Understanding Animation Objects

Animation objects come in three forms:

• Linear – Accepts any input data from a process database, and returns a corresponding output value (Example: Animating the foreground color of an oval). Refer to the Understanding Signal Conditioning section of the Building a SCADA System manual for more detail on how the Linear object works.
• Lookup – Accepts any input data from a process database and presents that value to each entry in a lookup table to determine whether that value is in a range. If that value matches the range, the Lookup object then returns the corresponding output value. If the value does not match the range, it moves to the next row in the table and returns that output value (Example: Blinking the color of a rectangle based on a toggle rate).
• Format – Accepts any input data from a database and returns a string as an output value (Example: Creating a caption for a text object).

The most common animation object is the Lookup object, which is used primarily to apply color. This application is further described in the Animating Properties Using Color section. For more information on animation object properties, refer to the iFIX Automation Interfaces Help file.

Most of your connections to data sources are through animation objects. However, you do not need an animation object to animate an object. For example, if another object contains a property that provides the desired animation, you can connect to that property. This is because every object has the ability to perform permanent connections from one of its properties to another. Essentially, the animation object only transforms data from the property of one object to the property of another object.

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