BongoUserGuide 1033

Bongo
Animation for Designers
Users Guide
Copyright 2004 Robert McNeel & Associates and The Le Bihan Partnership Ay. All rights
reserved.
Rhinoceros is a registered trademark, and Bongo is a trademark of

Robert McNeel & Associates and The Le Bihan Partnership Ay.
2 July 2004
ii
Bongo
Table of Contents
Overview ..............................................................................................................1
Features
System Requirements
Get Help
Getting Started .....................................................................................................2

The Bongo Timeline ..............................................................................................3
Animate Mode
Timeline Slider
Timeline Ticks
Timeline Markers
Timeline Context Menu
Pivot Icon and Axis Indicator................................................................................6

Animate Object Movement, Rotation, and Scale....................................................7
Tutorial: Move an Object
Tutorial: Rotate an Object
Tutorial: Scale an Object
10
Preview the Animation........................................................................................11

Render the Animation .........................................................................................12
Keyframes...........................................................................................................14
Tutorial: Edit Keyframes
16
Tutorial: Animate an Exploded View
24
Animation Manager.............................................................................................29
Animation Manager Context Menu
29
View Animation...................................................................................................30
Tutorial: Animate a View
31
Animation Hierarchies ........................................................................................35

Use Proxy Objects as Parents
35
Tutorial: Use Hierarchies to Link Objects
36
Tutorial: Use Proxy Objects
47
Object and View Constraints ...............................................................................53

Multiple Constraints and Weighting
54
Tutorial: Use View Constraints to Walk Through a Building
54
Tutorial: Use Constraints to Pick Up an Object
63
Repeat Action with Looping ................................................................................70

Looping and Hierarchical Animation
70
Tutorial: Using Looping
71
Animate Object Properties ..................................................................................76

Tutorial: Animate Object Visibility
Copyright 2004 The Le Bihan Partnership Ay and Robert McNeel & Associates.
76
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Bongo
Tutorial: Animate Fade Out and In
78
Tutorial: Animate Color Change
80
Animate Lights....................................................................................................83
Tutorial: Animate Lights
83
Bongo Command List ..........................................................................................90

Index ..................................................................................................................94
iv
Bongo
Overview
Bongo is an animation plug-in for Rhinoceros 3.0. It is simple to use but capable of complex
multi-object and view animation. You can quickly and easily preview and demonstrate the
animation from within Rhino in any shading mode. You can then output the animation to video
using the Rhino viewport display or any Rhino-compatible renderer.
Bongo integrates completely with Rhino. Object and viewport animations are editable in the
Rhino window using simple drag and drop operations. Modify your object and motion data
without losing valuable time changing between programs. Develop your designs and see how
they work at the same time.
Features
Object motion, rotation, and scaling using keyframing.
Object property keyframing object color, visibility, gloss.
Constrain objects and views to multiple paths and other objects.
Viewport keyframing.
Light keyframing.
Powerful hierarchical animation for objects.
Render to single frames, AVI or MPEG using any Rhino compatible render plug-in or
directly from the viewport display.
Real-time preview and fast timeline scrubbing in Rhino viewports using any shading
mode.
Drag-and-drop keyframe manipulation.
All animation data stored with the Rhino .3dm fileno need to import or export.
Easy-to-use looping.
Reticle display for animated viewports.
System Requirements
Rhinoceros 3.0 SR3 or later.
Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (standard on all supported operating systems except NT4
and Windows 98).
Get Help
Our technical staff, development team, trainers, dealers, and expert users around the world
would love to hear from you.
Support Newsgroup24 hours a day, 7 days a week: news://news.mcneel.com/bongo.
Support Web Newsgroupthe same as above, in case you cannot access newsgroups:
http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnewsweb.exe?cmd=xover&group=bongo.
Search Newsgroup Archivefor quick answers: http://www.bongo3d.com/ss.htm.
Bongo
Getting Started
Objects and views become animated when in Bongos animate mode.
Animation data is captured from object transformations and stored in keyframes at the current
position of the Timeline Slider. These keyframes are displayed on the Timeline and can be
edited by using the Edit Keyframe dialog box. Properties of objects and views are interpolated
between the keyframes.
Object transformations always act around an objects animation pivot.
In addition to carrying out their own transformations, objects can be parents of child objects,
which causes the child to undergo the same transformations as the parents.
Objects and views can be constrained to path curves or other objects using the constraints
manager.
Object animation can include looping to repeat motion.
An animation can be output to video as images either Rhinos viewport display or any Rhinocompatible renderer.
To start Bongo
1
Install Bongo.
At the command prompt, type Bongo.
When you start Bongo, the Bongo menu and

toolbar appear.
Bongo menu.
Bongo toolbar.
Bongo
Other functions are contained in the Bongo
Utilities toolbar.
Bongo Utilities toolbar.

To start using Bongo
`
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Timeline.

The Bongo Timeline appears. The Timeline can be docked at the edge of your Rhino
screen or floating.
The Bongo Timeline

Animation actions in Bongo are controlled through the Timeline. Nothing can be animated until
you click the Animate button in the Bongo Timeline.
Using the Timeline, you can:
Record keyframe positions for objects and views
Mark the beginning and end of the animation
Mark the beginning and end for looping to repeat actions
Rotate and scale objects
Play, pause, and stop the animation preview
Animate Mode
The Animate button toggles Bongos animate mode on and off. When in animate mode,
objects and viewports remember their current location, rotation, scale, and other changes at
the current Timeline Slider position.
When the Animate button is activated, the Timeline Slider and border of the current viewport
change color to notify you that Bongo is in animate mode.
When the Animate button is activated, moving, scaling, or rotating an object creates a new
keyframe at the current slider position. You can rotate or scale an object using Bongos rotate
and scale mechanisms on the Timeline or by using Rhinos own Rotate and Scale commands.
You can move objects by dragging or with the Rhino Move command.
When the Timeline Slider is over an existing keyframe, you can interactively edit the
movement, rotation, or scaling recorded by that keyframe for the selected objects.
Bongo
Viewports can also be enabled for animation. Once enabled, you can move or change the
camera for that viewport and the view changes will be animated. We will practice animating
viewports in the section View Animation starting on page 30.
Timeline with Animate button activated.
Timeline Slider
Moving the Timeline Slider changes the current position in the animation. Click the arrows on
the left and right of the slider to move the slider forward or backward one tick at a time. Click
on the slider and drag it left and right to scrub through the animation. The text on the slider
displays the current and last tick numbers.
Timeline slider at tick 40.
Timeline Ticks
The Timeline is the area just below the Timeline Slider. The vertical marks represent each tick
in the current animation. The blue current tick indicator marks the current tick.
Timeline ticks and blue current tick indicator.
In Bongo, time is measured arbitrary units of time called ticks. Ticks can represent any
amount of time you want them toseconds, milliseconds, minutes, or hours. This is different
from other animation packages that tend to use frames.
When you render an animation to a video file, you can choose how long you want the
animation to run. Since the number of frames in the animation is not fixed, you can easily
change the frame rate and video length for various targets, for example, CD distribution or the
web.
Timeline Markers
Markers display on the timeline to show the position of various elements of the animation.
Object keyframe markers (red) display the positions of recorded keyframes for the
currently selected objects. For objects not currently selected, the object keyframe
markers dim.
View keyframe markers (yellow) display the positions of viewport keyframes. For views
not currently active, the view keyframe markers dim.
Bongo
Animation extents markers (green) display the start and end of the animation to be
rendered. Extents markers are automatically placed at tick 0 and tick 99. These can be
moved and turned off.
Timeline with red object keyframe, yellow view keyframe, and green animation extents markers.
Timeline Context Menu

The timeline context menu changes depending on whether objects are selected and whether
those objects are animated.
To view the context menu
`
Right-click the Timeline.
Timeline context menu,

object selected.
Timeline context menu,

no object selected.
Bongo
Pivot Icon and Axis Indicator
Animated objects display a pivot icon. By default, the
pivot is created at the center of the objects bounding
box, but you can move the pivot to any location. Bongo
rotation is applied around the x, y, and z-axes of the
object pivot, and Bongo scaling is applied along the x, y,
and z-axes of the object pivot.
Object pivot display.
When the object is selected and animate mode is active,

an icon on the objects pivot indicates which axes will be
used by the currently selected rotate and scale
transformations.
Rotate around the pivot x-axis.
Scale along the pivot z-axis.
Bongo
Animate Object Movement, Rotation, and Scale
To animate movement, simply drag an object or use the Rhino Move command while Bongo is
in animate mode. A keyframe will be created automatically on the Timeline at the current tick.
Rotation and Scale are handled by the Bongo transformation controls on the Bongo Timeline.
Tutorial: Move an Object

To create your first animation in Bongo, you will start a new model and animate moving,
rotating, and scaling a box.
Using the Timeline you will:
`
Animate an object that moves, rotates, and scales around its pivot.
Create keyframes automatically.
Preview the animation.
Create an object to animate

1
Start a new model.
Draw a box.
Make the box different dimensions on each side.
Start Bongo
`
If the Timeline is not already displayed, from the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose
Timeline.
The Timeline appears. By default, it is docked at the bottom of your Rhino window.
Animate the box movement

1
In the Timeline, click the Animate button.
Move the Timeline Slider to tick 50.
Bongo
Select the box.
With Ortho on, Drag the box to the right.

