This page has resources and updates for the submission of TimeClock - Flexible Animation Control in X3D. In this submission, it's proposed an alternative approach to create animations in X3D. This approach allows extended flexibility to control animations during run-time. Among the extended features, it's possible to: control the speed of the animation; play the animation backwards; repeat any specific time interval of the animation and access any key-frame instantly. The TimeClock node implements the same functionalities of a TimeSensor node but with the increased feature of having control over the events that are generated as time passes.

Get the TimeClock - Flexible Animation Control in X3D submission document.

The TimeClock node was implemented following the X3D standard using the XML enconding and can be used in any scene through the extern prototype declaration. Moreover, there are a few more nodes available, these nodes helps on taking advantage of the features available on the TimeClock node. See the examples for more details.

- TimeClockPrototype.x3d
- TimeMenuPrototype.x3d
- PushButtonPrototype.x3d
- TimeSliderPrototype.x3d

It's worth saying that all the implementation files and examples were tested only in the BS Contact VRML/X3D Player.

These are some simple usage examples on applying the proposed nodes to improve the flexibility of time manipulation and animations in the X3D standard. Most of these examples were originally developed by Brutzman and made available to the public by the Savage authoring tools.

- A simple TimeClock example.
- A TimeMenu example.
- Control over engine.
- Exploding building, get also the Exploding Building Prototype.

For the examples to work, it's important to note that you must have access to all the implementation files listed above, and not only to the TimeClock prototype. It's also recommended to use the BS Contact VRML/X3D Player, as we are still validating it's functioning in other players.

To see the examples, just right click the links above and select Copy Shortcut. Then, open BS Contact player, go to File->Open and paste the link into the URL dialog box.