Time Controls Panel

Time Controls Panel

Select Timeframe

This part of the time control panel lets you select the first and last frame to be shown in the animation. You can text enter the dates or manually move the sliders to the date you want:

Duration

These lines show the duration of each mapped attribute.  You can use this to align the beginning and end of your time series with the maximal period of available data.  Notice for example that the Y position variable (close monthly) is shorter than the one mapped to Z.

Additional Time Controls

Loop
By checking the box, the animation is set to loop.  When the animation reaches the end it goes back to the beginning and repeats until stopped by the use

Move View with Time
Moves the user’s point of view along the course of an animation.  Think of it as your view tracking a point of focus on the animation. Designed to work with time trail views.

Fade Background with Time
You can set the background to fade from dark to light colors during the animation to highlight the passage of time.  This works especially well when you have the animation set to loop.

Date Format
Allows you to format your date in different ways (i.e. May 2009, May 14 2009, 5/14/2009, etc.)