When an object is first animated, a pivot is added
to the object. Bongo transformations take place
only around or along the object pivot.
Click the Animate button to turn animate mode off.
Scrub the Timeline Slider to see the box move.
Scrubbing is dragging the Timeline Slider back and

forth.
Animate mode can be on or off when you scrub
the Timeline Slider.
Click to play animation example
Note: The object moves in real time in the active

viewport. In other viewports, the movement lags
behind.
Bongo
Notice the object pivot x, y, z icon now attached

to the object. Bongo adds the object pivot to each
animated object.
7
You will use this model in the next section, so

save it now.
Object pivot icon.
Tutorial: Rotate an Object

An object rotates only around its x, y, or z pivot axis. For this example, we will use only the
default rotation around the x-axis.
The transformation controls are activated when objects
are selected and Bongo is in animate mode. In the
Timeline, the transformation mode (rotate or scale) and
the pivot axes about which the transformation will take
place are activated.
The default action is to rotate around the x-axis. In the
Timeline, the Rotate button and the X button are
pressed in to show this.
Transformation controls activated.
While the Animate button is active, Rhinos Rotate or Scale commands are replaced by
Bongos own dedicated commands. Instead of allowing you to choose a base point for rotating
and scaling, the BongoRotate and BongoScale commands use the object pivot as a base point.
Rotate the box
1
Select the box.
Bongo
In the Transformation Edit box, enter 180.

Either type the number in the edit box, or drag the
Transformation Slider until the number in the
edit box reads 180.000.
Note: Since the default transformation action is
rotate, the Rotate button is already pressed. The
default rotation is around the x-axis, so the red X
axis button is already pressed.
Or
Use the Rotate command to rotate the object 180 degrees around the object pivot
x-axis.
Scrub the Timeline Slider.

The box will now move and rotate around the xaxis of its pivot. Since we have the box rotate 180
degrees, it will flip over.
Scrub the slider slowly and notice that the box

starts to move and rotate at the keyframe at tick
0. The box stops moving at tick 50, but keeps on
rotating until tick 60.
6
You will use this model in the next section, so Save it now.
Tutorial: Scale an Object

An object scales using its pivot as a base point. For this example, we will scale the object in
the z-direction only.
Scale the box
1
Select the box.
10
Bongo
Click the Scale button.
Since we want the box to get bigger in only the

z-direction, click the Z button.
Click the X button to deselect it.
Enter 3 in the Transformation Edit box.

Either type the number in the edit box, or drag the
Transformation Slider until the number in the edit
box is 3.000.
Or
Use the Scale command to scale the object along the object pivot z-axis.

In addition to moving and rotating, the box will
now triple its size.
Scrub the slider slowly.

Notice that the box starts to move and rotate at
the keyframe at tick 0. The box stops moving at
tick 50, but keeps rotating until tick 60, and keeps
growing taller until tick 70.
10 You will use this model in the section Keyframes starting on page 14, so Save your
model.
Preview the Animation

The animation preview plays the animation in the Rhino viewport using the viewport display
mode that is currently active.
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Bongo
The Play and Stop buttons control the animation preview.
The Play and Stop

buttons.
To start the preview
Click the Play button to preview the animation.

The Play button changes to a Pause button.
The Pause button.
To pause the preview
Click the Pause button
The Timeline Slider and the animated objects stop at the current tick.
To resume the preview
Click the Play button.
To stop the preview
Click the Stop button.
Stopping the preview moves the Timeline Slider to zero.
Render the Animation

A common goal of creating an animation is to make a movie of the animation that you can
show. The animation frames are rendered using your choice of rendering engine (Flamingo,
Treefrog, Penguin, etc.) or current viewport display and video output settings.
12
Bongo
To create a movie of your animation
1
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Render Animation.
In the Bongo
Render Animation
dialog box, set the
Viewport to render
to Perspective.
Set the Target

renderer to
Viewport Display.
The file name
defaults to the name
of your Rhino file,
and the location
defaults to the folder
where your Rhino file
is located.
Under File, set the

File type to JPG.
Under Video
Output, choose the
Create video file
checkbox.
A numbered
sequence of image
files is produced
when rendering.
Bongo automatically
adds numbers to the
ends of the
filenames. This is a
standard method of
saving animations
and can be read by
almost all video
encoders and editors.
Under Video Output, choose the Delete individual frames checkbox.

The individual files will be deleted after the video file is created.
Set the Video type to AVI.

AVI or MPG file can be shown without further processing in a media player such as
Windows Media Player or Apple QuickTime.
Click Render.
View your video file using a standard player such as Windows Media Player.
13
Bongo
Keyframes
In the first example, keyframes were created automatically when you animated your box
object. In this section, we will examine keyframes in more detail and change the properties of
the animation by editing the keyframes.
A keyframe is a time when some quality about the object is known. Historically, animators
would draw the keyframes of the animation and illustrators caked betweeners would draw
the frames in between, linking the keyframes together. This is called tweening. A very similar
process occurs between keyframes in Bongo. The keyframe markers (red for objects and
yellow for viewports) indicate the location in time where keyframes are saved.
When you select objects or activate an animated viewport, Bongo displays the keyframe
markers for all of the selected objects along the timeline. For unselected objects and noncurrent viewports, The keyframe markers dim.
Bongo offers several ways to do edit keyframes.
To move a keyframe
With an animated object selected, drag the keyframe

marker to a different position on the timeline.
- Or
Right-click the keyframe marker and from the menu,

choose Move.
In the Move Keyframe Marker dialog

box, enter a keyframe position.
To copy a keyframe
With an animated object selected, press the Ctrl key while

dragging the keyframe marker to a different position on the
timeline.
- Or
14
Bongo
Right-click the keyframe marker, and from the menu,

choose Copy.
In the Copy Keyframe Marker dialog

box, enter a keyframe position.
To delete a keyframe
1
With an animated object selected, drag the keyframe

marker away from the timeline.
A trashcan icon appears.
Release the mouse button to delete the keyframe.

- Or
Right-click the keyframe marker, and from the menu,

choose Delete.
To add an object keyframe by manipulating an object

1
While in Animate mode, move the Timeline Slider to a tick location.
Select an object and drag, move, scale, or rotate the object.

A red object keyframe marker for that object appears in the timeline.
15
Bongo
To add an object keyframe manually
1
While in Animate mode, select an object and right-click the Timeline.
From the menu, choose Add

Object Keyframe, and then
choose Current Position or
Blank Keyframe.
Tutorial: Edit Keyframes

Keyframes are automatically added to the timeline whenever you manipulate an object while
in animate mode. You can also add keyframes manually, delete, move, and copy keyframes,
and edit the keyframe properties.
To start understanding how keyframes work, we will edit the keyframes in the animation you
already created.
In the first animation model, the box moved along the x-axis, rotated 180 degrees, and scaled
to twice its size. These transformations all started at tick 0, so it moved, rotated, and scaled
all in one motion.
Now we want to change the animation so it moves from tick 0 to tick 50, rotates between tick
50 and tick 60, and scales between tick 60 and tick 70. So lets look at the information stored
on the keyframes to see how to manipulate the information.
Open the keyframe at tick 0
1
In the box model you created previously, select

the box.
16
Bongo
Right-click the red object keyframe marker at tick 0, and

click Edit Keyframe.
The Edit Keyframe dialog box opens.

This keyframe describes the state of the object at
tick 0.
The Edit Keyframe dialog box displays a list of
objects in the left panel that have keyframes at this
tick. You can choose to edit either a single objects
properties or select more than one object to edit
multiple objects keyframes. In this case, there is
only one object in the list.
Tabs indicate which keyframe properties are
available. For objects, these include Position,
Rotation, Scale, and General.
3
Click the Position tab.

Notice that the Store
position information
box is chosen.
17
Bongo
Click the Rotation tab.

rotation information
box is chosen.
Click the Scale tab.

scale information box is
chosen.
Click Cancel to close the Edit Keyframe dialog box.
18
Bongo
Open the other keyframes
1
With the box selected, right-click the red object keyframe

marker at tick 50, and click Edit Keyframe.
The Edit Keyframe dialog box opens.

