A100:  The creation and placements of viewpoints.

Viewpoints are very useful for navigating in your virtual worlds.  In fact, for our solar system they will be necissity because without them it will be quite difficult to locate the smaller objects in your world.

Step 1.  Creating Viewpoints:

1.  Open the file that you want to add viewpoints to.
2.  Click on the viewpoint editor icon.  The Viewpoint Editor will appear on screen.
3.  Click on "Create Global" in the Viewpoint Editor window.
4.  You can give the viewpoint a useful descriptive name in the description box if you wish.
5.  Click on "Lock to Camera" in the Viewpoint Editor window.
6.  Click on "Update" in the Viewpoint Editor window.
 


Step 2:  Locating the Viewpoint

The viewpoint will appear as a camera and you must locate it if you want to manipulate its position.

1.  Click on view on the menu bar in the CosmoWorlds window.
2.  Go to Show/Hide Iconic Objects and the click on Show All.  Your camera should be visible now.
NOTE:  If the camera is still not visible try changing your view and then select your viewpoint and click "jump to".  If that doesn't work, close CosmoWorlds and try again.
3.  Highlight your camera by clicking on it once.


Step 3:  Exact Positioning of the viewpoint

You can treat the camera as you would any other kind of object once it is highlighted, so lets begin the exact placement of the viewpoint.

1.  Open the precision placement tool.
2.  Place the camera at the position that you want it.
NOTE:  you may have to use the hand tool (or the X and Y motion dollies) to get a better view of where you want to position the camera.


Step 4:  Grouping the viewpoint with the object

In order for the viewpoint to move with the object it needs to be grouped with the object before the animation begins.

1.  Group the objects (Edit -> Group)


Step 5.  Animate the viewpoint and the object.

We want the camera to travel around the Earth with moon.

1.  Move the center of the group to the center of the Earth.
2.  Open the animation editor and begin your animation process.
NOTE:  The camera should move with your object during the animation creation process if it doesn't then check to make sure you have grouped the viewpoint with the object correctly.