
Frame Jumper
is a plug-in for Lightwave 6.0 or greater. It provides keyframe marking tools and functions to jump
through and modify Layout's aniamtion timeline. It includes 42 plug-ins: the
FrameJumper Master plug-in and it's interface,
the generic to add the Master and open the interface,
FrameJumperProperties, and the generics
JumpToNextMarker,
JumpToPreviousMarker,
JumpToNextMarkerGroup,
JumpToPreviousMarkerGroup,
MarkFrame,
UnmarkFrame, and twelve each of
MarkFrameAs and
JumpToMarker. It also includes these related frame jumping plug-ins:
JumpToRenderFirstFrame,
JumpToRenderLastFrame,
JumpToPreviewFirstFrame,
JumpToPreviewLastFrame,
NextFrameByRenderStep,
PreviousFrameByRenderStep,
NextFrameByPreviewStep,
PreviousFrameByPreviewStep,
SetRenderRangeToPreviewRange and
SetPreviewRangeToRenderRange.
To install Frame Jumper, just follow these steps:
- If any copies of Layout are running, quit them now.
- Create a new directory in your Lightwave Plugins directory called TMPro and copy FrameJumper.p into it.
- Load Layout
- Select Add Plug-ins.
- Find and add FrameJumper.p. Layout should report that 42 plug-ins have been added.
- Quit Layout. This will update your Lightwave
config and ensure that everything works properly.
- The next time you run Layout, you can launch
Frame Jumper plug-ins from
the Generics pop-up in the Plug-in Options Panel, or assign them to keys
or buttons on the interface with Configure Keys and Configure Menus. Please
refer to your Lightwave documentation for more information. The plug-ins will be
the prefixed with TM_P under the Plugins heading of the
Configure Keys and Configure Menus panels.
Frame Jumper
Frame Jumper is a Master plug-in for marking and jumping to frames. The Generic plug-ins
Jump To Next Marker and Jump To Previous Marker,
allow you to step through the markers from Layout, as well as creating and deleting markers via
Mark Frame and Unmark Frame, and change groups
with JumpToNextMarkerGroup and
JumpToPreviousMarkerGroup. Markers in a group
can be bound to keys or buttons in Layout using the Mark Frame As and
Jump To Marker generic plug-ins.
Frame Jumper allows you to mark any number of frames, creating "markers". You can
have any number of markers. Markers are stored in groups, of which you can have as many as you like.
Markers and groups can be named, and markers can be disabled and set to a particular time or bound to a key.
All markers in the current group are presented in the Frame Jumper interface, which can be used to browse
the markers, change groups or modify markers. You can also use the previously mentioned generic plug-ins
to cycle through and modify markers and groups directly from Layout.
There are two ways to activate Frame Jumper. The simplest way is to
activate any of the above plug-ins, or the Frame Jumper Properties
Generic. These automatically add the Frame Jumper Master plug-in. The other option is to
manually add the Frame Jumper Master from Layout's Plug-in Options panel; just select it
from the Master pop-up.
Frame Jumper's interface can be opened by double-clicking on
the activated Master plug-in from the Plug-in Options Panel, or by activating the
Frame Jumper Properties generic.
This opens a non-modal panel, meaning you can leave it open while you work in Layout. You can resize
the interface vertically by dragging the lower-right corner of the panel, where the diagonal lines
are drawn. Below is an example of the interface.

At the top of the interface is the the Units pop-up. This determines
if the times are displayed and entered in Seconds or Frames.
The About button at the bottom right will pop up information about Frame Jumper
and it's related plug-ins, as well as the keyboard equivilants for the interface.
The most important part of the interface is the lister. This dislpays all marked frames,
and is sorted by time. Double-clicking a particular marker will jump to that time in Layout.
The first column of the list shows if the marker is currently enabled. Disabled markers are skipped by the
Jump To Next Marker and Jump To Previous Marker
Generic plug-ins. You can click in this column to enable or disable a marker. The second column marks the frame
that the marker points to. The third column displays the name of the marker. The final column displays the
key that the marker is bound to, with nothing displayed for an unbound marker. The key corresponds to one
of the twelve
Just above the lister is the Group pop-up. This allows you to select the currently
active group. The lister will show only the markers in that group. You can use theedit field to change the
group name at any time. By clicking on the pop-up to the right of the field, you can change groups to any
above the divider. The Create Group entry allows you to create a new, empty group. Delete Group clears
the current group and all of it's markers. If no more groups exist, a new, empty group will be created.
The Modify button toggles between the default browser mode and the advanced edit mode.
When enabled, new controls will be made visible at the bottom of the interface, as seen in the example
below.

The Add button will add a new marker to the list at the current Layout time
to the current group. You can have any number of markers in each group. Remove will remove
the currently selected marker from the list.
The Name field allows you to change the name of the currently selected marker.
This can be anything you like; it is just a label for your reference.
When is the time that this marker points to. This will be in seconds or frames,
depending on the state of the Units pop-up.
Enable toggles the active state of the marker. Disabled markers will be skipped
by the Jump To Next Marker and
Jump To Previous Marker generics.
The Key pop-up allows you to bind a marker to one of the
Jump To Marker generic plug-ins. Setting this to Off unbinds the marker.
Setting it to any other value binds the current marker to that key, and unbinds any other marker in
the same group that may have been using that key.
