Animation editor (AE)

Animation Editor (AE)

Goal: Enable authors to animate network behaviors and help beginners quickly grasp the key ideas of protocols.
What is AE?
Visio is a fine graphic tool and Power Point is an excellent presentation tool. However, they can't move static information. AE is an animation tool. Authors can use AE to create network animation and visualize network activities.
What is network animation?
- Users use the traditional tutorial navigation UI (Next, Prev) to read network information except the content is animation instead of text and graphs.
- Packets are moving along topology. One can click packets to see its header content in pcap format.
- Router state tables are changing as they receiving packets or events.
- Router configuration commands are shown dynamically as what would happen in a lab.
- Dialog style bubbles are displayed at nodes to relate cause-effect relationships. Text caption provide more detailsed information.
- It's a prelude to read dense text information (such as textbooks, wikepidia, RFC standards.)
AE Features:
- Network topology. Drag icons to create network topology. Icons include router, switch, hub, host, link, cloud, label, annotation. Right click to configure/
- Packets. Right click a node to add a packets. Right click a packet to edit its name and header content/ Right click a packet to edit its movement along topology.
- Table. Right click a node to add a table to illustrate the state of router, switch and host. For example, routing table, MAC table, ARP cache, election state.
- Command message: Right click a node to add a message. It displays router configuration command and output of show command. A rich text editor is provided.
- Label. Drag the label icon to create time-based lables. For example, use a label to specify link bandwidth that changes over time.
- Bubble. Right click a node to add a bubble. Write dialog style text to highlight cause-effect relationship acriss topology.
- Caption. Use caption editor to write more detailed information than bubbles.
- Thumbnail: Use caption editor to divide scenario into intervals. Each interval has start tick and an end tick.

Lab environment
- Verify scenario: Author runs the scenario on a simulator (dynamips or Packet Tracer) or physical routers to verify the correctness of commands and states.
  Router commands. Then copy-and-paste router configuration commands and show output into AE's messages. .
- Router configuration file. Author uploads the router configuration files to VL's web server. Users can download the router configuration file to repeat the lab steps used by the author. In other word, network animations become lab note books when users download router configuration files to doo router lab
How to get started?
- Register as an author by clicking "Animation Editor" button (orange color) at VL home page.
- Read "AE user guide" by cliicking "Download AE user guide"
- After AE is downloaded, you have two folders under "Animation" tab: new_folder and TEST. In TEST, there is a sample animation "My ARP basics". Click to open this smaple. You can review its topology configuration, packets, tables. This sample is being explained in the AE user guide as an example.