Loop Studio controls
Loop Studio is the layout for animating settings and for playing and exporting loops. Click LOOP STUDIO at the top left of the window to open it, and SCENE beside it to return to modeling; neither has a keyboard shortcut or a menu command. The procedures are in Animate a setting with a lane, Make a loop without a jump and Export a loop.
Layout
Loop Studio hides the toolbar, the column of object buttons, OBJECTS, the INSPECTOR and the dock along the bottom of the window. The viewport stays, with its camera gestures and controls panel, and the PLAYBACK column sits to its right. PARAMETERS and AUTOMATION LANES run along the bottom. Menu commands such as ⌘S keep working.
| Label | Effect | Persistence |
|---|---|---|
| SCENE | Returns to the modeling layout. During playback, it stops the loop first and returns each animated setting to its value from before ▶ PLAY. | Orbit starts in SCENE at every launch. |
| LOOP STUDIO | Ends sculpt, cage, poly edit and spine editing, then switches to the Loop Studio layout. | Not saved |
The viewport shows a frame in the shape chosen under FRAMING, with the view outside it dimmed. The label at the top of the frame reads 1:1 for SQUARE and 16:9 for both other shapes, including 4:3; see The frame label reads 16:9 with 4:3 framing.
The PLAYBACK column
The column scrolls, and its rows run from the loop status at the top to EXPORT LOOP at the bottom.
Loop status
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| LOOP · NO POP | Every lane ends at the value it started with, so the join between the last frame and the first does not show. | At least one lane, none of which jumps. Hidden while the scene has no lanes. |
| LOOP · 2 WILL POP (amber) | Counts the lanes that jump at the join. A click opens the LOOP INTEGRITY list. | One or more lanes jump. A muted lane never counts. |
| WATER · followed by → SPECTRAL (amber) | A water surface uses CLASSIC waves with WAVE SPEED above 0. Its ripples drift and never return to where they started. | Shown in place of the two below while any such water is in the scene |
| WATER · NO POP · SWELLS FAST (amber) | SPECTRAL waves repeat, but the loop is shorter than the slowest swell, so Orbit speeds the swells up to fit. | LOOP shorter than 2π × WIND SPEED ÷ 9.81 seconds: 5.12 s at the top WIND SPEED of 8 m/s |
| WATER · NO POP ✓ | SPECTRAL waves repeat exactly within the loop. | Spectral water and a long enough LOOP |
The water status checks only water with BUMP ENABLED on and STRENGTH above 0 in its RIPPLES section, and it is hidden when no such water moves. The lane status ignores water. What to do about each amber status is in Make a loop without a jump.
The LOOP INTEGRITY list
The list drops down from the amber LOOP · 2 WILL POP. A click outside it closes it.
| Label | Effect |
|---|---|
| LOOP INTEGRITY and 2 WILL POP | Header, with the number of lanes that jump |
| ⚡ SNAP ALL and 2 lanes | Applies SNAP to every lane in the list |
| Lane name, such as Environment · sunAzimuth | The object and setting of a lane that jumps. Deformer and light lanes use the names shown in PARAMETERS; the others use Orbit's internal names. |
| × 2.40 cycles in 6.0s (not whole) | Reason on a wave lane: the cycle count in the loop, which is not a whole number. A sawtooth lane with whole cycles shows the same wording, such as × 3.00 cycles in 6.0s (not whole). |
| 0.300 → 0.700 at seam (mismatch) | Reason on a curve lane: its first and last values |
| SNAP | Fixes that lane |
SNAP on a wave lane sets RATE to the nearest rate that fits a whole number of cycles in the loop, at least one, kept within 0.10 to 10 Hz. When the nearest count needs a rate outside that range, as a single cycle does in a loop longer than 10 seconds, the lane stays in the list. On a curve lane SNAP moves the last point to the value of the first. SNAP cannot remove the step in a SAWTOOTH or REVERSESAWTOOTH lane, because it changes only RATE. SNAP and ⚡ SNAP ALL record no undo step of their own and do not mark the scene as unsaved; ⌘Z reverses them with the change before them, as listed in What undo covers.
