Keyframe Animation Support

Fractal Architect supports both Keyframe Loop/Morph Animation as well as Parameter value animation in the Triangle Editor and Cross Breeder.

Keyframe Animation takes a series of keyframes and creates an video animation sequence from them. First, each keyframe is "looped", then the keyframe is slowly morphed into the next keyframe in the series. (The last keyframe morphs back to the first.)

"Looping" rotates a fractal's transforms (those that have been marked as Rotating). Morphing is the cross-breeding from one keyframe into another keyframe.

You can specify how many video frames are used in each animation segment.
You can break the render into pieces and assembly them into a complete video in Quicktime Player.

Short Keyframe Animation Video Clip

This little video clip has no looping but quickly morphs 3 keyframes. Its just the beginning few seconds of a longer video.

Parameter Value Animation

Fractal Architect parameter animation capabilities are provided by the Triangle and Cross Breeder editors. The Triangle editor allows you to animate transform rotations and other things like transform and variation weights. The Cross Breeder provides fractal cross breeding (morphing) animations.
Triangle Editor
Cross Breeder
User Manual: Quick-Spin

Direct Video Render vs. Saving Frames

Direct Video Rendering is the easiest way to create Videos from fractal animation. You would create separate video clips of different animations. Next you combine the video clips together using a Video editing application to to make a long fractal animation video.

Direct video rendering renders interpolated fractal frames and adds them directly to a movie clip. The image frames are not saved. The XML frame definitions are not saved either.

Interpolated Fractal Frame XML Text

Fractal Architect can create large Fractal flame files that have a very large number of interpolated frame definitions (saved in their original Flam3 XML syntax). These files can be combined together to string together longer animations. The Preview window's Frames viewer can show you a thumbnail rendering of of these frames (25 frames at a time).

Once the a file contains a bunch of interpolated animation frames, you have the flexibility of using renderers on other platforms for high speed rendering. For example, you might then render them on a high end Gaming PC's that have a powerful GPU to save rendering time.

If you choose to render them on your Mac with Fractal Architect, you can choose to either render the animation as a batch of PNG image files OR to render them directly to a Quicktime movie (skipping the saving of the image files to disk). If you generate a batch of PNG image files, you can then use other video editors to make your videos directly from the PNG image batch. You might get better file compression or produce a video format that QuickTime does not support.

PNG Image File Batches

Finally, Fractal Architect can convert PNG image file batches to a Quicktime video. Note, you might get smaller video files by doing this step with a dedicated video editing application.