How do I create Movies in STK?

Welcome to the STK community! Creating 3D animations in STK is a great way to visualize your scenarios, and STK has tools to help with the process.

1. Prepare Your Scenario:
   • First, ensure your scenario is technically complete. This includes setting up all the objects and their properties as needed. You may want to hide labels for some objects (2D Graphics -> Attributes), set custom markers for objects instead of the simple dot (3D graphics -> Markers), and if necessary to get everything into the picture, adjust scene field of view (3D Graphics -> Advanced). You can also add good model files to your STK scenario. More information for the options for STK model files can be found here.
2. Scene Preparation:
   • Before you start animating, prepare your scene. This involves setting up the lighting and camera angles. You can adjust the lighting parameters on the 3D Graphics - Lighting page. STK’s default lighting source is the Sun, and you can set the Sun Lighting to either Global or Object.
3. Camera Control:
   • Position your camera to capture the desired view. You can use the Home View button to re-orient the 3D Graphics camera back to the default Earth View if you get lost.
4. Using the Movie Timeline Plugin:
   • The Movie Timeline Plugin is a powerful tool for recording animations. It provides a movie wizard and a graphical timeline showing STK scenario time. You can visualize data providers and access intervals on the timeline, and design 3D model articulations.
5. Recording the Animation:
   • Open the Movie Wizard from the toolbar (If you cannot find it, go to View ->Toolbars and add the movie wizard toolbar).
   • Select Record, and the Movie Wizard will walk through the steps of creating your movie. It is recommended to use the H.264 (.mp4) format. You can select which window to record and follow the sequence from top to bottom in the wizard to make the process effortless.
6. Finalizing the Movie:
   • Once you have recorded your animation, you can save it as a ready-to-play movie directly from STK or compile a collection of still frames into a movie using third-party software.
     
     

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the STK Help section on movie making: 
Movie Making Tutorial: Behind The Scenes (agi.com)

It is also possible to include camera paths and panning to your movie using the Camera Control tool in the 3D graphics. The Camera tool is used in this tutorial:
STK Models and Movies (agi.com)

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

Best, Drew