Transport, DURATION and FRAMING
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability | Persistence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▶ PLAY | Plays the loop from 0 s and repeats it until ■ STOP, at 30 frames per second | Dimmed when the scene has no lane and nothing that moves on its own, as listed in PLAY and the export presets are grayed out | ||
| ▶ PREPARING 42% and a bar | Share of frames built | Replaces ▶ PLAY while Orbit builds every frame of the objects reshaped by deformer, Sides or Segments lanes and of plants that sway in the wind. Playback starts at 100%. | After ▶ PLAY, when the loop has such objects. It has no stop control. | |
| ■ STOP | Stops the loop, returns every animated setting to its value from before ▶ PLAY and moves waves, drift and motes back to the first frame | During playback | ||
| LOOP, under DURATION | 2.00 to 60.00 s; 6.00 s | Length of the loop, shared by every lane. Curves stretch to fit. Wave lanes keep RATE, so their cycle count changes. | Saved with the scene only when it has at least one lane | |
| CURRENT | Seconds | Time of the playhead | ||
| FRAMING | SQUARE, 4:3, WIDESCREEN; SQUARE | Shape of the frame in the viewport. A small square marks the export presets of the same shape. The size and shape of each preset stay fixed. | Saved with the scene only when it has at least one lane |
A scene with no lanes reopens at 6.00 s and SQUARE, even when water, wind or motes moved in its loop.
RENDER SETTINGS
This block, shared with EXPORT TURNTABLE, holds the LOOK buttons, the summary rows of the current render settings, WIREFRAME and EDIT RENDER SETTINGS…. Each control is described in The RENDER SETTINGS block. The settings are Orbit's preferences, apart from any scene, and apply to every render and export. A loop export always has a background, even with TRANSPARENT chosen for still renders.
EXPORT LOOP
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability | Persistence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presets | Two GIF, six MP4 and two PNG FRAMES, listed in Export a loop | Stops playback, opens the Export Loop save panel and renders the loop. GIFs run at 24 frames per second and the others at 30. The number of frames is LOOP times that rate. | Dimmed under the same condition as ▶ PLAY | |
| Small square beside a preset | The preset has the shape chosen under FRAMING and exports the area inside the frame. | |||
| CAPPED ×4 | The preset encodes at this scale, below the chosen PIXEL SCALE, to stay within 8192 pixels on a side | A GIF or MP4 preset whose size at the chosen scale passes that limit | ||
| PIXEL SCALE | ×1, ×2, ×3, ×4, ×6; ×1 | Turns each rendered pixel into a solid block of that size before a GIF or MP4 is written. PNG FRAMES ignores it. | Not saved. Returns to ×1 when Loop Studio is opened again. | |
| 36 / 144 frames · 25%, a bar and ETA: 12s | Progress of the export and the estimated time left | During an export, in place of the presets | ||
| CANCEL | Stops the export and deletes the unfinished file | During an export | ||
| ✓ and the file name | The export finished. | After an export | ||
| ⚠ and a message | The export failed, for the reason given. | After a failed export | ||
| Cancelled | The export was canceled. | After CANCEL |
An export renders from a copy of the scene, the lanes and the render settings taken when it starts, so changes made during the export do not reach the file. In the free version every frame carries the watermark, as shown in The free and full versions.
The PARAMETERS column
PARAMETERS lists each object in the scene, hidden objects included, then each light, then ENVIRONMENT, which holds the sun, fog, sky and clouds. Click a name to show or hide its settings. The settings are grouped under the headings in Settings a lane can animate, in that order, and an object shows only the headings that apply to it.
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| ▸ or ▾ and the name, such as SPHERE 1 | Shows or hides the settings of that object, light or the environment | |
| LIGHT | Marks a light | Light rows |
| ENV | Marks the environment | ENVIRONMENT row, always last |
| ~2 | Number of lanes on that object, light or the environment. The OBJECTS list shows the same count for objects and lights in the SCENE layout. | One or more lanes |
| ○ and a setting, such as Position Y | Adds a lane for that setting | The setting has no lane |
| ~ and a setting, in the accent color | Removes that setting's lane, like × in the lane | The setting has a lane |
| WIND | The wind already moves this part of the scene. The tooltip says what a lane adds. | Plant settings, Cloud Coverage and Fog Density |
A setting can have only one lane. Adding and removing a lane each record one undo step.
