ranathunga / kml-samples

Automatically exported from code.google.com/p/kml-samples
0 stars 0 forks source link

Don't control the user view in a tour when no lookat instructions are included. #417

Open GoogleCodeExporter opened 9 years ago

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago
Google Earth Desktop

Allow user control of the view when a kml tour does not contain lookat 
instructions.

This is useful in several scenarios:

1

A KML tour containing extensive animation instructions to move around some 3D 
models. As a user I want to be able to view this animation from any angle. 
Currently the user can only change the view direction which snaps back.

2

Google Earth allows the recording of tours in multiple passes. This 
theoretically should make it possible to hand code a model animation in kml and 
then play it back in Google Earth Desktop while recording a second pass for the 
view. This method has the potential to create very interesting tours.

Up to a point the track feature could be used to workaround this issue but 
tracks are so limited that it should not even be called a workaround. Just 
mentioning it to be complete.

A while back I produced a kmz file of the Costa Concordia cruiseship that went 
down in Italy. I gave up on animating this vessel because it was impossible to 
do this while having nice smooth view transitions recorded using the space 
navigator. Other people like Peter Olson had a stab at it as well and produced 
mediocre results because the views had to be hand coded with the animations.

This feature would be a massive leg up for Google Earth kmz production in 
Google Earth Desktop.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by vandint...@gmail.com on 30 Jan 2012 at 7:50