Time animation and playback

When a simulation has more than one time step, Time controls appear along the top of the view. You can step, scrub, play, and pause.

When the controls show up

Situation What you see
One frame No time controls
Several steps Time controls, with the step count
A second file added with Open Each Source keeps its own steps. Select that source and the controls follow it

Step numbers belong to the source you have selected. Switch from one mesh to another and the count changes to match.

Playing an example and playing your own file

What you loaded While you step When you press Play
Many gallery examples The frame updates in the browser Playback stays smooth, because the frames are already prepared
Your file, with no clip or warp in the tree Often immediate once the frames have loaded Play uses those frames
Your file, with Warp or Planar clip in the tree A frame may wait on the server until animation is ready The first Play can prepare every frame once. See below

How a frame moves between the server and the view is described in Data flow.

Two different waits

These messages are different jobs.

Message When What is happening
Applying warp filter, Applying clip filter, or Updating scene You change a filter, or you scrub one step before playback is ready The server updates the current frame
Building animation… You press Play and the tree contains a clip or warp The server prepares every step for that mesh, so later playback can run in the browser

Wait for Building animation… to finish before you expect smooth play. Changing the legend field, the colormap, or an eye icon does not start that prepare again.

A practical order

  1. Load a file or an example. See Load simulation data or Examples gallery.
  2. Add Warp or Planar clip if you need it. See Filters.
  3. In the scene tree, select the row you want to watch: Source, Warp, or Clip.
  4. Open Time controls and press Play.
  5. If you see Building animation…, wait once. Play again on that same mesh and those same filter settings, and the full prepare should not repeat.
  6. Select another mesh, then come back. The viewer restores that mesh’s frames and timeline when it still has them.

More than one mesh

Open adds another Source and keeps the first. Each source remembers its own view when you move around the tree.

  • Preparing frames is per mesh. Playing one does not prepare the other.
  • Select the Source, Warp, or Clip under the mesh you want, then press Play.
  • Return to a mesh you already prepared, and playback should continue without another Building animation… message.

What makes Scenaven prepare the frames again

You do this What happens
Change warp mode, field, scale, or the clip axis or offset, and let it apply The current frame updates, the prepared playback is cleared, and the next Play prepares the frames again
Add or remove a filter The next Play prepares again
Change the legend field, the color range, or visibility The view updates locally. Playback is kept
Select a different row under the same mesh Playback is kept

Troubleshooting

What you see What to try
Building animation… on every play Stay on the same mesh. Confirm the filter settings did not change. On-prem, confirm Infrastructure says Connected
The step count looks too large Another source is selected. Click the source you meant to play
Play does nothing after the overlay Wait until the message clears, step once, then play
No time controls The dataset may be a single frame. Try another example or file
An example plays smoothly, but your filtered file waits Expected. The filter has to be applied on the server for each frame the first time

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