Animating layer properties
Release 9.2 Last modified January 13, 2009	Print all topics in : "Building animations"

About animating layer properties

In ArcMap, ArcScene, and ArcGlobe, you can create an animation that changes layer properties such as transparency and visibility. The animation you create is contained within a map layer track, a layer track, and a globe layer track, respectively.
Reasons to create a layer track:

• To make layers transparent so other layers can be seen as the animation progresses. A layer track works well alongside a camera track that might show a navigation through a scene. At a certain point in the navigation, you might want the information in a layer underneath the top layer in the table of contents to show through.
  
• To turn layers off in the table of contents. You might have an animation that contains two time layer tracks to which different objects (layers) are attached. At a certain point in the animation, you may want to turn off one of the layers so you can see the other layer animated in the display.
  
• To move a layer (such as a car) along a path.
  
• To sequentially display data without a time field (create a group animation).
  

There are several ways to create the layer track in each application. Keyframes can be created using the Create Keyframes dialog box. A layer can be moved along a path in ArcScene, or a group animation can be created.

Layer properties that can be animated

How to animate layer properties

Step 1: Create the layer track

There are three ways to create the layer track:

• Create keyframes to animate layer transparency or visibility.
  
• Move a layer along a path (ArcScene only).
  
• Create a group animation to animate layers sequentially when there is no time field in the layer attribute tables.
  

Tips

To remove animation tracks that you have created, click the Animation drop-down arrow on the Animation toolbar and click Clear Animation. All animation tracks are removed. If you want to animate a layer through time and you have a field in the attribute table of your layer with time values, you can create a time layer track instead of creating a group animation. Learn more about animating data through time Save animations to animation files often since there is no undo capability in the Animation Manager.

Step 2: Play the animation

There are two ways to play the animation:

• Play the animation automatically using the Animation Controls dialog box
  
• Play the animation manually using the Time View slider
  

Tips

Any feature selections set will be retained during the playing of the animation. By default, after playing or previewing an animation containing a layer track, the layer properties will be restored to their state before the animation was played. If you don't want to restore the state of the layer properties after the animation is played or previewed, uncheck Restore state on the Animation Controls dialog box or Restore state after preview on the Time View tab of the Animation Manager.

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