2
Click the Position, Rotation,

and Scale tabs.
The only information that is
stored in this keyframe is
Position.
The Rotation and Scale
information is not stored.
Instead, the information is
calculated by interpolation at
this tick.
Open the keyframes at tick 60 and tick 70.

At tick 60, only rotation information is stored. This
is because we set the rotation to 180 degrees to
be complete at tick 60.
At tick 70, only scale information is stored because

we set scaling to be complete at tick 70.
19
Bongo
Edit the rotation
The goal for editing the rotation information is make the rotation start at tick 50 and end
at tick 60.
1

On the Rotation tab, choose the Store rotation

information checkbox.
The rotation information is now available for
editing.
Under Rotation, in the

Around X axis box, type 0.
Now, instead of interpolating
the rotation information from
the keyframe at tick 0, the
rotation will be 0 at tick 50
and 180 degrees at tick 60.
The box will now:

Move and scale from tick 0 to tick 50.
Flip over (rotate) between tick 50 and tick 60.
Continue to scale between tick 60 and tick 70.
Edit the scale

The goal for editing the scale information is to make the scaling start at tick 60 and end
at tick 70.
1

20
Bongo
On the Scale tab, choose the Store scale information

checkbox.
The scale information is now available for editing.
Under Scale, in the Around

X axis, Around Y axis, and
Around Z axis boxes, type 1.
Now, instead of interpolating
the scale information from the
keyframe at tick 0, the z-axis
scale will be 1 at tick 60 and 3
at tick 70.
The box will now:

Move along the x-axis between tick 0 and tick 50.
Scale between tick 60 and tick 70.
Change the motion timing

We want to move the keyframes to make the actions happen at different times. We will
move all of the keyframes to make the movement happen sooner.
There are two ways to move keyframes: you can choose Move from the menu if you
want to enter a tick number manually, or you can simply drag the keyframe marker to a
different tick.
1
With the box selected, right-click the red

object keyframe marker at tick 50, and
from the menu, choose Move.
In the Move Keyframe Marker dialog

box, enter 25.
21
Bongo
Drag the keyframe at tick 60 to tick 40.
Drag the keyframe at tick 70 to tick 50.
The box will now:

Move between tick 0 and tick 25.
Scale between tick 40 and tick 50.
Copy keyframes to duplicate motion

Now we would like the box to scale back down, flip back over, and move back to its
starting position. An easy way to do this is to copy the keyframes.
1

marker at tick 40, and from the menu, choose Copy.

box, enter 60.

marker at tick 25, and from the menu, choose Copy.
22
Bongo

box, enter 75.
Another way to copy a keyframe is to drag
it with the Ctrl key held down.
With the box selected, click the red object keyframe

marker at tick 0, and drag the keyframe to tick 99.
Note: The keyframe marker at tick 0 is always copied, it is
never moved. Holding down the Ctrl key to copy the
keyframe is not necessary in this special case.
The box will now:

Scale up between tick 40 and tick 50.

Scale back down to its original size between tick
50 and tick 60.
Flip back over (rotate) between tick 60 and
tick 75.
Move back to its starting position between tick 75
and tick 99.
Delete a keyframe
Suppose we do not like the scaling after all, so we want to delete the keyframe with the
scaling information.
1
With the box selected, click the red object keyframe marker
at tick 50, and drag it away from the timeline.
A trashcan icon appears.
23
Bongo
Release the mouse button to delete the keyframe.
The box will now:

Flip back over (rotate) between tick 60 and

tick 75.
Move back to its starting position between tick 75
and tick 99.
Tutorial: Animate an Exploded View

In this tutorial, you will combine animation actions to create a simple animation of an
exploded flashlight assembly.
The flashlight starts in the closed position. Exploding the
lens assembly and moving the batteries out of the body
are animated.
To start creating the animation

1
Open the model Flashlight start.3dm.
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Timeline.

The Bongo Timeline appears.
24
Bongo
Animate the lens assembly
The first part of the flashlight we will animate is the lens assembly. We will move the
lens assembly straight out from the flashlight body.
1

The animate button and timeline will turn red.
Set the Timeline Slider to tick 50.
Select the lens assembly.
Drag the selected parts to the right.

This tells the animation that at tick 50 you want
the lens to be at that location. Bongo will
interpolate the movement from tick 0 to 50.
25
Bongo

The lens assembly slides back and forth with the
Timeline Slider movement.
Animate the position of the batteries

Now that the lens assembly is moving, we will also move the batteries out. In the
animation, we want the lens assembly to move before the batteries.
1
Deselect the lens.
Select the batteries.

Hint: The batteries are on layer D-Batteries. Use
the SelLayer command to select them.
26
Bongo
With the Animate button activated, drag the

batteries to their final location.
The batteries start to move immediately at tick 0.

However, we want them to start moving at tick 50.
With the batteries selected, hold the Ctrl key and drag the red
keyframe marker from tick 0 to tick 50.
This copies the keyframe. A small + will appear to indicate you
are copying the keyframe.
This will keep the batteries in the flashlight body between tick
0 and tick 49. They will start moving out at tick 50.
Now the lens assembly moves first and the

batteries follow.
Rotate the lens assembly

The final part of this animation is to rotate the lens assembly as it leaves the flashlight
body.
1

This is the position near the flashlight body where you
want the rotation to stop.
27
Bongo
Set the lens assembly.
With the Animate button clicked, click the Rotate button.

Rotation is the default action and may already be selected.
The x-axis is the default rotation axis. The red X button should be pressed in.
Set the rotation to 360 degrees.

You can Move the Transformation Slider all the
way to the right or type 360 in the edit box.
This will give you 360 degrees of rotation between tick 0 and tick 75.
Click the Play button, or scrub the Timeline

Slider slowly between tick 0 and tick 75.
You will see the complete animation. The lens
assembly will rotate as it moves in and out of the
flashlight body, and the batteries will move out
after the lens assembly is in position.
28
Bongo
Animation Manager
The Animation Manager displays all of the animated objects, groups, and viewports in the
Rhino model on the animation tree.
To open the Animation Manager
`
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose

Animation Manager.
In the Animation Manager, you can:
Click an object name to select it. The object
highlights in the Animation Manager and the
viewport.
Click a viewport name to activate it.
Drag objects onto other objects to set up
parent/child hierarchical links. Dragging with
the right mouse provides a menu of
transformation options.
Click an object or viewport name twice slowly
to rename it.
Double-click an object to set Advanced
Hierarchy options.
Double-click a viewport name to enable/disable
animation.
Animation Manager Context Menu

Through context menus the Animation Manager also lets you change animation properties.
To activate the Animation Manager context menus
In the Animation Manager tree, right-click

an object name to activate the object context
menu.
29
Bongo
In the Animation Manager tree, right-click a

viewport name to activate the view context menu.
View Animation
View manipulation panning and zooming can be animated in Bongo. By default, views are not
enabled for animation. This is so that you do not accidentally add keyframes to a view while
zooming and panning in animate mode.
With the Animate button active, moving the camera in an animation enabled viewport adds a
yellow view keyframe marker to the Timeline. To see the effect, add two or more keyframes.
Adding only one keyframe will simply lock the camera to that keyframe.
Yellow view keyframe markers in the Timeline.
To animate a view
1

Animation Manager.
In the Animation Manager window, right-click a

viewport name, and from the menu, choose
Animation Enabled.
A check means the viewport is enabled for
animation.
Move the Timeline Slider to a tick where you

want the view change to end.
30
Bongo
Zoom or pan the view, as you would naturally

manipulate views in Rhino.
When view animation is enabled, Bongo controls
the position of the view. A rectangular scale called
a reticle appears at the viewports center, and the
current tick location displays in the viewport.
The dimensions of the view are constrained based
on the current video rendering settings.
When a viewport is animated, the view will stay constrained to its keyframed position for the
current tick even when the Animate button is not active. You will see that when you
manipulate the view with Rhino panning and zooming, the view will snap back to its position
for the current tick as soon as you release the mouse. A dialog box appears that lets you
release control of the view from the animation.
You can release control of the view from Bongo so that you can zoom and pan naturally. This
does not delete the keyframes for the view. When you enable the viewport for animation
again, the keyframes are retained.
To temporarily release control of the view from Bongo
In the Animation Manager tree, right-click the

viewport name and clear the check from
Animation Enabled.
Tutorial: Animate a View

In this tutorial, you will animate a view. Animating views
lets you pan, zoom, and rotate the view while the
animation is running.
We will be adding simple view animation. The camera
will zoom in on the fingers during the animation.
31
Bongo
Activate a view for animation
1
Open the model Robot Arm View.3dm.
Scrub the Timeline Slider or click the Play

button to see the current animation.

