/Editor.

Select one or more lines to operate on those fragments using the menu or right click menu.

Error Report Menu

Right Click Menu