Solver

This is where the magic happens.

You see a big OpenGL preview. Active objects are drawn in lighter colors, passive and user animated objects are drawn in darker colors. When a physics controlled object is disabled (not moving for a period of time) this object will also turn dark until it is hit by a moving object.
In the upper left corner we can see the current frame number in friendly red letters.

Reset button

The Reset button will reset the simulation to the startframe of the simulation that is set in the Advanced tab of Rodeo. If you have changed options in the other tabs you need to make sure Rodeo works with the new values by resetting the simulation. An alt-click on the Reset button will delete all custom frames of Rodeo controlled objects within the Rodeo simulation time range.

Solve button

A click on the Solve button will start the physics engine. Whenever a frame is calculated the preview will be updated. The physics engine will work until either the endframe that is set in the Advanced tab has been reached or the user interrupts the simulation by pressing the Escape key. If the solution stops early it will most probably be the result of an error within the simulation. You can view the error by opening the Console plugin. If you use the universal binary version of Animator you need to use the Console.app form your utilities folder in your applications directory and choose Logs -> console.log

Show Collision checkbox

When this box is checked Rodeo will display the current collisions by red lines indicating where and how deep the objects penetrate.

Display Grid checkbox

This checkbox toggles the drawing of the world grid in the OpenGL window

Lazy Update checkbox

When this option is enabled Rodeo will only draw one frame each second. This will not effect the calculation of the simulation.

Tweak From Here button

This button sets a start time for the simulation and temporarily disables the Starttime set in the Advanced tab. This is handy if you have already animated the first part of the simulation but want to introduce new objects to your simulation but not loose what is already there. Set the timemarker in the project window to the desired frame and push the Tweak From Here button. The text on the button will change and tell the new startframe of the simulation. To disable the temporary startframe click the Tweak From Here button again.