Animation Manager.
The Animation Manager appears with a list of
your viewports in the hierarchy tree.
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Bongo
In the Animation Manager window, right-click the

Perspective icon and from the menu, choose
Animation Enabled.
A small rectangular reticle appears at the

viewports center, and the current tick displays in
the lower right of the viewport.
When animation is enabled for a viewport, Bongo
controls the view.
Record the final view

1
Set the Timeline Slider to 99.
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Bongo
Zoom in on the hand
1
Select the fingers.
Use the ZoomSelected command to zoom in on

the hand.
A view keyframe marker is added at tick 99.
A view keyframe marker that records your initial
view is also automatically added at tick 0.
Note: It does not matter if you have to zoom or
pan to adjust your view. What is important is that
at a certain tick, the view is where you want it to
be. Bongo will handle the view manipulation
between ticks.
Scrub the Timeline Slider or click the Play button

to see the results.
Note:
If you try to zoom or pan a view that is animated, a warning dialog appears to let
you know that Bongo has control of the view and allowing you to disable the view
animation.
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Bongo
Animation Hierarchies
Animated objects can have parents and children. This is displayed in the Animation Manager
on the hierarchy tree. Each object is either the child of the Animated Objects item or the child
of another object. When an object is the child of another object, it is also transformed by the
transformations applied to its parent in addition to its own transformations.
For example, if a car is animated moving in space, the four wheels can be made children of
the car by dragging the wheels onto the car object in the Animation Manager (or using the
BongoSelectChildren command). The wheel objects will now move with the car and stay in
the correct place. Rotation can then be applied to the wheels by selecting them and using the
transformation slider to rotate them around the correct axis. They will then move with the car
(using the parents transformation) and rotate around their own axes.
When a parent/child relationship is in force between two objects, the objects are linked in the
Rhinoceros viewports by a dotted line.
Parent/child relationships can be stacked to any depthobjects can have grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, and so on. Children of the same object are called siblings.
When creating a parent/child relationship with the BongoSelectChildren command, you have
the option of snapping the child to the parent. The SnapIntoPlace option moves the child
objects pivot through the same transformation as that currently applied to the parent. If
SnapIntoPlace is not used, the child object will not move during the operation.
Use Proxy Objects as Parents

A proxy object is a Rhino point object whose purpose is to control other geometry by acting as
a parent object. Proxy objects are sometimes called controller objects.
When several objects that have the same proxy object as their parent are transformed in
animate mode, the transformation is applied to the parent proxy object rather than the
selected objects. The same is true if children and their parent are transformedonly the proxy
object will receive the transformation keyframes.
A good use for proxy objects is animating objects grouped with the Rhino Group command. In
Rhino, grouped objects are not a single object, the objects simply all select together. This can
create problems when animating a group because each object in the group receives its own
pivot and transformations act around that pivot.
Animating groups of objects in complex models can be cumbersome. In many cases, it is a
good idea to use Rhino blocks to combine multiple objects into a single object for animation
instead of using groups.
To create a single pivot point for a group of objects
1
Create a proxy object at the required pivot

location.
Make all of the objects children of the point.
Apply the transformations to the proxy point

object.
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Bongo
To create proxy points
`
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Utilities, and then choose Place
Proxy Point, and then select children.
In the Document Properties dialog box, Bongo page, choose the Use proxy for
multiple transforms checkbox.
Proxy points are then created automatically when multiple objects are animated for the
first time.
Tutorial: Use Hierarchies to Link Objects

For the following animation tutorial, we will link parts of
a robot arm together and control the arm movements
through these links.
The robot arm comprises a series of related parts. First,
we will link the objects together in Bongo, and then we
will animate the arm.
The post will rotate around its center 90 degrees. Then

the forearm will lower and the wrist and fingers will
bend down.
Link the parts together

When you have a model that includes many connected parts, you can set up parent/child
relationships between objects. Parent objects control their child objects. This lets you animate
the parent object in the assembly and the child objects will move in relation to the parent.
Activate the Animation Manager hierarchy tree
1
Open the model Robot Arm Start.3dm.
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Animation Manager.

The Bongo Animation Manager appears.
36
Bongo
Link the robot post to the base
1
From the Bongo menu, choose Utilities, and then choose Select Children.
At the Select Parent prompt, select the robot

Base.
At the Select Children prompt, select the Post,

and press Enter.
You have just created a parent/child relationship

between the robot base and the post. Now if you
move the base, the post will move with it.
A parent/child hierarchy is how Bongo represents
assemblies that move relative to each other.
You can see the relationship hierarchy in the
Animation Manager window. The Base displays
in the Animation Manager hierarchy tree as a
parent of the Post. A parent can have many
children. The children can also have children of
their own.
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Bongo
Link the forearm to the post
1
At the Select Parent prompt, select the Post.
At the Select Children prompt, select the

Forearm, and press Enter.
The Forearm displays in the Animation Manager

hierarchy tree as a child of the Post.
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Bongo
Link the wrist to the forearm
1
At the Select Parent prompt, select the

Forearm.
At the Select Children prompt, select the Wrist,

and press Enter.
The Wrist displays in the Animation Manager

hierarchy tree as a child of the Forearm.
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Bongo
Link the hand to the wrist
1
At the Select Parent prompt, select the Wrist.
At the Select Children prompt, select the

Hand, and press Enter.
The Hand displays in the Animation Manager

hierarchy tree as a child of the Wrist.
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Bongo
Link the fingers to the hand
1
At the Select Parent prompt, select the Hand.
At the Select Children prompt, select each

Finger, and press Enter.
Hint: Use the SelBlockInstanceNamed
command to select all instances of the block
named Finger at once.
The Fingers display in the Animation Manager

hierarchy tree as children of the Hand.
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Bongo
Locate an objects pivot
Since objects move about their pivot, you must ensure that the pivot is located so the
movement centers around the right location on the object. There are two possibilities for the
default location of the pivot. If the object is a block, the pivot is automatically placed at the
block insertion point. If the object is not a block, the pivot is placed at the center of the
objects bounding box.
Note:
For blocks, the object pivot is automatically located at the blocks insertion point.
Locate the pivot point for the base

In this model, most parts are blocks. However, the
Post is not a block. Therefore, its pivot is
automatically placed at the center of the objects
bounding box, which is in the middle of the object.
This means the post will rotate around this middle
point instead of the center of the base.
In the next step, you will move the posts pivot to
its correct location.
From the Bongo menu, choose Utility, and then choose Move Object Pivot.
At the Select Objects prompt, select the Post,

and press Enter.
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Bongo
At the Pick Point prompt, using the Center

object snap, pick the center of the hole in the
Post.
The Post will now rotate around its center.
Animate the arm

Now that the parts of the arm are linked, you can animate the arm.
Rotate the Post
1
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Bongo
Select the Post.
In the Timeline, click the Rotate button, and click the Z button.
Move the Transformation Slider to the right so the arm rotates

approximately 90 degrees.
You can see that the rest of the arm stays attached to the Post because of the
parent/child relationships in the hierarchy.
Note: X, Y, and Z refer to the axes of the object pivot, not to the Rhino world or
construction plane coordinate systems.
6

button to see the results.
44
Bongo
Lower the Forearm
1
Select the Forearm.
In the Timeline, click the Rotate button, and click the X

button.
Move the Transformation Slider to the left so the arm

rotates so it is approximately level.
This is easiest to see in the Front viewport.
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Bongo

Rotate the Wrist

1
Select the Wrist.
In the Timeline, select the Rotate button and click the X

button.
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Bongo
Move the Transformation Slider to the left so the hand is

pointing straight down.
This is easiest to see in the Front viewport.

Tutorial: Use Proxy Objects

In this tutorial, we animate the fingers of the robot arm
to open and close using a proxy point.
We will create a proxy point that will control the
movement of all of the fingers of the robot arm at once.
This way we will only have to change animation
properties in one place to control all six fingers.
Open the robot arm model

1
Open the model Robot Arm Proxy.3dm.
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, open the Animation Manager and Timeline.
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Bongo
In the Animation Manager, right-click the

Perspective viewport and click Animation
Enabled to temporarily disable animation for this
viewport.
This allows you to freely manipulate the animated
view.
Zoom in on the hand and fingers.

