3.13. The Animation playback window

To allow you to view sequences of rendered frames or AVIs, Blender has a simple, but efficient animation playback option. This playback is invoked with the "PLAY" button in the DisplayButtons. This button plays all of the numbered frames specified in the DisplayButtons->pics TextBut.

An alternative for starting the animation window is to type -a in the command line: blender -a . Blender first reads all the files in memory and then displays them as a flip book. Check in advance to make sure sufficient memory is available; you can see this with the FileWindow. Use ESC to stop the reading process.

The commands available in the playback window are:

3.13.1. ESC

Close the window.

3.13.2. ENTER

Start playback.

3.13.3. LEFTARROW, DOWNARROW

Stops the playback; if playback is already stopped, moves 1 frame back.

3.13.4. RIGHTARROW, UPARROW

Stops the playback; if playback is already stopped, moves 1 frame forward.

3.13.5. NUM0

Sets the playback at the first frame and switches 'cyclical' playback off. Pressing this key again turns cyclical playback on again and starts the playback at the beginning.

3.13.6. PAD1 to PAD9

The playback speed. 60, 50, 30, 25, 20, 15, 12, 10 and 6 frames per second, respectively.

3.13.7. LMB

Move the mouse horizontally through the playback window to scroll through the frames.