The AUTOMATION LANES column
Lanes appear in the order they were added. With no lanes, the column reads NO LANES YET. A new lane starts in LFO mode with SINE, a RATE of 0.50 Hz, DEPTH 0.50, PHASE 0.00 and BIPOLAR on, which at the default 6-second loop is three whole cycles. Lanes are saved with the scene.
Lane title row
| Label | Effect | Availability | Persistence |
|---|---|---|---|
| ▾ or ▸ | Shows or hides the lane's controls. Records no undo step and does not mark the scene as unsaved. | Saved with the scene | |
| Title, such as Sphere 1 · Position Y | The object and setting the lane moves. Gray while the lane is muted. Object · in place of a name means the object was deleted; the lane stays and still counts for ▶ PLAY and the loop status. | ||
| ❄ | The preview holds this object's shape still, because rebuilding it takes too long or the built frames would use too much memory. Moves and material changes on the object keep playing, and the export builds every frame in full. | During playback, on a deformer, Sides, Segments or plant lane | |
| LFO | Makes the lane a repeating wave | Saved | |
| CURVE | Makes the lane follow points drawn across the loop. The first time, the curve is a flat line at the value the setting had when the lane was added. LFO and CURVE each keep their settings while the other is in use. | Saved | |
| M | Mutes the lane. A muted lane moves nothing in playback or export and never counts as a jump. | Saved | |
| × | Deletes the lane. ⌘Z brings it back. |
LFO controls
The wave swings around the value the setting has when ▶ PLAY is clicked or an export starts, and it stays within the lane's range, given for each setting in Settings a lane can animate. Changing the setting in the SCENE layout moves the whole wave.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| SINE, TRIANGLE, SQUARE, SAWTOOTH, REVERSESAWTOOTH | SINE | Shape of the wave. SINE eases up and down. TRIANGLE rises and falls in straight lines. SQUARE holds high for the first half of each cycle and low for the second. SAWTOOTH climbs, then drops in one step, and REVERSESAWTOOTH falls, then jumps back up. | The step in either sawtooth is a jump at the join, except on Sun Azimuth and Cloud Hue at DEPTH 1.00. |
| RATE | 0.10 to 10.00 Hz; 0.50 Hz | Cycles per second | Cycles in the loop are RATE times LOOP. |
| Cycle hint | × 3 cycles · no pop, or × 2.40 cycles · will pop at loop seam in amber | Number of cycles in the loop | Checks only for whole cycles, so a sawtooth lane can read no pop and still jump. |
| SNAP (amber) | Fixes the cycle count, as described under The LOOP INTEGRITY list | Shown when the cycle count is not whole | |
| DEPTH | 0 to 1; 0.50 | How far the wave swings, as a share of the lane's range. At 0 the setting does not move. | |
| PHASE | 0 to 1; 0.00 | Where in its cycle the wave starts. At 0.50 it starts half a cycle later. | |
| BIPOLAR | On | On, the wave swings above and below the setting's value. Off, that value is the low point and the wave only rises above it. | |
| CURRENT | Three decimals | The value the lane gives the setting at the playhead, or at the start of the loop while stopped | On Sun Azimuth and Cloud Hue, the value wraps to stay within 0 to 360. |
| Wave strip | One cycle of the wave, scrolling from right to left, with the right edge at the present moment | Follows the playhead during playback |
CURVE controls
A curve sets the value at points across the loop. It does not follow the setting's value in the SCENE layout, and it stretches with LOOP.