The goal is to animate opening and closing the
fingers.
Create a proxy point to control the fingers

The proxy point will control the movement of all of the fingers at the same time. Each finger
will rotate around its own pivot point, but the rotation direction, amount and timing of the
rotation will be controlled by the proxy point.
Create a proxy point
1
From the Bongo menu, choose Utilities, and then choose Place Proxy Point.
At the Place proxy prompt, using a Near object

snap, select a point on the Hand.
It does not matter where on the hand the proxy
point is placed.
At the Select children (SnapIntoPlace=Yes)

prompt, select the fingers, and press Enter.
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Bongo
You have just created a parent/child relationship

between the proxy point and the fingers. This
means that if you move, scale, or rotate the
proxy point, the fingers will move with it.
Make the proxy point a child of the hand

`
In the Animation Manager tree, drag the proxy

you just created onto the Hand.
The proxy point is now a child of the Hand.
Set up the finger movement

To rotate the fingers, we will set the rotation for the proxy point. By default, because of the
parent/child relationship, the fingers would normally rotate around the proxy point. However,
this is not the rotation movement we want. We want each finger to rotate around its own axis,
so they appear to open and close. So although we set the proxy point to rotate, by using
advanced hierarchy settings, we can cause the rotation around the z-axis of the proxy point to
be applied to each individual finger instead.
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Bongo
Control the relationship of the proxy point to the fingers
1
In the Animation Manager window, right-click the proxy point object, and from the
menu choose Advanced Hierarchy Settings.
In the Advanced Hierarchy Settings

dialog box, clear the Inherit settings
from parent box.
This causes the transformation
information that you will apply to the
proxy point to be applied to the proxy
points children and not the proxy point
itself.
Choose the Acts around childs pivot

checkbox.
This causes the fingers to rotate around
their own axes instead of the axis of the
parent proxy point. The parent proxy
point still controls the amount of the
rotation.
Open the fingers

1
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Bongo
In the Animation Manager hierarchy tree,

select the proxy point.
In the Timeline, click the Rotate button and the Z-axis button, and
drag the Transformation Slider to the right.
The fingers should move up together. Using the

front viewport, watch carefully to make sure they
do not move too far. An angle of about 45 degrees
works well.
You can temporarily disable animation of the
Perspective viewport in order to zoom and pan to
the objects if necessary.
Close the fingers

1
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Bongo
In the Animation Manager hierarchy tree, again

choose the proxy point.
In the Timeline, click the Z-axis button, and drag the

Transformation Slider to the left to angle 0.
The fingers should move down together.
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Bongo
4

You have completed animating the fingers of the
robot arm.
Object and View Constraints

Objects and views can be constrained to path curves or object pivots. Objects can be made to:
Follow a curve (To Path constraint)
Look along a curve (Look Along constraint)
Face toward another objects pivot (Look At constraint)
Move toward or away from another objects pivot (Object to Pivot constraint)
A constraint can be animated on or off or with varying weight over time. Keyframes also store
the position of the object or view along a path constraint. This is called the parameter and
varies from 0.0 at the start of the path to 1.0 at the end.
When the object is constrained, the pivot displays a dotted constraints heading indicator,
which shows the part of the object that will look at the constraint target.
Some constraints cannot be used in conjunction with others, for example, you cannot set up
constraints where each object is constrained to the position of the other. Constraints that are
disabled through these limitations are shown in light grey in the Object Constraint Manager
and are not applied to the object.
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Bongo
Common uses for constraints include:
Moving a car along a path and keeping the car facing in the direction it is moving (a
look-along constraint).
Forcing a view camera to aim at a specific object in the scene (a look-at constraint).
Creating a walkthrough animation (a viewport look-along constraint).
Animating the view from within an object (constrain the view camera location to object).
Multiple Constraints and Weighting

The Object and View Constraint Managers can apply multiple constraints causing the object or
view to be affected by several different constraint conditions at the same time. Initially, these
constraints will have equal weighting and Bongo will constrain the object evenly between the
constraint conditions.
Keyframed position can also have a weighting in the final position of the object if it is raised
from its initial zero weight. This value is set per keyframe in the Edit Keyframe dialog box.
Weighting is useful when an object or view is multiply constrained. Keyframes can alter the
weighting of the constraints at a given tick, moving the object away from or towards
constrained conditions during the course of the animation. Any value above zero causes the
object to be affected by that constraint. Weights are measured relative to the weights of other
constraints. For example, a constraint weighted at 10 will have half the effect of another
constraint weighted 20 at the same tick.
Common uses for weighting and multiple constraints include:
Creating an animation with several walkthrough paths.
Setting up a camera or object that looks at several objects in turn while moving along a
predefined path.
Constraint Tips:
Child objects are limited in the types of constraints they can accept.
It can be difficult to see what is happening with view constraints, particularly when
adding parameter keyframes along the length of a path curve. Use Rhinos Camera
command to turn on the viewport camera to see where the camera is.
Tutorial: Use View Constraints to Walk Through a Building

Views can be constrained to curves and object pivots. You can use this feature to create a
walkthrough animation, a turntable animation, or to cause the camera to focus on a particular
object (or several objects) during the course of the animation.
In this section, you will use Bongo view constraints to
animate walking though a building. You can specify
where you want to walk and objects to look at while we
walk. You can also open doors as we approach them.
Set up the walk path

The first thing we want to do to start this animation is to establish a path for the animation to
follow. We are going to walk through the doors into the building ending up at the small table
in the back.
54
Bongo
Open the example model
1
Open the model Walk Through.3dm.
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, open the Timeline and Animation Manager.
Draw a curve to follow

1
From the Rhino Curve menu, choose Freeform,

and then choose Interpolate Points.
In the Top viewport, pick a series of points that

will guide the viewport camera path through the
building as illustrated.
By default this path will be drawn on the ground
(construction plane).
Move the curve up 72 inches, so it is about at

eye height.
Constrain the view to follow the curve

1
Click in the Perspective view to activate it.
From the Bongo menu, choose View Constraints Manager.

- Or From the Bongo toolbar, choose Set Up View Constraints.
In the View Constraints Manager dialog box, click Add,

and then from the menu, choose Look Along.
At the Select object prompt, select the path curve.

Select the curve near the end where you would like the
animation to start. This sets the direction the animation will
follow.
In the View Constraints

Manager dialog box, click the
name of the path, and enter the
name Walkpath.
The viewport is automatically
Animation Enabled.
The curve object is automatically named Walkpath in Rhino Properties.

Yellow keyframe markers are added to the Timeline at ticks 0 and 99.
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Bongo

Use the Camera command to turn on the viewport

camera for the Perspective viewport.
When you scrub the Timeline Slider or click the
Play button, you can see the path of the camera in
the Top, Front, and Right viewports.
Note:
Remember, now that the viewport is Animation Enabled, if you want to manipulate
the view manually, you must temporarily disable the viewport animation in the
Animation Manager window.
Look at objects as you walk

You can see that the animation probably does not yet do exactly what you want it to do.
During the animation, the point of view is always directly in front of the you as if you were
looking straight ahead and facing the direction you are walking. This is not very natural.
Normally, as we walk, we look at objects around us. In this section, you will add constraints to
objects so the camera will turn and look at various objects as we walk through the building.
To do this, in addition to the Look Along constraint created in the previous step, we will add
targets to look at while the camera is moving along the path. These targets will take priority
over the view along the path. After adding the target in the View Constraints Manager, a new
keyframe will be added to the Timeline and weighted values will be assigned to targets. This
will give us control over the focus of the animation. You can then prioritize the constraints and
focus the animation on a particular object for a portion of the animation.
Look at the stair
1
From the Bongo menu, select View Constraint Manager.

In the View Constraint Manager dialog box, click Add, and

then choose Target to Object.
Select the spiral staircase.
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Bongo
In the View Constraint

untitled name, and enter the
name Stair.
Look at the glass

1
From the Bongo menu, choose View Constraints Manager.

In the View Constraints Manager dialog box,

click Add, and then choose Target to Object.
Select the glass on the small table in the back of

the building.
In the View Constraint

untitled name, and enter the
name Glass.
Add a keyframe for looking at the stair

At this point, since the weights of all the constraints are the same, the constraints have
no effect. The constraints must be weighted so that each constraint will take priority
over the others at the time in the animation when you want the change of view to be
effective.
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Bongo
Move the Timeline Slider until you can see inside

the building.
Right-click the Timeline at the current tick, and from the menu, choose Add View
Keyframe.
A yellow keyframe marker will appear at that tick.
Right-click the new keyframe marker, and from the menu, choose Perspective.
In the Edit Keyframe dialog

box, under Constraints, set
the weight of the Stair to
100.
Set the weights for the other

objects to 0.
This sets the priority for
aiming the camera toward the
stair much higher than the
priority for aiming along the
path or at the glass.