The In Group pop-up allows you to change the group that the currently selected
marker belongs to. The marker will immediatly jump to the new group and be removed from the current
group's list. If a marker in the new group has is bound to the same key as this marker, the existing
marker will be reset to Off and the new marker will take precedence.
Loading, Saving and Load From Scene
FrameJumper only allows one instance of itself to be in the scene at a time. It
will automatically detect multiples of itself and remove it (although it might have to wait until the
next event occurs first). All instances share the same data, and nothing is cleared from memory until
all instances have been removed.
If for some reason multiple instances exist and you save the scene, only the first instance
will save data, so you don't have to worry about the data being saved twice or other wacky effects. This
will only happen if you add the Master plug-in and immediatly save the scene, so it should be fairly rare.
On scene load, only the first instance's data will load, and the rest will be considered as duplicates and
be ignored.
In the case of Load From Scene, however the first instance in the scene will be loaded, and
it's groups will be added to the data already loaded into the scene. This ensures that the new groups are
loaded without change, while the original groups remain intact. As with loading, all other instances in
the scene will be skipped.
Keyboard Equivilants
Esc | Close Panel |
Arrow Up/Down | Previous/Next Marker |
Shift-Arrow Up/Down | First/Last Marker |
Ctrl-Arrow Up/Down | Previous/Next Marker Group |
* | New Group |
=/+ | Add Marker |
Del/- | Remove Marker |
Enter/Return | Go To Marker's Time |
Tab | Activate Group Name Field |
m | Toggle Modify Mode |
Shift-F1 to Shift-F12 | Go To Marker At Key 1-12 |
Ctrl-F1 to Ctrl-F12 | Set Marker's Key To 1-12 |
t/w | Activate When Field |
L | Set Marker To Current Layout Time |
Space | Toggle Enable Marker |
n | Activate Name Field |
f | Display Time In Frames |
s | Display Time In Seconds |
F1 | About/Keys |
Frame Jumper Properties
Frame Jumper Properties provides a quick method to get to the
Frame Jumper Master plug-in. If the Master has already been activated,
this will simply open it's interface. If the Master isn't currently active, this will first add
it and then open the interface.
Jump To Next Marker
Jump To Previous Marker
Jump To Next Marker and Jump To Previous Marker will step to the next
and previous enabled marker, respectively, in the current Frame Jumpergroup. Disabled
markers will be skipped.
Jump To Next Marker Group
Jump To Previous Marker Group
Jump To Next Marker Group and Jump To Previous Marker Group will step to the next
and previous group, respectively. All future marker operations will take place on this group until a new
group is selected.
Mark Frame
Unmark Frame
Mark Frame will create a new marker at the current time while
Unmark Frame will remove any markers that exist at this time. Both of these only affect the
currently selected group.
There are twelve each of the Mark Frame As and Jump To Marker plug-ins,
each ending in a different number between 1 and 12. Mark Frame As will create a new marker at
the current time, and assign it to the key that plug-in ends in. For example, Mark As Frame 4
will create a marker at the current time and set its key to 4. If a marker already exists in the current
group with this key, it will be reset to Off and the newly marked frame will get the key.
Jump To Marker will jump to the marker with matching its key. For example,
Jump To Marker 6 will jump to the marker with a key of 6.
All 24 of these plug-ins affect only the currently selected group.
Jump To Render First Frame
Jump To Render Last Frame
Jump To Render First Frame and Jump To Render Last Frame allow you to quickly
jump to the first and last frames of an animation, respectively, as set in the Render Options panel in Layout.
Jump To Preview First Frame
Jump To Preview Last Frame
Jump To Preview First Frame and Jump To Preview Last Frame allow you to quickly
jump to the first and last frames of an animation, respectively, as set in the fields on either end of the
frame slider in Layout's main interface.
Next Frame By Render Step
Previous Frame By Render Step
Next Frame By Render Step and Previous Frame By Render Step jump to the
next frame that would be rendered at the step set in the Render Options panel. For example, if the
Render Step was set to 3 and the Render First Frame was to 1 and the current frame 11, activating
Next Frame By Render Step would jump to frame 13, the next frame that Layout would render
at that step.
Next Frame By Preview Step
Previous Frame By Preview Step
Next Frame By Preview Step and Previous Frame By Preview Step jump to the
next frame that would be rendered for a preview at the preview step set in Layout's main interface in
a similar manner to their Render Step cousins.
Set Render Range To Preview Range
Set Preview Range To Render Range
Set Render Range To Preview Range copies the Preview First Frame,
Preview Last Frame and Preview Step into the Render First Frame, Render Last Frame and
Render Step fields in the Render Options panel. Set Preivew Range To Render Range
reverses this, copying the Render Range values into the Preview Range.
After the options are set the way you like, click Create Dirs to build the content
directory structure. The status field to the left will fill as directories are created, and will turn
red when reporting an error. Click continue to close return to the main interface.
Revision History
- 07-28-01
- Interface update bug fixes
- 03-04-01 First Public Release
Bugs? Feature requests? Can't get it to work? Feel free to contact us if
you're having any problems or want to request a feature.
All programs presented here are Copyright ©2000-2002 TM Productions, All Rights Reserved.
Please contact us if you would like to distribute any of these programs,
or if you find any particularly useful.
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