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| CURRENT | The curve's value at the playhead, or at the start of the loop while stopped | |
| SNAP (amber) | Moves the last point to the value of the first, as described under The LOOP INTEGRITY list | The first and last values differ by 0.5% of the lane's range or more |
| CLEAR | Replaces the curve with a flat line at the value the setting had when the lane was added | |
| Curve area | The left edge is the start of the loop and the right edge its end. Points are joined by straight lines. A gray line marks the playhead. A dashed line at the right edge turns amber and spans the gap when the curve ends at a different value than it starts with. | |
| MIN 0.00, MAX 2.00 | Values at the bottom and top of the curve area, which are the lane's range | |
| 0% → 100% (LOOP) | Time runs from left to right across the loop. | |
| CLICK TO ADD · DRAG TO MOVE · DOUBLE-CLICK TO DELETE | Click empty space to add a point and drag it at once. Drag a point to move it; it stays between its neighbors and within MIN and MAX. Double-click a point to delete it. | A curve keeps at least two points. |
The first and last points can be dragged away from the edges. Before the first point and after the last, the curve holds their values. Each drag records one undo step.
Settings a lane can animate
The range is fixed when the lane is added and cannot be edited. A wave stops at the ends of its range, except on Sun Azimuth and Cloud Hue, which wrap from 360 back to 0.
| Heading | Settings | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEFORMERS | Each setting of each deformer on the object, named with the deformer, such as Twist: Amount or Spike Extrusion: Base Width | Centered on the value when the lane is added, and extending to each side by twice that value or by 2, whichever is larger | CAGE and MAGNET PULL have no such settings and no lanes. |
| MATERIAL | Specular, Roughness, Reflection, Emission, Diffuse, Ambient, Transparency, Incidence Intensity, Incidence Power | 0 to 2 | Wider than the material editor's 0 to 1 for Roughness, Reflection, Diffuse, Ambient and Transparency; narrower than its 0 to 3 for Incidence Intensity and 0.5 to 6 for Incidence Power |
| TRANSFORM | Position X, Position Y, Position Z, Rotation X, Rotation Y, Rotation Z, Scale X, Scale Y, Scale Z | Position −5 to 5 m; rotation −360° to 360°; scale 0.1 to 4 | Rotation stops at its limits and does not wrap. |
| GEOMETRY | Sides on SPHERE, BOX, CYLINDER, CONE, TORUS, HELIX and TORUS KNOT; Segments on the same kinds and MÖBIUS | Sides 3 to 64, 1 to 64 on a box; Segments 1 to 32 | Moves in whole steps |
| GROWTH | Droop, Twist, Branch Angle, Taper | Droop −1 to 1; Twist −180° to 180°; Branch Angle 10° to 60°; Taper 0.4 to 0.95 | Plants only. Lane titles read Growth: Droop and so on. |
| LIGHT | Intensity | 0 to 5 | Wider than the INSPECTOR's 0 to 3 |
| ENVIRONMENT | Sun Azimuth, Sun Elevation, Sun Light Intensity, Sun Disc Intensity | Azimuth 0° to 360°; elevation 0° to 90°; light 0 to 4; disc 1 to 8 | Azimuth wraps. |
| ENVIRONMENT | Fog Density, Fog Base Height, Fog Scale Height | Density 0 to 0.15; base height −10 to 20 m; scale height 0.5 to 20 m | Density visible only with fog on and a MODE other than LINEAR; the two heights only with LAYERED fog |
| ENVIRONMENT | Sky Intensity, Cloud Coverage | Sky 0.5 to 3; coverage 0 to 1 | Coverage visible only with clouds on |
| ENVIRONMENT | Cloud Hue, Cloud Saturation, Cloud Lightness | Hue 0° to 360°; saturation and lightness 0 to 1 | Hue wraps. A hue lane alone cannot tint white, gray or black clouds, which have no hue to turn. |
Which environment lanes need fog, clouds or the sun turned on is listed in A lane does not change anything.
Settings with no lane
| Setting | Reason or alternative |
|---|---|
| The camera | Export a turntable circles the camera around the scene. |
| Wind DIRECTION and STRENGTH | Drifting clouds, fog banks and motes are placed by how far a steady wind carries them, so a changing wind would break the loop. See How loops work. |
| Plant DENSITY and GENERATIONS | Both add and remove whole branches, which would flicker from frame to frame. |
| A light's color, position and other settings | Lights take a lane on Intensity only. |
| Colors | The cloud color, through its three lanes, is the only color a lane can change. |
| Array settings, the wave settings of water, and the settings of glow motes and emitters | None of these appear in PARAMETERS. |
Related: How loops work, Loop and video problems and Export settings.