Use the Camera command to turn on the

viewport camera for the Perspective viewport.
When you scrub the Timeline Slider or click the
Play button, you can see the movement of the
camera in the Top, Front, and Right viewports.
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Bongo
Specify when you would like to end looking at the stair
1
Drag the Timeline Slider until you get to the

point you want the camera to stop aiming at the
stair and start aiming toward the glass.
Right-click the Timeline at the current tick, and

from the menu, choose Add View Keyframe.
A yellow keyframe appears at the current tick.
Right-click the keyframe marker and from the menu, choose Perspective.
In the Edit Keyframe dialog

box, under Constraints, set
the weight of the Stair to
100.

objects to 0.
This keeps the camera facing
the stair until this tick.

Use the Camera command to turn on the viewport

camera for the Perspective viewport.
Notice that the camera turns around near the end
and points back toward the stair.
End the animation looking at the glass

1
Right-click the keyframe marker at tick 99 and from the menu, choose Perspective.
In the Edit Keyframe dialog box, under Constraints, set the weight of the Glass
to 100.
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Bongo

objects to 0.
This starts taking your view
away from the stair and starts
moving the view toward the
glass.

Use the Camera command to turn on the

viewport camera for the Perspective viewport.
Now the animation ends with the camera aimed at
the glass.
The animation should probably linger on the glass

for a moment, so drag the view keyframe marker
at tick 99 back to tick 95.
Click the Play button to see the results.
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Bongo
Open the doors as you pass through
The animation will look much better if you animate the doors to open as you enter the
building.
Move to the position where you want the doors to start opening
1
Move the Timeline Slider to the tick where you

want the doors to start to open.
Select the two doors.
Right-click the Timeline at the current tick, and from the menu choose Object
Keyframe, and then choose Current Position.
This sets the point where the doors will start to move.
Right-click the keyframe, and from the menu, choose Edit.
In the Edit Keyframe dialog box, from the list, select both of the door objects.
On the Rotation page, choose the Store rotation information checkbox.

The rotation information should now be 0 for both doors.
Open the first door

1
With the Animate button activated, drag the

Timeline Slider forward to the tick where you
would like the doors to be fully open.
Select the left-hand door.
Start the Rhino Rotate command.

The BongoRotate command replaces the Rhino
Rotate command. The prompts are different, and
the you cannot choose a rotation base point. The
object pivot is used instead.
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Bongo
At the Angle or first reference point ( Axis

MovePivot ) prompt, click the MovePivot option,
and in the Top viewport, click on the doors hinge
point.
At the next Angle or first reference point

prompt enter 90.
Open the other door

1
Select the right-hand door.
Start the Rhino Rotate command.
At the Angle or first reference point ( Axis

MovePivot ) prompt, click the MovePivot option,
and in the Top viewport, click on the doors hinge
point.
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Bongo
At the next Angle or first reference point

prompt, enter -90.
Activate the Perspective viewport and scrub the

Timeline Slider to see the doors open.

Tutorial: Use Constraints to Pick Up an Object

An action like picking up a ball requires the use of
constraints. We will animate this action using our old
friend the robot arm.
The ball will be constrained to a part of the hand of the
robot. But we only want the ball to be influenced after
the ball is picked up. Before the pick up, the ball needs
to stay stationary. We accomplish this by setting the
weights of the constraints on the ball object.
Open the example model

1
Open the model Pick Up Ball.3dm.
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Bongo
Specify a point for the ball to attach to
1

We attach the ball to pivot point that is a child
of the hand to pick it up.
From the Bongo menu, choose Utilities, and then choose Place Proxy Point.
In the Top viewport, press the Ctrl key to

activate elevator mode, and pick near the center
of the hand.
In the Right viewport, pick at the height of the

end of the fingers.
At the Select Children prompt, press Enter.
Set up parent/child relationship

You will now make the proxy point the child of the hand.
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Bongo
Make the proxy point a child of the hand
1
From the Bongo menu, choose Utilities, then choose Select Children.
At the Select Parent prompt, select the hand.
At the Select children

( SnapIntoPlace=Yes ) prompt, set the
SnapIntoPlace option to No, select the
proxy point you just created, and press
Enter.
In the Animation Manager, the object Proxy 1 will

move under the Hand.
Draw a sphere to make a ball

1
From the Solid menu, choose Sphere, and then choose Center, Radius.
At the Center of sphere prompt, use the Point object snap to select the proxy point
at the center of the hand.
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Bongo
At the Radius prompt, enter 1.7.
Constrain the sphere to the proxy point

1
From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Object Constraints Manager.
At the Select object prompt, select the sphere.
Click the Add button, and from the menu, choose Object to
Pivot.
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Bongo
At the Select Target Object prompt, select the

proxy point.

The sphere will stick to the hand.
Pick up the ball

Now that the ball is properly constrained to the hand. We now need to specify when the ball is
picked up and when it is not.
Make keyframes for the animation
1
Select the ball.
At tick 97, right-click the Timeline and from the menu, choose Add Object
At tick 98, right-click the Timeline and from the menu, choose Add Object
These are the critical keyframe positions for picking up the ball.
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Bongo
Set the ball location at the start of the animation
1
Select the ball and the proxy point.
Right-click the keyframe at tick 0, and from the menu,

choose Edit Keyframe.
On the Position page, under

Location, set the Positional
Weight for the ball to 100.
Under Constraints, set the

Weight for Proxy 1 to 0.
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Bongo
Set the constraints at the other keyframes
1
Right-click the keyframe at tick 97, and from the menu,

choose Edit Keyframe.
On the Position page, under

Location, set the Positional
Weight for the ball to 100.
Under Constraints, set the

Weight for Proxy 1 to 0.
This specifies that from tick 0 to tick 97, the position of the ball (positional weight) will
outweigh the position of the Proxy and therefore stay in its initial position).
4
Scrub the timeline slider.

The ball should stay in position up to tick 97 and
then the hand should pick it up.
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Bongo
Repeat Action with Looping
Certain types of animations require some elements to repeat while the animation plays. This is
achieved with looping.
Example uses for looping include pistons that run while the camera moves slowly around the
engine or an object that moves backwards and forwards on a track.
When looping is enabled for an object and that object is selected, two magenta looping
markers appear on the timeline.
The left-most looping marker is the start marker. The start marker determines where the loop
will return after hitting the end marker. Ticks to the left of the start marker are not included in
the loop.
The right-most marker is the end marker. The end marker determines where the loop ends.
After hitting the end marker, the object will return to the position specified by the start
marker.
A white outline version of the timeline current tick indicator appears for selected looping
objects. This shows which tick is determining the properties of the object given the current
looping values for that object.
Magenta looping start/end markers and white virtual position indicator.
To set up object looping

1
Select objects for looping.
From the Bongo menu, choose Utilities, and then choose Object Looping.
Drag the looping markers to the desired positions on the timeline to cause the section of
the timeline between the markers to loop.
The Number of Repeats value determines how many times the object will return to the
start marker after having hit the end marker.
To set the position and number of repeats

1
Double-click the looping markers to open the Bongo Looping dialog box.
Enter values to set the marker positions and specify the number of repeats.
Looping and Hierarchical Animation

An objects children inherit looping unless the child object itself has looping enabled. You can
prevent an object from inheriting looping by clearing the Inherits Looping checkbox in the
Advanced Hierarchy Settings dialog box for the object or one of the objects parents.
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Bongo
Tutorial: Using Looping
Objects that have repetitive movement can be looped.
This means the animation will re-run a set number of
frames within the timeline for a certain object. Each item
can have its own separate looping structure. In this
tutorial we will animate the hands of a clock so that they
loop continuously.
Animate the minute hand

To keep timing correct between the minute and hour hand on the clock, the minute hand will
go around in five ticks. The observant among you will realize that this is not really a minute
hand, but a five-minute hand.
Activate the Animation Manager and the Timeline
1
Open the model Looping Clock.3dm.
This model has the number of timeline
ticks set to 59.
Animate the minute hand

1
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Bongo
In the Animation Manager tree, select Minute

hand.
In the Timeline, click the Z-Axis button and

move the Transformation Slider to the left until
the angle reads -360.
- Or
Enter -360 in the edit box.
This makes the minute hand rotate clockwise 360
degrees.
The minute hand rotates once between tick 1 and

tick 5.
Loop the minute hand

1
In the Animation Manager tree, right-click

Minute hand, and from the menu, choose
Enable looping.
You will see magenta looping markers at the
beginning and the end of the timeline.
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Bongo
Move the looping end marker from tick 59 to

tick 5.
The minute hand repeats its motion between

tick 0 and tick 5.
Note: You can move the keyframe marker and
looping marker to tick 1 if you want the hand to
go around 60 times for each rotation of the Hour
hand.
Set the minute hand acceleration

