Alice 3.1 Tutorial Part 2: Adding Objects to the Scene

You need actors for your animation.

You can add the objects to the scene starting the Scene Editor. As shown in the previous section, you can click on the Setup Scene button to go to the Scene Editor.

The Scene Editor Interface for Alice is shown below.

Alice Scene Editor

The object gallery contains a good collection of 3D models.(Click here isit Alice website for a tour on object gallery) The gallery is organised into collections of  five classes based on mode of mobility and stored in five different folders namely Biped, Flyer, Prop, Quadruped and Swimmer. A sixth class Vehicles will be added later.

To view the gallery objects click on the folder. There may subcategories inside the folder. You will see the thumbnails of available objects in the gallery. You can also search using a keyword clicking on the Search Gallery tab.

Alice - Adding Objects to the Scene

You can add an instance of any object to the scene either by clicking on it or by dragging it to the scene. Either way you will be prompted to provide a name for your object. Accept the default name suggested by Alice or type in an identifiable name for the object (chose a name that will relate to the object rather than naming it abc, xyz etc. Spaces and special characters are not permitted)

Renaming and Deleting Objects

Renaming an object or deleting it from the scene is very easy. Just right-click on the object and select rename you will be prompted for the new name. To delete an object right-click on the object and select Delete.

One more option available on right-clicking on the object is Revert to original size. You can select this option to bring the object back to its original size.

Next: Moving and Positioning objects on the scene