Bottom Toolbar

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At the bottom of the Terragen user interface is the bottom toolbar. Most of the controls here are specific to animation functions, although there are several other important settings.

The bottom toolbar

Project Settings[edit]

Click the Project Settings button to open the Project window.

The Project window

This window gives you access to several access to several settings that let you control details and information about the current project. They are as follows:

  • Name: The name of the project.
  • Written by program: The name of the program that created this project. It is filled in with the correct value by default.
  • Written by version: The version number of the program that created this project. It is filled in with the correct value by default.
  • Author: The author of the project.
  • Comments: Any details you would like to add about the project.
  • Current frame: The frame that's currently selected on the timeline. If you set a value here, the marker on the timeline will update accordingly.
  • Start frame: The start frame is where your animation will begin. In most cases, animations start at frame 1, but you may find it useful to start at another frame.
  • End frame: The last frame of your animation. You can set this to any value you wish. The start and end frames are how the length of the animation is defined. For a 10 second animation, for example, at 30 frames per second, you would set the "Start frame" to 1, and the "End frame" to 300.

Like a node settings window, values that are changed here take effect immediately. There is no “apply” or “ok” button. When you are done changing the settings here, close the window.

Show and Hide Playback Controls[edit]

The button indicated with a clock icon shows and hides the playback controls. These are the controls to the right of the clock icon.

The Playback Controls[edit]

The playback controls

The leftmost field on the playback controls is a display of the current frame number, defaulting to 0. You can manually type a value here to skip to a specific frame, use the frame controls to the right, or even drag on the timeline to change frame numbers. The frame number display will change as the current frame is adjusted.

Next to the frame number display are controls for moving through the animation timeline. The icons here are similar to those used in many other applications, particularly video editing applications. Arrows facing backward move back in the timeline, and arrows facing forward move forward in the timeline. The buttons featuring double arrows with lines skip to the beginning and end of the timeline. The single arrow with a line moves a single frame backward or forward in the timeline. When you change the current frame, the 3D Preview will update to reflect the settings of the new frame. (Note that no animation is defined in the default scene, so no changes will be visible.)

In the middle is a single right-facing arrow, the Play button, which will automatically move through the entire timeline in real time. This will display any existing animation in the 3D Preview, though it will be rendered with the same limited detail that the 3D preview pane is set to display.

To the right of the arrow controls is the timeline. You can use the timeline to quickly move to a part of the animation. Click and drag the position indicator on the slider to move the current frame, or click directly on the slider to jump 10 frames at a time, either forward or back, depending on whether your cursor is to the right or left of the slider bar.

Errors and Warnings[edit]

In the far right corner of the bottom toolbar, you'll find the errors and warnings display. The red circle signifies errors, with the number next to it showing how many have occurred since the start of the current program session. The yellow triangle and exclamation point next to it signifies warnings, again with a counter. An “error” is a serious problem, which may be something like a missing file or a critical render problem. A “warning” is less serious and therefore less likely to have a significant impact on the scene. Clicking the “Errors and warnings" icon will bring up the Errors and Warnings window. This window will give you more detailed descriptions of any errors and warnings that have occurred so far.

In a graphical user interface (GUI) on a computer a toolbar is a row, column, or block of onscreen buttons or icons that, when clicked, activate certain functions of the program.