Notice that the minute hand does not travel at a constant speed. This is due to the
default rotation tweening acceleration. We can adjust this.
1
Right-click the red object keyframe marker at tick 5, and

from the menu, choose Edit Keyframe.
In the Edit Keyframe

dialog box, on the Rotation
tab, under Tweening, set
the Acceleration to 0.
The minute hand now repeats its motion

smoothly.
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Bongo
Animate the hour hand
Set the hour hand to do a full rotation in 60 ticks.
Animate the hour hand
1
In the Animation Manager tree, select Hour

hand.
In the Timeline, click the Z-Axis button and

move the Transformation Slider to the left until
the angle reads -360.
- Or
Enter -360 in the edit box.
This makes the hour hand rotate clockwise 360
degrees.
Right-click the red object keyframe at tick 59, and from

the menu, choose Edit Keyframe.
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Bongo

dialog box, on the Rotation
tab, under Tweening, set
the Acceleration to 0.
The minute hand moves in correct time with the

hour hand.
Set the number of rotations for the minute hand

The minute hand keeps rotating when the animation reaches tick 59. You really want to
stop the looping at that point.
1
In the Animation Manager tree, select Minute

hand.
Right-click the looping marker at tick 5, and from the menu,

choose Edit.
In the Bongo Object Looping dialog box,

in the Number of repeats box, enter 12.
75
Bongo
Animate Object Properties
In addition to moving, rotating, and scaling objects, you can animate some object properties,
such as color, gloss, and transparency.
Some object properties can be animated and will be recorded when changed in animate mode.
These properties are available for animation:
Object color
Object visibility (Rhino Hide command)
Render material color
Render gloss finish
Render gloss color
Render transparency
Tutorial: Animate Object Visibility

Bongo can make Rhino's objects disappear and reappear at any tick.
Use the Hide command at the tick you want an object to hide. Use the Show command to
specify when you want the object to show.
You can animate object visibility using the Hide and Show commands, or you can use the
objects render material transparency. When using the Hide and Show commands, this change
is abrupt and happens at the tick you specify. When using transparency, you can make the
object fade in and out.
To animate object visibility with Hide
1
Open the model HideandShow.3dm.
76
Bongo
Select the orange ball.
Use the Rhino Hide command to hide the object at

that keyframe.
Use the Rhino Show command to show the object

at that keyframe.
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button.
Tutorial: Animate Fade Out and In

Bongo can animate Rhino's basic materials. You can also achieve a fade-in-and-out effect by
changing the transparency of the render materials.
Animate object transparency
1
Open the model Transparency.3dm.
Set the display mode for the viewport named

Render to Rendered Display.
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Bongo
From the Rhino Edit menu, choose Object Properties.
In the Object Properties dialog box, on the

Material page, under Assign by, choose Basic.
Set the Transparency to 100.
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Bongo
10 In the Object Properties dialog box on the Material

page, set the Transparency to 0.
11 Click the Play button.
Tutorial: Animate Color Change

You can set the color of an object with a keyframe. Rhino will transition the color smoothly
between keyframes in the same way it smoothly transitions movement and rotation.
Animate color change
1
Open the model Properties_color.3dm.

80
Bongo
In the Object Properties dialog box, on the

Material page, under Assign by, choose Basic.
Set the color to Cyan.
10 In the Object Properties dialog box on the Material page, set the Color to Orange.
11 Click the Play button.
81
Bongo
You can also edit a keyframe to set properties
1
Move the Timeline Slider to the tick where you want to set different properties.
Select an object.
Right-click the Timeline, and from the menu, choose Add Object Keyframe, and then
choose Current Position.
Right-click the red object keyframe marker, and from the menu, choose Edit Keyframe.

dialog box, on the
General page, choose
the Store General
Information checkbox.
Set the values for the properties that you want the object to exhibit at the current
keyframe.
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Animate Lights
Lights can be animated like any other object with some additional parameters. For lights you
can animate the following light properties.
Color
Hot spot
Shadow intensity
Enabled status (whether the light is on or off)
Use the light color property to change the lighting intensity. Values closer to black dim the
light.
Tutorial: Animate Lights

You can set the color of a light to gradually dim or
brighten. Rhino will transition the light color smoothly
between keyframes in the same way it smoothly
transitions movement, rotation, and scale.
In this tutorial we will use light color to turn on and raise
the brightness for each light individually and then dim
them all at once.
Animate light brighten and darken

1
Open the model Properties_Light.3dm.

83
Bongo
Select all three lights.
From the Rhino Edit menu, choose Object

Properties.
In the Object Properties dialog box on the Light

page, set the color to Black.
This effectively turns all of the lights off at tick 0.
84
Bongo
Brighten Light 01
1
Select the light illuminating the purple sphere

(Light 01).

Properties.

page, set the color to White.
This raises the level of Light 01 to maximum at
tick 25.
85
Bongo
Brighten Light 02
1
Select the light illuminating the green sphere

(Light 02).

Properties.

tick 50.
86
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Brighten Light 03
1
Select the light illuminating the orange sphere

(Light 03).

Properties.

tick 75.
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Dim all lights
1

Properties.

page, set the color to Black.
This lowers the level of all of the lights to black at
tick 99, causing the lights to fade out.

Light 01 will start to fade to black at tick 25, and
Light 02 will start to fade to black at tick 50.
This is not the result we want for this exercise. We
want all the lights to stay bright until all the
spheres are illuminated, and then we want them
all to dim at once.
88
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Dim all the lights at the same time
1
In the Object Properties dialog box on the Light page, set the color to White.
This sets the level of all lights to white, causing the lights to stay bright until tick 75.
Lights 01 and 02 will now start to fade to black at

tick 75 along with Light 03.
89
Bongo
Bongo Command List

Most of the following commands are available from the Bongo toolbar and menu. However,
they can also be typed at the Rhino command line.
Bongo
Load the Bongo plug-in.
BongoAbout
Display the Bongo splash screen.
BongoAddObjectKeyframe
Add an object keyframe to the timeline.
BongoAddViewKeyframe
Add a view keyframe.
BongoAdvancedHierarchySettings
Open the Advanced Hierarchy Settings

dialog box.
BongoAnimate
Set Bongos animate mode.
BongoAnimationLimits
Set the start and end tick for the

animation.
BongoAnimationManager
Open the Animation Manager window.
BongoChangeConstraintHeading
Change the direction on an object,

relative to the pivot axis, which will face
the target in a constrained condition.
BongoChangeRotationOrder
Change the order that rotations are

applied to objects.
BongoCheckForUpdates
Check the Bongo web site for a more

recent Bongo version.
BongoCheckInLicense
Check in a license to the workgroup

license manager.
BongoCheckOutLicense
Check out a license from the workgroup

license manager.
BongoConstrainObjectLookAlong
Constrain an object to look along a

curve.
BongoConstrainObjectLookAt
Constrain an object to look at another

object.
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Bongo
BongoConstrainObjectToPath
Constrain an object to follow a path

curve.
BongoConstrainObjectToPivot
Constrain an object to another object

pivot.
BongoConstrainViewportCameraToObjectPivot
Constrain a viewport camera to an

object pivot.
BongoConstrainViewportCameraToPath
Constrain a viewport camera to follow a

path curve.
BongoConstrainViewportLookAlong
Constrain a viewport camera to look

along a curve.
BongoConstrainViewportTargetToObjectPivot
Constrain a viewport target to an object

pivot.
BongoConstrainViewportTargetToPath
Constrain a viewport target to follow a

path curve.
BongoCopyObjectKeyframe
Copy an object keyframe.
BongoCopyViewKeyframe
Copy a view keyframe.
BongoDeleteObjectKeyframe
Delete an object keyframe.
BongoDeleteViewKeyframe
Delete a view keyframe.
BongoEditObjectKeyframe
Edit an object keyframe.
BongoEditViewKeyframe
Edit a view keyframe.
BongoEnableObject
Enable/Disable animation for an object.
BongoEnableView
Enable/Disable animation for a viewport.
BongoExplode
Replaces the Rhino Explode command,

so animated objects continue to be
animated in their exploded state.
BongoHelp
Open the Bongo Help file.
91
Bongo
BongoLooping
Change looping properties for one or

more objects.
BongoMatchAnimationProperties
Select a source and target object to copy

animation properties from the source to
the target.
BongoMoveObjectKeyframe
Move a object keyframe to a new

position.
BongoMovePivot
Change the position of the pivot on an

animated object.
BongoMoveViewKeyframe
Moves a view keyframe to a new

position.
BongoObjectConstraintsManager
Manage object constraints.
BongoPivotDisplay
Turn pivot display on and off for selected

objects.
BongoPivotLock
Allow the object to move while leaving

the pivot at the same place in space.
BongoPlaceProxyPoint
Place an animated point object in the

model and prompts to select its children.
BongoPreviewAnimation
Preview the animation.
BongoRemoveKeyframes
Removes all animation data from an

object.
BongoRenderAnimation
Set rendering options for an animation.
BongoRotate
Special rotate command that allows an

object to rotate around its pivot.
BongoScale
Special scale command that allows an

object to scale around its pivot.
BongoSelectChildren
Set up parent/child relationships

between objects.
92
Bongo
BongoSetSliderPosition
Set the timeline slider to a specified tick

location.
BongoSetTimelineTicks
Set the number of ticks in the timeline.
BongoShowPivotPath
Display a dotted line showing the path of

the objects pivot over the length of the
timeline.
BongoShowViewPath
Display a dotted line showing the path of

the view camera and target over the
length of the timeline.
BongoTimeline
Open the Timeline window.
BongoUseSphericalTweening
Control whether Bongo will rotate the

camera around its target or move the
camera and target linearly between the
keyframes.
BongoVideoEncoder
Launch the Bongo Video Encoder

application.
BongoViewConstraintsManager
Manage view constraints.
BongoWebPage
Access the Bongo web site at

www.bongo3d.com.
93
Bongo
Index
acceleration, tweening, 73
move, rotate, scale, 19, 20, 21
add
parent/child hierarchy, 36, 44, 46, 47
object keyframe, 15, 16
pick up ball, 63, 67, 69
view keyframe, 30
proxy objects, 47, 51, 52, 53
animate
rotation, 10
button, 3
scale, 11
gloss color, 76
show and hide, 78
gloss finish, 76
view animation, 31, 32, 34
hide objects, 76
animation extents marker, 5
light color, 83
animation manager, 29
light hotspot, 83
context menus, 29
light on and off, 83
open, 29
light shadow intensity, 83
animation preview
lights, 83
pause, 12
material color, 76, 80
play, 11
mode, 3
resume, 12
object color, 76
start, 12
object movement, 7
stop, 12
object movement example, 7
axis icon, 6
object properties, 76
blocks and object pivots, 42
object rotation example, 9
Bongo command list, 90
object scale example, 10
child object, 35
object visibility, 76
looping, 70
parent/child relationship, 35
select, 65
show objects, 76
select, 36
transparency, 76, 78
color, object, 76
view example, 31
command list, 90
animation
constraint
enable view, 32
heading indicator, 53
hierarchy, 35
look along, 55
preview, 11
look along curve, 53
render, 12
look at object, 53
tree, 35
multiple, 54
view, 30
object, 53
animation example
object to pivot, 66
brighten and dim lights, 83, 88, 89
parameter, 53
building walkthrough, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 63
target to object, 56
change color, 81
to object pivot, 53
copy keyframes, 23
to path curve, 53
delete keyframe, 24
view, 53
fade in an out, 80
view tutorial, 54
flashlight, 24
weighting, 68
flashlight, move batteries, 27
weighting, 54
flashlight, move lens, 26

flashlight, rotate lens, 28
looping, 71, 72, 73, 75
move, 8
move keyframes, 22
weighting tutorial, 54
context menu
animation manager, 29
timeline, 5
controller object, 35
94
Bongo
copy
keyframe, 14
keyframe example, 22
delete
menu
animation manager context, 29
timeline context, 5
move
keyframe, 15
edit keyframe example, 21
keyframe example, 23
keyframe, 14
edit keyframe, 16
object, 7
flashlight tutorial, 24
object example, 7
frame, 4
gloss
object pivot during rotation, 61

object
animate color, 76
constraint, 53
animate finish, 76
keyframe marker, 4
heading indicator, constraint, 53
move, 7
hide objects, 76
properties, 76
hierarchy, 35
rotate, 9
parent/child relationship, 36
keyframe, 3, 14
add object, 15, 16
add view, 30
scale, 10
object pivot
display, 6
move during rotation, 61
copy, 14
object to pivot constraint, 66
copy example, 22
parameter,constraint, 53
delete, 15
parent object, 35
delete example, 23
parent/child hierarchy, 36
edit, 16
path curve
edit move example, 21

edit rotation example, 20
constrain view to follow, 55

for view constraint, 54
edit scale example, 20
pause animation preview, 12
move, 14
pivot
position information, 17
and Rhino blocks, 42
rotation information, 18
icon display, 6
scale information, 18
keyframe marker
object, 4
view, 4
set location, 42
play animation preview, 11
preview
animation, 11
light color, 83
pause, 12
light hotspot, 83
play, 11
light intensity, 83
resume, 12
light on and off, 83
stop, 12
lights, 83
properties, 76
link objects, 35
proxy object
list Bongo commands, 90
as parent, 35
look along constraint, 55
create automatically, 36
looping, 70
select children, 36
number of repeats, 75
parent/child relationships, 70
marker
tutorial, 47
render animation frames, 12
repeat action (loop), 70
animation extents, 5
resume animation preview, 12
looping, 72
reticle, 31, 33
object keyframe, 4
rotation
view keyframe, 4, 30
material color, 76, 80

example, 9
Bongo
scale
edit keyframes, 16
fade object in and out, 78
example, 10
flashlight exploded view, 24
scrub timeline slider, 4
heirarchy, 36
select children, 36, 65
hide and show object, 76
show objects, 76
link objects, 36
slider, timeline, 4
looping, 71
stop animation preview, 12
move an object, 7
target to object constraint, 56
multiple constraints, 54
tick, timeline, 4
object constraints, 63
timeline
open and close robot fingers, 47
context menu, 5
parent/child heirarchy, 36
overview, 3
pick up ball with robot arm, 63
slider, 3
proxy objects, 47
tick, 4
rotate an object, 9
timeline slider, 4
scrub, 4
transformation controls, 9
transformation slider, 9, 11
rotate robot parts, 36

scale an object, 10
view constraints, 54
zoom in on an object, 31
transparency, 76, 78
tweening, acceleration, 73
tree, animation, 35
view, 30
tutorial
animation example, 31
animate lights on and off, 83
constraint, 53
animate view, 31
disable for animation, 31
building walkthrough, 54
enable animation, 32
change object color, 80
keyframe marker, 4
clock hands, 71
release from animation control, 31
constrain view to path curve, 55
view keyframe, add, 30
constraint weighting, 54
visibility, 76
create path curve, 54
weight, constraint, 54, 68

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Bongo

Animation for Designers

Rhinoceros is a registered trademark, and Bongo is a trademark of

Getting Started .....................................................................................................2

Timeline Context Menu

Pivot Icon and Axis Indicator................................................................................6

Tutorial: Rotate an Object

Tutorial: Scale an Object

Preview the Animation........................................................................................11

Tutorial: Animate an Exploded View

Animation Hierarchies ........................................................................................35

Tutorial: Use Hierarchies to Link Objects

Tutorial: Use Proxy Objects

Object and View Constraints ...............................................................................53

Tutorial: Use View Constraints to Walk Through a Building

Tutorial: Use Constraints to Pick Up an Object

Repeat Action with Looping ................................................................................70

Tutorial: Using Looping

Animate Object Properties ..................................................................................76

Tutorial: Animate Color Change

Bongo Command List ..........................................................................................90

At the command prompt, type Bongo.

When you start Bongo, the Bongo menu and

Bongo Utilities toolbar.

From the Bongo menu or toolbar, choose Timeline.

The Bongo Timeline

Timeline with Animate button activated.

Timeline slider at tick 40.

Timeline ticks and blue current tick indicator.

Timeline Context Menu

Right-click the Timeline.

Timeline context menu,

Timeline context menu,

Object pivot display.

When the object is selected and animate mode is active,

Rotate around the pivot x-axis.

Scale along the pivot z-axis.

Tutorial: Move an Object

Create keyframes automatically.

Preview the animation.

Create an object to animate

Start a new model.

Animate the box movement

In the Timeline, click the Animate button.

Move the Timeline Slider to tick 50.

Select the box.

With Ortho on, Drag the box to the right.

Click the Animate button to turn animate mode off.

Scrub the Timeline Slider to see the box move.

Scrubbing is dragging the Timeline Slider back and

Click to play animation example

Note: The object moves in real time in the active

Notice the object pivot x, y, z icon now attached

You will use this model in the next section, so

Object pivot icon.

Tutorial: Rotate an Object

Transformation controls activated.

Select the box.

In the Timeline, click the Animate button.

Move the Timeline Slider to tick 60.

In the Transformation Edit box, enter 180.

Scrub the Timeline Slider.

Scrub the slider slowly and notice that the box